W. E. B. DUBOIS
RIVER GARDEN
Rescue the Housatonic and clean it as we have never in all the years thought before
of cleaning it... restore its ancient beauty; making it the center of a town, of a valley, and perhaps-who knows? of a new measure of civilized
life. -W.E.B. Du Bois, 1930
Great Barrington is "turning its back to the river," W. E. B.
Du Bois warned in a talk about the Housatonic River for the annual meeting of the alumni of Great Barrington and Searles high schools in July, 1930.
(See text of speech.) The speaker commended the town for having created what is now Stanley Park near Cottage Street, according to
The Berkshire Courier for July 24, 1930, but he "expressed the hope that upon his next visit to his native town he would see even greater improvements along the
Housatonic."
If Du Bois were to visit today, we hope he would appreciate the result of
seventeen years of community effort to create a Housatonic River Walk, where some
1,900 volunteers have transformed a once-blighted section of riverbank into a public riverside greenway. They have removed more than
365 tons of rubble and debris, restored the riverbank to its native ecology and installed one half-mile of public trail. More than half of the volunteers have been school-age children and young adults. Most recently they reclaimed an area that had served unofficially as a dump, creating a small park with lovely
native plantings
and a stone sitting area. This park, which serves as an entrance to River Walk, is located a few paces from where Du Bois was born. The park includes a
"rain garden" where stormwater from the street is collected and cleansed by wetland plants before making its way to the river.
For some time, River Walk volunteers have been inspired by Du Bois's special regard for the "golden river" near which he was born. Again in 1961, he wrote to Searles Alumni Association president George P. Fitzpatrick and admonished the town for failing to clean and restore the river to "a clear and limpid stream, flowing gently through grass, trees, and flowers, flanked by broad roadways and parks as the life stream of the town."
Du Bois's hopes for the Housatonic summarize River Walk's mission and inspired the dedication of the River Garden to his memory.
For this valley, the river must be the center. Certainly it is the physical center; perhaps, in a sense, the spiritual center. Perhaps from that very freeing of spirit will come other freedoms and inspirations and aspirations which may be steps toward the
diffusion and diversification and enriching of culture throughout this land.
-W.E.B. Du Bois, 1930
The W. E. B. Du Bois River Garden was
dedicated on
Saturday, September 28, 2002.
(See invitation
and dedication program.) It is a site
on the Upper Housatonic Valley
African American Heritage Trail.
Contributions to the perpetual care of River Walk and the W E B Du Bois River Garden are tax-deductible and may be sent to:
River Walk
P.O. Box 1018
Great Barrington, MA 01230
(413) 528-3391 river@gbriverwalk.org