Following a river through the heart of the Berkshires

For much of my childhood in the Berkshires region of western Massachusetts, I didn’t care about the Housatonic River. Unlike the many lakes where my brother and I swam or skated, attended scout camps or sprawled at family picnics, the quiet, shady Housatonic seemed unfamiliar and sometimes downright eerie. Ideas of Edenic riverbanks came from my mother reading “The Wind in the Willows” aloud after dinner — not from encounters with the actual river that flowed 1,100 feet from our front door.

Later I came to associate the Housatonic with sadness. An arched bridge over it, which I crossed on my walk to high school, marked the transition from home to the stress of my teenage years. I also learned that parts of the river pass through Melville, Ives And Longcomrade were loaded with PCBsan industrial pollutant.

Tourists, following the example of locals, have rarely ventured to the banks of the Housatonic. But in recent years, the river cleanup (of which subsequent phases continues to be a source of intense community debate) has reminded anyone who loves the Berkshires that the Housatonic needs our attention and — whether from a canoe or a riverside trail — richly rewards our affection.

The Hoosie, as the locals call it, rises from several springs in central Berkshire County, converges in my hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and then parallels the Hudson River to the west and the Connecticut River to the east on its approximately 150-mile journey south toward Long Island Sound.

To experience the river’s highest reaches — Housatonic means “on the other side of the mountain” in Mohican — you must Berkshire Natural Resource Council Old Mill Path in Hinsdale and Dalton, Massachusetts, a few miles downstream Muddy pondthe highest source of the Housatonic and the beginning of its eastern branch.

This 1.5-mile (2.4-kilometer) riverside trail leads through hemlock and hobblebush forests to overgrown reminders—the foundations of old mills and the trenches that once channeled water power—of the industry that once profited from the Housatonic’s steep descent from Hinsdale to Dalton, where paper for US currency has been produced since 1879. Grab a brochure or scan the QR code at the trailhead to better understand the natural and socioeconomic history of the region, and be sure to sign the logbook tucked away near a few benches. Past entries include: “Holy crap it’s cold,” “Thank you to the trail keepers,” and “Sasquatch was here.”

Then head south to Hinsdale, where the town is located public Library – an 1866 Tudor-style beauty by Leopold Eidlitz, who also worked on Albany’s Capitol building and the first Brooklyn Academy of Music — is located on the right bank of the Hoosie. Just across the river you will find Ozzie’s steak and eggswhere I recommend the Ozzie Platter (two eggs, hash, home fries and French toast, $14.95).

‘Outdoor Rooms’ and other Pittsfield favorites

After breakfast, head downstream to Pittsfield. In the Westside district, the heart of Pittsfield’s black community, there is no better symbol of the river’s reintegration into city life than the Westside Riverway Parkwhich opened in 2021.

Tessa Kelly, a Pittsfield native and Harvard-educated architect, was part of the project design group. Her goals – the results of a community engagement process – were to ease access to the river for a new generation of nature lovers while creating a venue that would support the neighborhood’s block party tradition. I love the park’s three grass-covered hills, which create cozy spaces that she described as “outdoor rooms.” Also note the performance pavilion, the sleek steel landscape border and the seats carved from Berkshire granite.

Local loyalties have long been divided between two restaurants, Theo’s And Hot dog farm. They all specialize in baby hot dogs (a Pittsfield tradition), each has its own secret sauce, and they are located along separate branches of the Housatonic. Ms. Kelly is all in for Teo’s — “I would go there for a root beer and dogs with my dad after gym,” she recalls — while the actor, director and Pittsfield resident Elizabeth Banks is partially to Hot Dog Ranch ($1.90 for a mini frank; Tater Tots, $3.50).

After lunch you will go to Fred Garner Parkwhere a short path leads to the confluence of the western and eastern branches of the river and the beginning of the main branch. I like to come here in the summer, when birds and insects dance and dodge over the winding streams, and also in colder times, when crimson leaves or dissolving snowflakes land in the rush to the sea.

On the water

No scenic views as a substitute for getting out on the water. I recommend the Mass Audubon’s naturalist-led summer canoe trips, which my husband and I first took during the pandemic. As the built world disappeared behind the river’s sinuous curves, I gave in to the dreamy motion—almost effortlessly, until we finally paddled upstream—feeling more attuned than ever to the ecosystem that fringed my childhood.

More often the catch-and-release trips of Berkshire Rivers Fly Fishing. (Fish caught in the Housatonic in Massachusetts should do that not be consumed.) Harry Desmond, the owner, fished with his father during his youth in Berkshire before moving to Montana in 1998. After training as a fishing guide and working at Yellowstone, he returned home in 2009 and quickly went into business introducing both locals and visitors to the Hoosie and the trout, smallmouth bass and pike that now thrive there.

Based on weather and water conditions, Mr. Desmond chooses a river landing site as a starting point. From there, float downstream to end at another (half-day tours, $350 for two). Mr. Desmond also offers customized experiences for veterans, Gold Star families and trauma survivors. “I promise to create space for them, a safe place on the boat, outside of their normal daily lives,” he told me. “Fishing is meditation through activity,” he said. “Sometimes I ask a guest, ‘What have you been thinking about?’ And the best answer is ‘nothing.'”

Time-strapped visitors to Berkshire can be torn between natural splendor and cultural pursuits. They can find both at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge. Although Rockwell is not known to have painted the Housatonic, his museum is located above some of the most fascinating meanders. Buy art supplies in the gift shop and take a seat on the museum lawn or on the riverside meditation bench. Once your outdoor masterpiece is complete, take a picnic to the car-free Butler Bridge. My mother and I often came here in the years when her health made long walks impossible.

From Stockbridge, head south to Great Barrington, home of the Housatonic River Walk. Since 1988, Rachel Fletcher — theater designer, activist and resident of the late 1970s the former church in downtown Manhattan that became the Limelight nightclub — devoted three decades to organizing the cleanup of a stretch of the river polluted by neglect. Over lunch and a walk this spring, she described an era when household waste was routinely thrown into the river and the burned-out remains of a pharmacy were simply pushed over the bank. Volunteers removed tons of debris — rusted appliances, a safe, countless Spam cans — and built a walking trail. The first section opened in 1992. “It was 136 feet long,” Ms. Fletcher said. “I thought, if it doesn’t get longer, it will be a nice little park.”

Today, the River Walk’s fans include the writer and environmental activist Wendell Berry — consists of approximately half a mile of shaded riverside walking path, lined with native plants maintained by volunteers and Groenersan organization that brings young people into contact with nature conservation and agricultural work. The upstream segment starts with Pharmacy and Grocery Store Green Branch Urban Farm at 195 Main Street. You will soon pass under 15 Dresser Avenue, the former home and studio of Hungarian-born photographer Lucien Aigner, known for his photographs of Einstein and Haile Selassie.

Across the river you can see the foundations of the late 19th century laboratory William Stanley Jr.. — known for vacuum-sealed drinkware — developed practical electrical transformers that would revolutionize life by enabling efficient long-distance transmission of energy. Stanley’s Pittsfield factory was acquired by General Electric in 1903, eventually employing about 13,000 people and preserving the middle-class community of my youth; it also became the source of the PCBs whose removal from the river is still not completed.

As Mrs. Fletcher and I looked out over the river, I thought of my hometown upriver and its long-shuttered factories. I also remembered my parents and their deep love for the Berkshires. After they passed away, it seemed right to scatter a handful of their ashes over the river that flows so close to home.

I asked Ms. Fletcher about the sources of her devotion to the Hoosie. She quoted the civil rights leader and Great Barrington resident WEB Du Boiswho wrote that he was “born by a golden river” – the Housatonic, discolored by the waste of mills. In a Speech from 1930Du Bois urged his hometown to care for the long-neglected artery – to answer “her gracious invitation” and let it become the center “of a city, of a valley… of a new standard of civilized life .’

After a brief silence, Ms. Fletcher, who is 76, also shared a story from her childhood in suburban Baltimore. When she was 8 or 9, her father found her playing near a sewer connection in a nearby stream. She never forgot his angry and fearful tone when he forbade her from ever going near it again.

“I think I waited until I was an adult and found a river that was my size,” she said with a smile. “And so maybe this cleanup was somewhere in the back of my mind, something I’ve always been waiting for.”

Mark Vanhoenacker is an airline pilot and the author of “To fly” And “Imagine a city.”

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