Westfield, Massachusetts: Black Squirrel Town

This place is a wildlife wonderland! We spent the morning here before going to nearby Six Flags and it was a peaceful prelude to a high-paced day. Highly recommend if you're looking for a nice stroll amongst squirrels, chipmunks, geese, and ducks! The squirrels (mostly gray with some black ones in the mix) were extremely entertaining to watch as they chased each other around the trees.

A rainy day in Westfield, so the elusive squirrels were nowhere to be found. Did try to find some squirrel swag at Conners, but unfortunately, Conners is no more and has been taken over by a cutesy country craft store. The owner did say the Westfield Feed Store has an abundance of squirrel paraphernalia, or go to www.theblacksquirrel.com.

Westfield, Massachusetts lays claim to a huge black squirrel population. They were imported from either Africa or South America several decades ago and released in Stanley Park (donated to the city by Stanley Brush Co.). Since then they have spread rapidly and have spread to Northern Conn. (approximately 20 mile radius). They don't seem to get along with the local grey squirrels and I don't believe they are breeding with the greys as I've never seen anything other than pure black in the area (even have a few in my backyard). Their coats are a beautiful silky black.

Westfield Massachusetts has a wonderful black squirrel population. Here is how it began: In 1948 Frank Stanley Beveridge was given a gift of six black squirrels, which he released in the park he sponsored for the people of Westfield, now known as Stanley Park. He loved his black squirrels and delighted in catching the occasional glimpse of one of the original family. Since then they have flourished at Stanley Park and have spread throughout the Pioneer Valley with sightings in nearby Enfield, Connecticut as well.

Although some have preferred to interbreed with the grey squirrel, the product of which is a very dark grey color, there remains a good healthy population of the black squirrel with its base still at Stanley Park in Westfield, MA. Conners, a local gift shop, sells black squirrel t-shirts and other nutty items.