DEERFIELD — Think a summer getaway means packing the car and burning gas, or getting on a plane and burning money? Think again, said Beth Sobiloff and Marcia Rothwell, hosts of “Two Grannies on the Road,” who say Pioneer Valley residents can just go in their backyard and find troves of hidden gems.
Their latest venture exploring hidden gems: Deerfield and Williamsburg.
“We’ve considered ourselves ambassadors for tourism in Massachusetts,” Sobiloff said. “People don’t even know about the hilltowns.”
Ahead of the visit, Sobiloff, 76, and Rothwell, 83, took to Facebook to ask Deerfield residents for town treasures and “where should we go for breakfast, for lunch, for ice cream — ice cream is always important,” Sobiloff joked.
“We try to get the whole flavor of a town — the history, the culture, the landscape, and the food and the commerce,” she added.
The two have been traveling across Massachusetts since 2008, filming their journeys for cable access stations and their YouTube channel. They have 19,000 Facebook followers and roughly 1,600 followers on both their Instagram and YouTube accounts. Video footage of their latest travels is being released steadily.
As a Smith College graduate, Sobiloff said she feels a “fondness” for Franklin and Hampshire counties.
On the morning of July 22, the duo left Plymouth at 6 a.m. to make it to Leo’s Table in time for breakfast. There, they split the Herbivore Omelet.
“It was early and they had a lot of eating to do in the day,” Leo’s Table owner Jen Howard said with a laugh.
At each stop, the duo took turns interviewing the people who keep the businesses going. Howard said the pair’s question about the “why” behind the daily work helped fuel her motivation while running a busy restaurant.
“I feel like you should probably just ask yourself that once a week … ‘Why are we doing this?'” Howard said.
Although Howard describes herself as “not a huge public speaker” who prefers the privacy of the kitchen or basement, the “personable and relatable” duo coaxed her out of her shell.
“They have tons of followers, but it just doesn’t feel manufactured,” Howard said. “They’re just genuinely having a great time.”
Next, Sobiloff had a prize to pick up.
She and Rothwell headed to Memorial Hall Museum, where curators Ray Radigan and Lindsay Kruzlic gave her a “surprise package” with Boston Museum of Science and Forest Park Zoo tickets, a Tandem Bagel Co. gift card, a candle from Yankee Candle and a Powder Hollow Brewery gift basket for earning second place in the “Brewing the Revolution” scavenger hunt. The activity’s challenges and clues lead to monuments, historic taverns and brewing sites still running today across the state as an extension of the museum’s new exhibit, “Brewing Massachusetts: How Beer Shaped the Bay State.”
“I had to see the Brewing Massachusetts exhibit,” Sobiloff said. “Not only was it really fun, but it was very educational. I never really understood the role that taverns played in the whole Revolution.”
Looking back on the visit in a phone interview on Wednesday, Radigan said he welcomed the attention for the Memorial Hall Museum.
“We’re not always the place that gets the most attention in Deerfield,” he said, “so it was great to be able to shine a spotlight on what we do and the rich history that we have and all of the things that people can come experience when they visit.”
For lunch, the pair walked over to Champney’s Restaurant & Tavern for a sandwich and a “mountain of salad,” as Sobiloff joked in the YouTube video. While in Old Deerfield, Deerfield Inn’s Assistant Innkeeper Kyle Gutowski and Claire Carlson, director of museum education, gave the women a glimpse of the history Old Deerfield aims to preserve.
Next, a sweet treat was in order. The pair headed to Richardson’s Candy Kitchen, where both women learned how to spread chocolate and Rice Krispies into the store’s signature Crispy Bark and pipe milk chocolate nonpareils.
“Sometime today, Marcia!” Sobiloff joked as Rothwell smoothed out the bark with her spatula.
“They’re interactive at any place they can be,” said Kathie Williams, owner of Richardson’s Candy Kitchen. “We were certainly honored and tickled to be on the list of places they were visiting.”
After trying on Richardson’s trucker caps, Sobiloff and Rothwell checked out the 4,000 butterflies and “Wonderarium” full of peculiar creatures down the road at Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory.
“You look at the terrarium, and all you see is like a little tree with leaves on it, and then ‘Oh boy, the leaves are alive — they’re actually bugs!’” Sobiloff laughed in a phone interview on Wednesday. “Some of them were so ugly they’re cute.”
After stops at the new Local Motive restaurant, Yankee Candle and Laurel Hill Cemetery, the duo drove to the Mount Sugarloaf State Reservation, spotting the University of Massachusetts Amherst buildings across the Connecticut River from the peak. Then, it was dinner time.
The women ended their day at Wolfie’s Restaurant with a veggie and cheese wrap and a fried haddock wrap — “my kind of food,” Rothwell said at their seats in the YouTube video.
After their visit, Victoria Tubbs, who runs Magic Wings with her brother Vytautas Sukys, and Howard, of Leo’s Table, said they heard thrilled reviews from family members, neighbors, customers and past visitors who said the video inspired them to revisit the businesses.
“It gives you a little reminder to reconnect to your local community, which is something that I think we all need,” Howard said.
On July 23, the grannies stopped at the Williamsburg Snack Bar for breakfast, where they ordered eggs and blueberry pancakes “as big as a pizza,” which they split. Maple syrup came from Paul’s Sugar House in town.
Lunch was at Local Burgy, where they shared a burger with sautéed mushrooms and onions, and a milkshake. Seeking a sweet snack at Tangle Chocolate, owner Suzanne Forman sat with the women to talk about her mission to produce ethically sourced, all-natural chocolates on site.
“It was so incredible — unlike anything I had ever had,” Sobiloff said, describing the thin wafers that melt in the mouth.
During a stop at the Williamsburg General Store, they bought a magnet to add to their collection, and at the Williamsburg Historical Society, they listened to stories about the town’s resilience after a devastating flood in 1874 that killed 139 people. They also spoke with Rob Longley, chair of the town’s Cultural Council.
Looking back on the jam-packed trip, Sobiloff said the residents they met shared a pride for their towns.
This wasn’t their first stop in the area.
About a month ago, they chronicled their trips to Hadley and Whately, which included stops at the Whately Inn and Quonquont Farm. In 2023, they visited the towns of Chester, Worthington and Chesterfield for a varied slate of experiences, including a horse and carriage ride, sights such as the Keystone Arches and Chesterfield Gorge, and a visit with Worthington artist Lindsey Molyneux and her driftwood sculptures — capped off with a night sleeping next to a train museum.
The pair is on a quest to visit every city and town in Massachusetts. Williamsburg marked the 127th stop on the checklist.
By highlighting local businesses, Sobiloff hopes her YouTube channel helps them grow.
“We really believe in the philosophy of buy local, eat local,” she said. “It’s helping our local economy.”
Sobiloff started the channel in 2010. Single and with her youngest son graduating college, the website designer was craving a change.
“I always wanted to take the kids cross-country in an RV and I never got to,” she recalled, “so I started thinking, ‘You know what? I have a business I can do really from anywhere, so maybe I could find out a way to work and play at the same time.”
After two other co-hosts retired, Sobiloff met Rothwell in 2022. The two have been on the road with their recorders ever since.
Besides “having a blast,” Sobiloff said she created “Two Grannies on the Road” to teach people her age that a disability is not a travel barrier.
“Even if you have a walker or you walk with a cane or something, you can still travel, you can still have fun,” Sobiloff said. “I always say, you can go two towns away from where you live, and you can have a blast, you can learn things, you can meet great people and eat really good food, so what’s wrong with that?”
