• View of Springfield Armory overlooking the city of Springfield, 1855

    Springfield Armory

    National Historic Site Massachusetts

Nature & Science

Though Springfield Armory NHS is a historic site, there is quite a rich and important story of the natural development in this area over millions of years, as well as the science used to study it. In fact, one of the earliest archaeological discoveries in North America was made during construction on Springfield Armory in the 1850s! More recently, the site's grounds have become one of the roosting sites of large flocks (or murders) of crows every Fall. Be on the lookout for information about Nature and Science at Springfield Armory NHS on this page!


 
Image of Anchisaurus Polyzelus

While blasting for new construction at Springfield Armory in the 1850s, a number of dinosaur bones were unearthed. The fossils turned out to be an undiscovered species of dinosaur, named later Anchisaurus Polyzelus. The dinosaur lived during the Jurassic Period.

For more about this find, please read an article by our National Park Service colleague Vincent Santucci here.




Did You Know?

Charles Dickens, 1842. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Author Charles Dickens toured Springfield Armory’s Hill Shops and Water Shops on his 30th birthday, February 7th, 1842, a year before publication of A Christmas Carol. The first of two visits to America, he and his wife were accompanied by the superintendent and the paymaster.
Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.