Photo from My Scenic Drives
Driving along the Mohawk Trail during autumn is a kaleidoscope of colors as the leaves change to russet, amber and scarlet.
This weekend getaway is due to visit to see my husband’s family in Boston. The route starts at Interstate 90 and takes you along Highway 2 through sunlit valleys and tunnels of color changing trees and ending in Williamstown, Mass.
Our first stop is Shelburne Falls. Here you find the Bridge of Flowers and once a derelict trolley bridge brought back to life by the Shelburne Falls Women’s Club and turned to an oasis of blooming asters, Montauk daises and black-eyed Susans.
Glaciers wandered there way here in the last ice age and melting created potholes in the granite that can be seen today. They can be found at the end of Deerfield Avenue and just a short walk from the Bridge of Flowers.
Charlemont is the next stop on the trail First you would come up to highway 8A going north and .3 miles up the road is the 160 foot long Bissell Covered Bridge. After seeing the bridge you head back to Highway 2. In a roadside park nearby on Highway 2 you will see a prominent bronze statue of a Mohawk Native-American and a reflecting pool. A tablet in the shape of arrowhead reads “Hail to the Sunrise- In Memory of the Mohawk Indian.”
Next road to look for is Whitcomb Hill Road, which leads to the Hoosac Tunnel. Follow this road back down to the Deerfield River. Take a left on River Road until it crosses the railroad tracks. Look here for the eastern portal of the Hoosac Tunnel engineered and completed in the 1873 by blasting through five miles of sheer granite.
Back on Highway 2 you will come to Hairpin Turn, which is the highest point on the road. Here you can have a vista of the mountains all around you and if you are here in the fall the rainbow of colors of the leaves changing.
Another amazing rock formation can be found when you enter North Adams. If you make a right on Beaver Street then a left on McAuley Road you can find Natural Bridge State Park. It is the only natural white marble arch in North America.
Our day will end here and we will be staying the night at the historic The Porches Inn.
