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HOUSATONIC  RIVER WALK
GUIDE UPSTREAM

... it's cherishing something local
that everybody can have in common,
and to me a thing like that can't go wrong.
It's just a little narrow walkway, scaled right,
but it's an enormously suggestive thing.
                       -Wendell Berry about the River Walk

Welcome to River Walk, 
a greenway trail along the Housatonic River 
in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

River Walk is created by community volunteers who live in and around Great Barrington. It is maintained to allow public access to the river and to reclaim its banks for the benefit of wildlife and people. This guide describes the historical and environmental features of the River Walk and explains some of the technical means taken to build and maintain the trail and plant community.

River Walk exists through the generosity and permission of the property owners along the river 
so that the public may enjoy the riverbank habitat. 
As you walk along the trail, 
please remember that you are passing through private property 
and are here as a guest. 

How to use this guide 
River Walk roughly follows the west bank of the Housatonic River between Cottage Street and Bridge Street. The trail’s two completed sections are linked by Dresser avenue and River Street. The upstream section extends from the River Walk bulletin board at 195 Main Street to the William Stanley Overlook. The trail exits at the stairs to St. Peter’s Church parking lot on Dresser avenue. The downstream section of the trail begins adjacent to the Berkshire Corporation parking lot on River Street and ends at Bridge Street. 

There are thirteen points of interest shown on the River Walk maps—the Upstream Map shows sites A through F, and the Downstream Map, shows sites G through M. 

Let’s begin at site A at the River Walk entrance on Main Street. 

…the town had made a sewer of 
the beautiful Housatonic River, 
instead of the park it might have been
                       -Great Barrington native W.E.B. DuBois, 1960

A: ENTRANCE FROM MAIN STREET

You are about to enter River Walk through the gate at 195 Main Street. In 1988, the work of the River Walk began here when sixteen volunteers removed fifteen tons of accumulated rubbish and demolition debris from the riverbank. In time, the property owner, The Community land Trust of the Southern Berkshires, granted permission to construct a River Walk trail. Since then, more than 2,100 volunteers have continued the effort, collecting an additional 342 tons of assorted debris, reclaiming the riverbank, and building a half mile of nature and walking trail.
 
The bulletin board on your right displays a photo history of the River Walk project and the names of its volunteers and contributors.
 
as you descend the stairs, look to your left, past the sugar maple and dogwood planted in memory of Dr. Thomas and Mary Gilligan. You can see the conditions volunteers face when starting to clear a new section of trail. First, they selectively remove underbrush, dead and fallen trees, and grape and bittersweet vines, then carry the debris away. They install the trail using various leveling and cribbing techniques before applying a tread surface of gravel. Taking care to prevent the erosion of exposed soil, they plant and restore the riverbank. Benches, signage, fencing, lighting, railing, stairs and other finishing touches can then be added for your enjoyment. 

In this area, as Great Barrington developed during the industrial revolution, the Housatonic River became a “working” river spoiled by dioxins, raw sewage, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and everyday household waste. Many towns like Great Barrington were built with their backs to the river, abused by years of neglect. Now the river is seen as a natural treasure with spectacular views and wildlife such as bald eagle, osprey, kingfisher, egret and great blue heron. River Walk volunteers work to reclaim the river and connect it to downtown. 

CLICK HERE FOR HIGHER RESOLUTION MAPS

B: EROSION CONTROL AND TRAIL CRIBBING

Steep riverbank slopes are especially vulnerable to erosion. The two main causes of erosion here are water runoff from rooftops and shortcuts heedlessly blazed off the trail. We have installed catch basins and culverts to curtail and control water runoff. above the path, water from the rooftop of Rite aid Pharmacy is collected and used for irrigation. any overflow is slowly dispersed through an infiltration trench at the top of the slope. In other places, water is channeled under the trail. 

This site was occupied by Melvin’s Prescription Pharmacy when the building was completely gutted by fire in 1978. The charred debris was bulldozed over the bank. Twelve years later, in a massive cleanup effort, 108 volunteers representing dozens of community organizations removed over seventy-five tons of demolition debris and storm-damaged trees from the bank. after the clean up, the steep bank was stabilized, seeded, and mulched. Then in 2004, stormwater mitigation and irrigation projects enabled intensive restoration planting along the steep and fragile slope. The infiltration trench and irrigation system collect rooftop runoff, control erosion, and deliver water to a complement of appropriate native plants. The area is a seed source for propagating plants throughout the River Walk. 

The first 136 feet of River Walk trail, a simpler version of what you see today, opened to the public on November 1, 1992. large cribbing stones from Butternut Basin, installed to retain the bank above the trail, are all that remain from the original construction. The River Walk trail is designed, engineered and constructed under the leadership of Peter Jensen. 

as you proceed along the path you will pass a low stone seat that is dedicated to the memory of Comstock Small, River Walk’s most valued volunteer. Comstock devoted more than 1,000 hours over nine seasons, far more than any other person. 

C: MARBLE BENCH AND BOARDWALK

As you sit on the marble bench, you can look down on the large rock armouring that was installed in the 1950s to prevent the river from changing course and eroding its way toward Main Street. Rivers tend to flow faster along the outside of a curve like this one, picking up sediment and depositing it downstream along the next inside curve, where the river moves more slowly. 

One of the most fragile areas of the riverbank lies just behind you. Utility poles were placed to secure the steep slope. Selections of Berkshire County’s indigenous plants are introduced here to help retain soil on the steep slope. 

As you leave the bench and proceed downstream to the boardwalk, you are passing from the pharmacy property of the late Melvin katsh to the grounds of St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church. 
Steel sheet piling, installed in the 1950s, was cut through to make way for the boardwalk. The boardwalk decking is made of TrexTM, a building material made from reclaimed plastic and waste wood. Trex uses no virgin wood and is post-consumer recycled. River Walk uses this type of material where appropriate. 

You may be wondering why so many stakes are poking up out of the ground. These stakes offer safe, erosion-free footing for volunteers working on the bank. They catch leaves and branches that provide protective mulch. They help secure the bank until sufficient root structure develops. 
all along the riverbank, the ecosystem is very much influenced by humans. Much of the soil contains gravel and organic fill, laced with bits of debris that remain even after clean-up. Many plants that grow here were introduced from far away. Between the marble bench and the river is a katsura tree that is native to eastern asia. Its seed may have dispersed from a tree in a nearby garden. 

In fact, many of the plants that you see here are not indigenous and have been identified by state officials as invasive exotics, non-native plants that grow so prolifically they degrade our native biodiversity. Norway maples largely provide the tree canopy overhead. These prolific seeders often take over urban woodlands like this one. volunteers are restoring a more indigenous canopy by weeding out the Norway maples to allow native trees to grow. an understory of oriental bittersweet has slowly been replaced by young trees and shrubs such as viburnum and witch-hazel. The ground layer is being planted with native woodland plants. volunteers regularly remove prolific exotic seeders such as garlic mustard and celandine poppy. 

A list of native plants along the River Walk can be found at the end of this guide. If you are visiting River Walk in the spring, you will find a deliberate exception to the native ecosystem. For many years, an area florist donated a thousand daffodil bulbs each spring after taking a first cutting. River Walk volunteers planted the bulbs on the bank.(See the list of plants along the River Walk.)

D: FLOWFORMS AND SECUNDY BENCH

Below the trail are three concrete sculpted Flowforms. Inspired by hydrologist Theodor Schwenk and developed by John Wilkes and Jennifer Greene, Flowforms derive from the work of anthroposophist and educator Rudolf Steiner. Here, they receive water runoff from a storm drain on Main Street, then direct the flow through a pattern that aerates and helps purify the water before it reaches the Housatonic. Flowforms have been installed throughout the world in banks, schools, health centers, and parks and have been used successfully to help process raw sewage organically.

Below St. Peter’s Church, volunteers removed three tons of compost from a section of bank laden with trash, grass clippings and leaves. To stabilize the disturbed slope, three Norway maples were cut down and their trunks were tied into the bank, creating a terrace for new native trees to grow. 

As you continue along the walk, you will notice a service trail leading up to the church parking lot. It allows workers to access the compost bins with wheelbarrows.

As you approach the stone sitting area, you are entering the propertyof James and Gina Bashour. The bench was created by friends of Jim Secundy and dedicated to his love for the outdoors. The seating area is framed by a wattle fence constructed under the leadership of Wendy Jensen. 

Adjacent to the Bashour’s barn are compost bins created and used by River Walk. Organic materials are composted, then reused as soil amendments and mulch for new plantings. 

This 275-foot section of River Walk from the boardwalk to the stairs at site e opened to the public on October 23, 1994. The cribbing stones along this section of trail came from Beartown State Forest, Bidwell House, and the Hudson property in Monterey.

E: RIVER WALK FINDS AND NATIVE RECLAMATION

The river was once dammed here to power a gristmill that stood on the opposite bank. At site F you can read about the ruins of a rubber factory that can be seen directly across the river. 

You are standing on a section of trail constructed of gabion baskets, geotextile and gravel. each gabion is made of heavy gauge wire and measures 3' wide by 6' long by 1' (or 3') high. volunteers loaded fifty-two tons of rocks into the twenty-six gabions along the River Walk trail. 

as you pass the stairs leading up to the church parking lot, you are entering the Minges property. You may exit here or continue along the River Walk. at the top of the stairs, water runoff from the church parking lot is directed through a surface drain that traps oil and sediment before water discharges into the river. 

While excavating soil to place a gabion in this area, Comstock Small found a Native American hunting spear point made of Hudson valley churt. Here, volunteers removed more than ten tons of assorted household rubbish, including numerous Spam and Schaefer beer cans from the 1950’s, assorted shoes and plumbing parts. Upstream, votive candle shards, plastic flowers, and slate roofing tiles were taken from behind the church. Perfume bottles, decanters, and boxes of cigars were removed from the old Melvin’s Pharmacy, together with a 1961 Town of Great Barrington bicentennial coin and a large concrete safe. 

In 2007, River Walk partnered with the Minges family and cut the Norway maples that crowded this section of River Walk. Taking out the dense, non-native canopy allowed sun loving species to be introduced for the first time on the upstream section. Removing these trees eliminated a substantial seed source for this successful, but invasive plant. 

Native plants are the keystone of our reclamation work. They contribute to surface water quality by shading and cooling the river and by stabilizing the bank, preventing erosion and river siltation. Native plants contribute to riparian reclamation by cleansing and taking up pollutants and by replacing non-native invasive plants, which in turn increases biodiversity and expands wildlife habitat and food sources. We search out species that can survive, compete and adapt to River Walk’s disturbed and stressed conditions. We choose native seed sources because they have a genetic advantage in this region’s climate.

F: WILLIAM STANLEY OVERLOOK

On the opposite bank of the river, in 1886, electrical inventor William Stanley (1858–1916) developed his alternating-current transformer. His laboratory was in Horace Day’s rambling, vacant rubberwear factory, the foundation of which is just visible from where you stand. From here, Stanley ran wires across the river to light stores and offices on Great Barrington’s Main Street.

Stanley’s innovation allowed efficient, long-distance transmission of power. He went on to establish a manufactory of transformers and other electrical products in Pittsfield in the 1890s that evolved into General electric (GE). Ironically, a later innovation in power transformer production incorporated polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), the reckless handling and disposal of which resulted in major contamination of the Housatonic River. 

PCBs are toxic and a suspected carcinogen. Used as insulating fluids in electrical transformers for forty years, large quantities of PCBs leached into the river from the power transformer division at the GE plant in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, just thirty-five miles upstream. In a settlement reached in 1999, GE agreed to clean the first two miles of highly contaminated river sediment in the vicinity of the Pittsfield plant. as of 2008, corrective measures for remaining areas of contamination are being negotiated.

The William Stanley Overlook, a tribute to Great Barrington’s industrial heritage, was dedicated on June 3, 2006 with three generations of Stanley descendents attending. Property developer Dale Culleton donated the limestone from local sources for the cul de sac. 

For more information about William Stanley in Great Barrington, read; Fifty Sites in Great Barrington, Massachussetts, Associated with William Stanley, Jr. and the Emergence of the Modern Electrical Age by Bernard Drew. 

A new section of trail resumes downstream. [Go to River Walk Downstream.] To continue your tour of River Walk, exit up the stairs to the parking lot and turn left onto Dresser avenue. after 300 feet, the street turns right into River Street. Proceed another 300 feet to the River Walk entry sign on your left. 

It is our hope that volunteers will one day plan and complete the gap between the two sections of trail.

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER

The Housatonic River flows 150 miles from four sources in western Massachusetts, passing through the Berkshires and western Connecticut before it empties into long Island Sound. The watershed, or land area that drains into the river, encompasses 1,948 square miles and includes hundreds of rivers and streams.

TO LEARN MORE AND GET INVOLVED

River Walk is a project of the Great Barrington land Conservancy. The Conservancy manages leases and easements granting public access to the trail, on behalf of the local community. 

In addition to its volunteers, River Walk benefits from the efforts of interns who assist with all aspects of development and maintenance. They learn about riverine ecology and the practicalities of maintaining a public space, while earning credit in their field of study. 

River Walk provides a space for on-site education and offers lectures, tours and other educational programs about native plants, riparian ecology and local history. 

For more information about volunteer workdays, internships, educational programs or tours, 
please contact Rachel Fletcher, at 413.528.3391 
or river@gbriverwalk.org 
Or visit our website at www.gbriverwalk.org 

VOLUNTEERS AND PERSONNEL

River Walk is a community project directed by Rachel Fletcher and created by approximately 2100 volunteers. .

The River Walk trail is designed by Peter Jensen of Peter S. Jensen & associates. The landscape restoration is directed by Monica Fadding of Marconica, Inc. and Heather Cupo of Plant Euphoria. 

Volunteers with more than 100 hours in the field include Gail Berneike, Don Bernier, Glen Chamberlin, Peter Ghani Champoux, Ann Condon, Heather Cupo, Dana Cummings, Bernard Drew, Monica Schultz Fadding, Rachel Fletcher, Erik Jensen, Peter Jensen, Alden Johnson, Bernard Kirchner, John Mallory, Tony Manzon, Will Marsh, Bob Mills, Judd Reiss and Comstock Small.
 
Student volunteers with more than 50 hours in the field include Andrew Baxter, Jessie Drew, Willa Johnson, Ben Kalish, Hannah Kirchner, Ben Passmore, Andy Ritter, and Aaron Seymour. 

Interns as of 2008 include: Ryan Caruso, Jennifer Goodwillie, Dan Hassett, Hilary kirchner, Penelope lord, Zachary Mino, Phyu Hninn Nyein, Kristen Sanzone, William Powell Strayer, Peter Tiso, and Jenna Turner.

Inventory of trash removed by River Walk volunteers between 1988 and 2007:

259 - tons of rubble/garbage
11 - tons of metal
84 - tons of wood waste and fire wood
3 - tons of compost

GRAND TOTAL: 357 total tons

ORIGINAL PROPERTY OWNERS ALONG THE RIVER WALK

The Community land Trust in the Southern Berkshires, presently Peter Hill, Pink Cloud 
Melvin J. Katsh, presently Rite Aid Pharmacy 
Roman Catholic Bishop of Springfield (St. Peters Parish) 
Lucien and Steven Aigner, presently James and Gina Bashour 
Nion Robert Thieriot and Roger C. Tryon, presently Josh Minges 
Dale Culleton 
Berkshire Corporation 
Town of Great Barrington 

A FEW NOTES ABOUT TRAIL ETIQUETTE

Please remember that you are passing through private property 
and are here as a guest. 

Please remember that it is unsafe to use the trail during icy conditions 
and therefore the trail is closed during the winter months. 

Please curb your dog. Waste bags are provided on both trail sections. 
Our volunteers appreciate their use. 

Please remember that the path is constructed for walking and nature viewing only. 
No bicycles. 

Please use the proper entrances and exits. 
Stay on the delineated trail where it is safe to travel. 

Riverbank slopes are sensitive to erosion. 
Please do not climb on the bank. 

Please respect the desire of others for a smoke-free environment. 
Cigarette butts are not biodegradable. 

Please help us to keep River Walk clean. 
Carry out what you carried in. 

Please consider picking up any litter you see along the trail. 

Please leave the flowers for all to enjoy. 

CONTRIBUTIONS 

River Walk is a project of the Great Barrington Land Conservancy. Conservation leases and easements granting public access to the trail are managed by the Conservancy on behalf of the local community.

Donations are tax-deductible and may be sent to:
Housatonic River Walk
P. O. Box 1018
Gt. Barrington, MA 01230 USA

Please consider
DONATE ONLINE to RIVER WALK FUND
Through the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation
Safe, Secure and Appreciated

For further information about River Walk,
please contact Rachel Fletcher,
413-528-3391, or river@gbriverwalk.org.

PUBLICATIONS

Drew, Bernard a. 1995. River Walk: History Underfoot. 
______. 2002. Fifty Sites in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Associated with the Civil Rights Activist W. E. B. Du Bois. 
______. 2006. Fifty Sites in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Associated with William Stanley, Jr. and the Emergence of the Modern Electrical Age. 
Levinson, David, ed. 2006. African American Heritage in the Upper Housatonic Valley. 
Smith, Howard. 2000. “Great Barrington (and Simsbury, Connecticut) in king Philip’s War.” Pamphlet. 
Sorrie, Bruce and Paul Somers. 1999. Vascular Plants of Massachusetts: A Checklist. 
Weatherbee, Pamela. 1996. Flora of Berkshire County Massachusetts.

[Go to River Walk Downstream]

[Return to River Walk Home Page]
Contributors to the River Walk Guide include Heather Cupo, Monica Fadding, Rachel Fletcher, Suzanne Fowle and Comstock Small. 
Excerpts by Wendell Berry reprinted with permission from U.S. Catholic magazine, Claretian Publications, www.uscatholic.org, 800-328-6515. 
Excerpts by W. E. B. Du Bois, 1920, Darkwater; 1930, “The Housatonic River Speech,” Berkshire Courier; 1960, to Ronald Linder, Berkshire Courier; 1961, reprinted with permission of the family of the late George P. Fitzpatrick. 
© 2008 Great Barrington land Conservancy