prosperity and innovation to Springfield and its surrounding towns. After the American Revolution, a rebellion led by Daniel Shays culminated in a battle at the National Armory in Springfield. Geography Berkshire Mountains The Berkshires have long been patronized by artists (e.g. Herman Melville, who wrote Moby-Dick while living in Pittsfield; Edith Wharton, who wrote The House of Mirth and Ethan Frome while living in Lenox; and Norman Rockwell, many of whose painting were based on scenes that he observed in the town of Stockbridge). Cultural institutions include Lenox's Tanglewood, Becket's Jacob's Pillow, and Stockbridge's Norman Rockwell Museum, as well the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown. The city of Pittsfield is the largest community located in the Berkshires. Connecticut River Valley New England's largest river, the Connecticut, flows through the center of its agricultural valley. Nearly bisected by the Holyoke Range and the Mount Tom Range, this relatively small area contains a number of college towns, urban environments, and rural hamlets. The portion of this valley in Massachusetts is also commonly referred to as the Pioneer Valley. At its southern tip, the Springfield-Hartford region is home to 29 colleges and universities and over 160,000 university students—the United States' second highest concentration of higher learning institutions after the Boston metropolitan area. Innovations originating in the valley include the sports of basketball (James Naismith, 1895) and volleyball (William Morgan, 1895); the first American automobile (Duryea, 1893); the first motorcycle company (Indian, 1901); the first use of interchangeable parts in manufacturing (Thomas Blanchard, 1825); and the first commercial radio station, (WBZ, 1920, from Springfield's Kimball Hotel). Significant Massachusetts towns and cities in the valley's so-called "Knowledge Corridor" include Northampton, Amherst, Easthampton, Holyoke, Chicopee, West Springfield, East Longmeadow, Longmeadow, Ludlow, Agawam, and Westfield. The Hilltowns The Hilltowns include the areas of Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden counties west of and above the escarpment bordering the ancient rift valley through which the Connecticut River flows. Elevations increase from about to at least in the escarpment zone. On top, elevations rise gradually to the west. Williamsburg in Hampshire County and Becket in Berkshire County are prominent hilltowns. Generally, the hilltowns west of the Connecticut River Valley were less attractive for agricultural uses, which resulted in later migration there than, for example, the fertile Connecticut River Valley. Subsistence farming predominated in this area. The 1,000-foot elevation difference between uplands and the Connecticut River Valley produced streams and rivers