After over two decades of advocacy by Berkshire residents, members of the community gathered to celebrate the completion of the Mohican Trail, a 2.5-mile multi-use recreational trail running from Route 7 to Syndicate Road along the Hoosic River, at a Sept. 7 ribbon-cutting ceremony held at Cole Field. Representatives from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) and Town government, as well as district legislators, attended.
“Projects like these are immense,” Williamstown Town Manager Robert Menicocci said at the beginning of the celebration. “They’re complicated, and it’s always kind of astounding the amount of time and energy … and really what’s required, as a team effort, for them to come to fruition.”
The ceremony celebrated both the trail’s completion and its new name, which honors the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans, upon whose ancestral lands the trail had been built.
“The state DOT had originally termed the project Mohawk Path due to the proximity to the historic Mohawk Trail route (Route 2), and many community members felt that this was both historically inaccurate and potentially confusing,” Director of Community Development Andrew Groff wrote in an email to the Record.
In August, the Williamstown Select Board passed a unanimous motion in favor of the name “Mohican Trail,” which was later approved by the Stockbridge-Munsee Tribal Council. According to Tribal Historic Preservation Manager Bonney Hartley, the issue of the trail’s name was first brought to the Town’s attention through the concern of local residents.
“Some local residents started to reach out, and it emerged as an issue,” she said. “Why is it being called [Mohawk] when it’s on Mohican territory?”
Beyond honoring the Indigenous inhabitants of the region, the name “Mohican Trail” was also chosen because of its meaning. “Mohican roughly translates to ‘The People of the Waters That Are Never Still’ due to the fact that they often settle along rivers,” Menicocci wrote in an email to the Record. “And we felt this was an appropriate name given the Recreational Path’s proximity to the Hoosic River.”
Having a trail named after the Mohican people on their ancestral lands was especially meaningful, Hartley said. “Our tribe has been erased,” she said. “So it is meaningful when people return back home here that they have places to go to and feel represented or reflected.”
Though the trail has essentially been complete and in use since fall 2022, final touch-ups were completed during spring 2023, according to Groff. MassDOT officially transferred ownership of the trail to the Town in July.
Advocacy for the creation of a trail designed specifically for bikers began over 20 years ago with Marjorie Cohan, president of the Berkshire Bike Path Council. “23 years ago, a small chorus of people started singing, ‘Bike path, bike path, bike path,’” Cohan said during the ceremony. “And everybody thought we were nuts.”
Even after planning for the trail began in 2010, construction of the trail faced many obstacles. While many similar trails are built on abandoned rail lines, which are easy to convert because of pre-existing infrastructure, the Mohican Trail was “brand new,” according to Groff. As a result, construction was halted due to various environmental and permitting challenges.
Other problems arose due to the trail’s location. “[T]his project presented so many new challenges with its alignment,” Secretary of MassDOT Gina Fiandaca said during the ceremony. “It’s located in a 100-year floodplain, the eastern section is located on FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] Hazard Mitigation Grant-protected property, and there were endangered species that we had to deal with.”
In light of these difficulties, the ceremony was marked by a mood of celebration and gratitude to those who supported the project from conception to completion.
“I’m here to offer the thanks of so many people who use the trail,” Cohan said during the ceremony. “Of course, the cyclists now on all kinds of bikes, joggers, rollerbladers… people of all ages from newborns to 90-year-olds, people with disabilities, local people, tourists from all over the world, people from every economic group … and find a peaceful place together. And I don’t think there are that many places in the world where you can say this happens every day.”
