The Housatonic River ( ) is a river, approximately long,
[U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data]
The National Map
, accessed April 1, 2011 in western
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
and western
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...
in the United States. It flows south to southeast, and drains about of southwestern
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...
into
Long Island Sound. Its
watershed
Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to:
Hydrology
* Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins
* Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...
is just to the west of the watershed of the lower
Connecticut River
The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges at Long Islan ...
.
History
Indigenous history
Indigenous people began using the river area for fishing and hunting at least 6,000 years ago. By 1600, the inhabitants were mostly
Mohicans and may have numbered 30,000.
The river's name is derived from the
Mohican phrase ''"usi-a-di-en-uk"'', translated as "beyond the mountain place" or "river of the mountain place".
[Housatonic Valley Association. Cornwall Bridge, CT]
"History of the Housatonic Valley."
Accessed 2015-10-1. It is referred to in the deed by which a group of twelve colonists called "The Proprietors" captured the land now called
Sherman and
New Fairfield as "Ousetonack".
Samuel Orcutt
Samuel Orcutt (1824–1893) was an American historian and genealogist. He is the author of many books on Connecticut towns and family histories. Orcutt also wrote a history called ''The Indians of the Housatonic and Naugatuck Valleys'' (Hartf ...
, a 19th-century historian, explained the term's pronunciation as "more properly...Howsatunnuck" and also noted an early spelling in the form of "Oweantinock".
Prior to the 18th century, the river was alternatively known as the Pootatuck River. Accounts differ on the origin of this name, with some claiming that Pootatuck is an Algonquian term translating to "river of the falls"
while others relate the term was eponymous, reflecting the name of the tribe that had their principal village along the river in the area of
Newtown, Connecticut.
"Pootatuck River" eventually came to refer a lesser tributary in the Housatonic watershed which empties into the Housatonic River at
Sandy Hook, Connecticut.
The river passes through land that was formerly occupied primarily by native people of
Algonquian lineage, typically living in villages of two to three hundred families housed in hide wigwams.
These native inhabitants burned the forests along the Housatonic Valley in the autumn to keep the underbrush down, a practice which was customary throughout Connecticut prior to European settlement.
One notable native was
Chief Squantz of the
Schaghticoke tribe, who still hold a portion of the former reservation on the west side of the Housatonic River, in what is now called the town of
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
.
[
English settlement of the northern Housatonic Valley began in 1725 in Sheffield, Massachusetts.] By 1734, Mohicans established the Indian Town of Stockbridge, which grew over 15 years but then failed, with land pressures increasing.
Industrialization
The river has been a source of power for paper, iron, textiles, and electricity industries. At Great Barrington, a grist mill built by David Ingersoll in 1739 used the river for power. The paper industry grew using the river's power from circa 1800.
The river was dammed with the advent of industry. In 1900, there were 30 dams on the river in Pittsfield. Many have been removed, but many remain, such as the Woods Pond dam in Lenox, Columbia Mill dam in Lee, Willow Mill dam in South Lee, Glendale dam in Stockbridge, and Rising Pond dam in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
Later settler history
Inspired by the river during his honeymoon, the American classical music composer Charles Ives wrote "The Housatonic at Stockbridge" as part of his composition '' Three Places in New England'' during the 1910s, drawing his text from a poem of the same name by Robert Underwood Johnson
Robert Underwood Johnson (January 12, 1853 – October 14, 1937) was an American writer, poet, and diplomat.
Biography
Robert Underwood Johnson was born in Centerville, Indiana, on January 12, 1853. His brother Henry Underwood Johnson b ...
. The town of Stockbridge is located in southwestern Massachusetts. The river enters Stockbridge on the east side of town before turning south toward Connecticut.
There is an American nuclear weapon test of the same name, although it is not known if the name originated from the river or some other source.
The United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
named a ship for the Housatonic River. The has the distinction of being the first ship in history to be sunk by a submarine, the Confederate vessel CSS ''H.L. Hunley''.
Covered wooden bridges
Three wooden covered bridges cross the Housatonic River. Two are in Connecticut: one known as Bull's Bridge, which spans the river between Gaylordsville and Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, and another at Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...
, known as the West Cornwall Covered Bridge
The West Cornwall Covered Bridge (an earlier incarnation was known as the Hart Bridge) is a wooden covered lattice truss bridge carrying the Sharon-Goshen Turnpike over the Housatonic River in the town of Cornwall, Connecticut. Records indicate ...
. Reinforced with present-day materials, both bridges carry normal vehicle traffic, albeit in only one direction at a time. The third bridge, Old Covered Bridge located in Sheffield, Massachusetts, was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1998; it is now open only to foot traffic.
UFO sighting and monument
In 1969, nine-year-old Thom Reed and his family claimed to see a bright light rise from the Housatonic River, then found themselves inside "what appeared to be an airplane hangar," where they saw creatures that "resembled large insects." Supporters of the family erected a memorial to the incident at the Old Covered Bridge in Sheffield, Massachusetts, in 2015. The 5,000-pound memorial was removed by the town in 2019. The incident featured in a 2020 episode of ''Unsolved Mysteries
''Unsolved Mysteries'' is an American mystery documentary television show, created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. Documenting cold cases and paranormal phenomena, it began as a series of seven specials, presented by Raymond Burr, Ka ...
'' on Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
.
Ecology and wildlife
Historically, the Housatonic River and its Naugatuck River tributary hosted the southernmost spawning runs of the Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar''). The Salmon Creek tributary of the Housatonic River may have been named for this salmonid, which can reach up to .
Pollution
PCBs
From ''circa'' 1932 until 1977, the river received PCB pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, th ...
discharges from the General Electric (GE) plant at 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� ...
. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...
(EPA) designated the Pittsfield plant and several miles of the Housatonic as a Superfund
Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency ...
site in 1997, and ordered GE to remediate the site. EPA and GE began a cleanup of the area in 1999. Most of the PCBs used in the United States during this period were made by Monsanto. Aroclor 1254 and Aroclor 1260, made by Monsanto, was a primary contaminant of the pollution in the Housatonic River. Although the water quality has improved in recent decades, and some remediation has taken place, the river continues to be contaminated by PCBs.
As of 2020 GE has completed remediation and restoration of the 10 manufacturing plant areas within the city, and is conducting inspection, monitoring and maintenance activities. Additional remediation is planned for the downstream polluted areas of the river. The highest concentrations of PCBs in the Housatonic River are found in Woods Pond in Lenox, Massachusetts, just south of Pittsfield, where they have been measured up to 110 mg/kg in the sediment.[ About 50% of all the PCBs currently in the river are estimated to be retained in the sediment behind Woods Pond dam. This is estimated to be about 11,000 pounds of PCBs.][ Former filled oxbows are also polluted.]
Birds, such as ducks, and fish that live in and around the river contain significant levels of PCBs and can present health risks if consumed.
;"Rest of River" settlement agreement
Negotiations regarding how to clean up the contaminated areas south of Pittsfield had continued for many years since the initial Superfund site designations, involving GE, EPA, local governments, citizen groups and other stakeholders. In February 2020 EPA announced a settlement agreement
In law, a settlement is a resolution between disputing parties about a legal case, reached either before or after court action begins. A collective settlement is a settlement of multiple similar legal cases. The term also has other meanings in t ...
involving GE, EPA and most of the concerned parties, to remove contaminated sediment from the river. Highly contaminated soil would be removed and shipped to federally approved facilities outside the state, while less-contaminated soil would be placed in a new specially designed landfill in Berkshire County.
Following a public comment period, EPA issued a permit in December 2020 for the final cleanup phase. In 2021 two of the citizen groups that were parties to the settlement filed an appeal of the permit, criticizing the design of the planned landfill. In February 2022 the US Environmental Appeals Board denied the permit appeal. The citizen groups may appeal the board's ruling to the First Circuit Court of Appeals.
Mercury
The Connecticut segment of the river is polluted with mercury levels far beyond background levels, starting at the confluence with the Still River. The hat manufacturing industry of Danbury, Connecticut, which operated from the 19th to the mid-20th century, was the source of most of this mercury pollution, from mercury nitrate used in the felting process. In the 21st century, the mercury remains in the river sediment and flows downstream, especially during storm events. High mercury levels are measured in the sediment at the outflow delta of the Housatonic River into Long Island Sound.
Watershed and course
The Housatonic River watershed drains in western Connecticut and Massachusetts and eastern New York.[ The Housatonic rises from four sources in far western ]Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
in the Berkshire Mountains
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 e ...
near the city of Pittsfield
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 flows southward through western Massachusetts through the Berkshires and into western Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...
, and empties into the Long Island Sound between the cities of Stratford and Milford, forming a border between Connecticut's Fairfield County and New Haven County
New Haven County is a county in the south central part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. As of the 2020 census, the population was 864,835, making it the third-most populous county in Connecticut. Two of the state's top 5 largest cities, Ne ...
, respectively.
The river's total fall is ( from the confluence of its east and west branches) to Long Island Sound. Its major tributaries in Massachusetts are (heading downstream) the Williams River (in Great Barrington), Green River and Konkapot River
The Konkapot River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 river in southwestern Massachusetts and northern Connecticut. It is a tributary of the Housatonic R ...
(in Ashley Falls). Crossing south into Connecticut, the Housatonic's major tributaries are the Blackberry River
The Blackberry River is a westward-flowing river located entirely in the far northwest corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The river runs for through the towns of Norfolk and North Canaan, where it empties into the Housatonic River. The ri ...
(in Canaan
Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...
), Salmon Creek (below Falls Village), Ten Mile River (above Gaylordsville but originating in New York), Still River (south of New Milford), Shepaug River (at the Bridgewater and Southbury border), Pomperaug River (at Southbury), and Naugatuck River (in Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...
). The Naugatuck River is the Housatonic's largest tributary with a contributing watershed of .[
Five dams impound the river in Connecticut to produce ]hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...
: the Falls Village, Bulls Bridge, Shepaug, Stevenson and Derby dams. The last three dams form a chain of lakes: Lake Lillinonah
Lake Lillinonah is a manmade lake located in Fairfield, Litchfield and New Haven counties of Western Connecticut, approximately northeast of New York City. It is the second largest lake in Connecticut, smaller only than Candlewood Lake. The ...
, Lake Zoar and Lake Housatonic, from New Milford south to Shelton.
Recreation
The Housatonic River is a popular whitewater paddling destination beginning at Falls Village, Connecticut, and continuing to Gaylordsville. Most of the river is quickwater and Class I whitewater with long sections of Class II-III whitewater. A deadly and extreme Class VI resides at Great Falls in Canaan
Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...
(Falls Village) and is most likely not able to be paddled. The most dangerous and difficult section that is navigable is by Bulls Bridge, with Class V whitewater.
There are several minor and major dams along the river that form lakes. Most notable are two lakes in Connecticut, Lake Zoar, which borders Monroe, Newtown, Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, and Southbury, and Lake Lillinonah
Lake Lillinonah is a manmade lake located in Fairfield, Litchfield and New Haven counties of Western Connecticut, approximately northeast of New York City. It is the second largest lake in Connecticut, smaller only than Candlewood Lake. The ...
. Both lakes are major water-sport recreation outlets for the surrounding towns.
Two of the three lakes formed by the dams are used for rowing by clubs, schools, and to host regattas. Lake Lillinonah is used by the GMS Rowing Center and is host to the GMS Regatta.[GMS Rowing Center. New Milford, CT]
"About Us/Vision."
Lake Housatonic is used by the Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
Crew Team at the Gilder Boathouse and by the New Haven Rowing Club. It is also host to the Derby Sweeps & Sculls and th
Head of the Housatonic
The Housatonic River is also a popular fly fishing destination. Fly fishing on the Housatonic River has been compared with western rivers and is among the finest for trout in the eastern United States. The most popular area for fly fishing is in Litchfield County, Connecticut, between the dam at Falls Village and Cornwall Bridge
The Cornwall Bridge (also known as Bridge No. 560) is a two-lane, concrete arch bridge carrying U.S. Route 7/ Connecticut Route 4 over the Housatonic River and the Housatonic Railroad in northwestern Connecticut. It was built in 1930 b ...
.
The Appalachian Trail follows the river along this section from the Bulls Bridge covered wooden bridge near Kent to Falls Village.
Major crossings
As U.S. Route 7 runs along the Housatonic River Valley between Pittsfield and New Milford, it crosses the Housatonic several times.
See also
*List of Connecticut rivers
Most of Connecticut's rivers flow into Long Island Sound and from there the waters mix into the Atlantic Ocean. A few extremely eastern rivers flow into Block Island Sound. The list is arranged by drainage basin from east to west, with respective t ...
*List of Massachusetts rivers
List of rivers of Massachusetts ( U.S. state).
All Massachusetts rivers flow to the Atlantic Ocean. The list is arranged by drainage basin from north to south, with respective tributaries indented under each larger stream's name, arranged travelli ...
References
External links
Housatonic Valley Association
Housatonic River Initiativer-Riverkeeper
GE's Website reviewing the options for Housatonic River cleanup
Music Web
Online paddling map of the Housatonic River
GE/Housatonic River Site: Introduction
US EPA
{{authority control
Long Island Sound
Milford, Connecticut
Rivers of Berkshire County, Massachusetts
Rivers of Fairfield County, Connecticut
Rivers of Litchfield County, Connecticut
Rivers of New Haven County, Connecticut
Connecticut placenames of Native American origin
Massachusetts placenames of Native American origin
Rowing venues in the United States
Stratford, Connecticut
Rivers of Massachusetts
Rivers of Connecticut