Mohawk Trail State Forest
While driving the Mohawk Trail across Massachusetts, we stopped at Mohawk Trail State Forest. The forest was not our final destination, but it offered us an opportunity to pause within the landscape through which this historic route passes.
Long before automobiles crossed the Berkshire Hills, Indigenous peoples traveled through this region along pathways connecting the Connecticut and Hudson River valleys. The modern Mohawk Trail follows portions of this older travel corridor, although its exact course changed over time. In 1914, the road opened as an automobile touring route and became one of New England’s earliest scenic highways.
As automobile travel became increasingly popular, visitors came to experience the mountain views, forests, rivers, and small towns of western Massachusetts. The growing traffic also created concern that excessive development might destroy the scenery people had come to see. In 1921, Massachusetts established Mohawk Trail State Forest, preserving more than 5,000 acres along the route. The protected area has since expanded to encompass thousands of acres of wooded ridges, gorges, and river valleys.
During the Great Depression, Civilian Conservation Corps workers improved the forest by constructing roads, trails, campgrounds, and log cabins. Their work helped make the landscape accessible to generations of travelers. The forest also protects areas of old-growth woodland and some of the tallest trees in Massachusetts, including ancient hemlocks and sugar maples that were already growing long before the scenic highway was built.
Our stop at Mohawk Trail State Forest became part of the larger experience of driving the historic route across Massachusetts. We left the car and took a short hike, allowing us to experience more closely the forested landscape we had been viewing from the road. For a brief time, we followed the trail on foot, surrounded by the woods that Massachusetts began protecting more than a century ago. The hike transformed the forest from another scenic place along our drive into a landscape we had entered and experienced for ourselves.
Read More From Nancy
The Courage of Mary Dyer
The ability to sculpt is a remarkable gift. This gift allows an artist to give shape and permanence to something a society deems worth remembering. Our public spaces are filled with statues and memorials, each capturing a story, a value or a life that helped define who we are. The placement of these works also carries meaning for it […]
Red Auerbach
This bronze statue honors Arnold “Red” Auerbach, the coach and executive who helped establish the Boston Celtics as one of the most successful franchises in professional sports. Auerbach coached the Celtics from 1950 through 1966, leading the team to nine NBA championships, including an unprecedented eight consecutive titles from 1959 through 1966. Auerbach’s influence extended […]
Henry Knox in Framingham
In Framingham, Massachusetts, there stands a granite block bearing an inscription that is easy to pass by without a second glance. Yet the words carved into this stone marks one of the most daring feats of the American Revolution: “Through this place passed Henry Knox in the winter of 1775–1776 to deliver to General George Washington […]
