Shrine to the Stars, and the oldest astronomy gathering in America
In 1920 Russell W. Porter started making telescopes up on Breezy Hill above Springfield, and in 1923 the Springfield Telescope Makers built the Pink Clubhouse. Porter proposed the name at the December meeting that year: stella and fanum, Shrine to the Stars. What began as one clubhouse is now the whole hilltop, and the Stellafane Convention has been held nearly every year since 1926, which makes it the longest running astronomical gathering in the United States. This is the ground that amateur telescope making comes from.
Other places on the map within a couple of hours of here.
