The Ashuwillticook Rail Trail is a

rail trail A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...

built on a former

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

corridor that runs parallel to Route 8 through the towns of

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, Lanesborough and Adams, and into the city of

Pittsfield, Massachusetts Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield� ...

. It is a multi-use trail for biking, walking, roller-blading, and jogging. The trail is managed by the

Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is a state agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, situated in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. It is best known for its parks and parkways. The DCR's mission is ...

(DCR). Its first two phases opened in 2001 and 2004, with a 1.2-mile northerly extension added in 2017. A extension, which runs South from the old Berkshire Mall to Crane Ave, opened in the spring of 2022. The southern end of the trail begins at Crane Ave, off of Route 8 in Pittsfield, and travels north to the center of Adams. The Ashuwillticook Rail Trail passes through the Hoosac River Valley, between

Mount Greylock Mount Greylock is a mountain located in the northwest corner of Massachusetts and is the highest point in the state. Its summit is in the western part of the town of Adams (near its border with Williamstown) in Berkshire County. Geologicall ...

and the

Hoosac Mountains ''Hoosac'' is an Algonquian word meaning ''place of stones''. Hoosic, Hoosick or Hoosac may refer to: Communities *Hoosac, Montana, an unincorporated community in Fergus County *Hoosick, New York, a town in Rensselaer County **Hoosick Falls, New Y ...

. Cheshire Reservoir, the

Hoosic River The Hoosic River, also known as the Hoosac, the Hoosick (primarily in New York) and the Hoosuck (mostly archaic), is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed October 3, 2011 tri ...

, and associated wetland communities flank much of the trail. The word Ashuwillticook (ash-oo-will-ti-cook) is from the American Indian name for the south branch of the Hoosic River and literally means “at the in-between pleasant river,” or in common tongue, “the pleasant river in between the hills.”

History

Built during the industrial boom of the 1800s, the railway proved to be a vital commercial link from the

Atlantic Seaboard The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Eastern United States meets the North Atlantic Ocean. The eastern seaboard contains the coa ...

to communities which would have otherwise been isolated in the

Berkshire Hills The Berkshires () are a highland geologic region located in the western parts of Massachusetts and northwest Connecticut. The term "Berkshires" is normally used by locals in reference to the portion of the Vermont-based Green Mountains that ex ...

. In 1845, the

Pittsfield and North Adams Railroad The Pittsfield and North Adams Railroad was a railroad based in northwestern Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1842 and was purchased by the Western Railroad of Massachusetts before construction was finished in 1846, then acquired by the Boston ...

developed this corridor with the goal of extending the

Housatonic Railroad The Housatonic Railroad ( ) is a Class III railroad operating in southwestern New England and eastern New York. It was chartered in 1983 to operate a short section of ex-New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in northwestern Connecticut, and ...

north to

Rutland, Vermont Rutland, Vermont may refer to: *Rutland (city), Vermont * Rutland (town), Vermont *Rutland County, Vermont *West Rutland, Vermont West Rutland is a town in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,214 at the 2020 census. The t ...

. While the track was under construction, the company was acquired by the Western Railroad, which later became part of the

Boston and Albany Railroad The Boston and Albany Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Albany, New York, later becoming part of the New York Central Railroad system, Conrail, and CSX Transportation. The line is currently used by CSX for freight. Pass ...

(B&A), as their North Adams Branch. Mineral traffic developed on the line and a number of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

operations went into business. The

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

took over the B&A in 1900, and upgraded the line, which was sold to the

Boston and Maine Corporation The Boston and Maine Railroad was a U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. Originally chartered in 1835, it became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983 (most of which was purchased by CSX in 2022). At the end of 1970, B ...

(B&M) in 1981. As a connection to an existing track in North Adams, B&M operated the line until 1990.

References

External links

*
Ashuwillticook Rail Trail
Rails To Trails Conservancy/Trail Link {{authority control Rail trails in Massachusetts State parks of Massachusetts Parks in Berkshire County, Massachusetts Lanesborough, Massachusetts Adams, Massachusetts Sports in Berkshire County, Massachusetts Pittsfield, Massachusetts