This morning we decided to go to our local deli for breakfast as they have seating at the grill where you can sit and watch them cook breakfast like they do in the movies! Having said that it was a really nice breakfast, so once we finished that we walked back to the hotel and got in the car. Today we have worked out a route that covers most of the scenic routes in the area and will bring us back along the Mohawk trail which is one of the most scenic in the area. The Mohawk Trail region stretches from the Massachusetts-New York line to Millers fall on the Connecticut river which is 63 miles. We drove out through a few small towns and saw some wonderful scenery, it is another bright sunny but cold day, although not quite as cold as yesterday as we didn’t have to scrape ice off the car but it does make everything look really nice. We followed the route stopping if we saw something nice until we got to Deerfield which has a historic district. Deerfield was settled in 1669 and it is notable for the bloody confrontation of the settlers with the French and Native Americans on February 1704. 56 Colonists were killed including 22 men, 9 women and 25 children, the attackers took 112 captives and forced them on a months long track to Quebec. Many died along the way and others were killed because they couldn’t keep up. Local communities collected funds to achieve their release although it seems to have been achieved through negotiation, most of the captives eventually returned to New England although a number of the children had been raised by the Native Americans and others remained by choice in the French and Native communities for the rest of their lives. We walked round the town then set off again. Our next stop was in Shelburne Falls, this is on the Deerfield River and is known for the Glacial Potholes and Salmon Falls that form part of the river. It also has a bridge of flowers which was originally the bridge that the trolly bridge crossed over, it was built in 1908 but was abandoned when the trolly line was closed down in 1928. Antoinette and Walter Burnham decided to transform the derelict structure into a flower bridge which finally became a reality in 1928, there are 500 varieties of flower and it originally had an operating budget of $1,000 per year but now takes significantly more. We drove to the top of Whitcomb summit which is 2272 feet and has a statue of an Elk and a hotel at the top of it. We went up from the east and came down around the infamous hairpin turn which also has a hotel, but it does give fantastic views of the Taconic Mountains! Our final stop was to the top of Mount Greylock which is the largest mountain in the area at 3,489 feet. At the top is a Veterans War Memorial which is a 93 foot high lighthouse like tower, it is also one of the mountains that people walking the Appalachian Trail cross. By the time we had walked round it was closing so we didn’t bother walking to the top but to be honest I am not sure another 93 feet would change the view much as it was fairly spectacular anyway. We decided to set off back for the hotel and arrived about 5.30 in time to have a bit of a relax before dinner then packing up and heading out tomorrow.
