Papa Bear
New member
I went to college in Williamstown, Massachusetts and graduated in 1964. In the basement of my fraternity house was a sign reading "Berkshires to the Cape Bridle Path" that I recall had carved letters on a rustic log or some similar piece of wood. I had evidently been "liberated" from it's original setting at some point in the past. I don't recall anyone who knew where it came from, but I assumed it was from some spot near the college. Another memory, even more remote, was there was another sign referencing either the state line, or the MA-NY-VT tri-point, but that may be a spurious memory. In any case there were (and are) a multitude of old woods roads up on the ridge near that point, so the bridle path may have gone up to that vicinity.
I thought about it then and occasionally through the following years how cool such a path would be. Especially now in the age of long hiking paths and biking paths. I never went further than the thinking stage, and in fact, I don't think I have mentioned it to anyone since leaving college.
For some reason I thought about it today. Now it is possible that I am the only person in the world with a living memory of an actual artifact of this trail, but I thought I'd throw the question out to this group.
I found a document which appears to be related to depression era WPA projects. The document, in PDF format, is located at: Progress report on state planning for Massachusetts. 1936 (1936)
An excerpt (on page 307) follows:
Riding
Bridle trails in Massachusetts consist of several local municipal
units, some few miles developed on the State Forests and Res-
ervations, a few miles developed by the Metropolitan District Commission
on their reservations and parkways, and the Berkshires to
the Cape Trail, a through trail 450 miles in length.
The Berkshires to the Cape Trail is the first completed unit
in the proposed Massachusetts Bridle Trails System, sponsored by
the Massachusetts Forest and Park Association. It is the only
through bridle trail in the State, is well marked, and is so developed
that shelter for both horse and rider is available. The
trail was laid out to increase the recreation use of State forests
and reservations, to serve as an added attraction to tourists, to
increase the income of residents on the route through provision of
shelter accommodations, and lastly to increase the use of horses
for recreation.
Throughout the State, there are many miles of old wood roads
and minor back roads which might well serve as bridle paths. Excluding
these roads, there are over 500 miles of existing bridle
trails in Massachusetts, and a proposed network of many more miles
which will cover the entire State.
The Massachusetts Forest and Park Association is the principal
organization promoting interest in bridle trails. However,
there are 86 riding academies and many local outing clubs distributed
throughout the State, which also sponsor and promote interest
in riding. Many of these riding clubs are located on or near the
Berkshires-to-the-Cape Trail, and offer shelter to horse and rider.
It is fairly obvious that, at the present time, Massachusetts
has sufficient bridle trails or a State-wide character, and that
any additional facilities should be more local in character, to
provide riding facilities in and about the larger centers of population
I'd love to know if there are any remnants of this trail still in existence, or if there exists exists any map or route description of same. I'm a long time visitor to the Cape, and have certainly never heard or seen anything at that end. In fact it would be nice to know if that sign still exists, although it's doubtful. The fraternities we converted to eating clubs in the late 60s and I can't imagine there is anything like this left in that basement. If you happen to live in Williamstown, it was the Delta Phi house out on South Street.
I thought about it then and occasionally through the following years how cool such a path would be. Especially now in the age of long hiking paths and biking paths. I never went further than the thinking stage, and in fact, I don't think I have mentioned it to anyone since leaving college.
For some reason I thought about it today. Now it is possible that I am the only person in the world with a living memory of an actual artifact of this trail, but I thought I'd throw the question out to this group.
I found a document which appears to be related to depression era WPA projects. The document, in PDF format, is located at: Progress report on state planning for Massachusetts. 1936 (1936)
An excerpt (on page 307) follows:
Riding
Bridle trails in Massachusetts consist of several local municipal
units, some few miles developed on the State Forests and Res-
ervations, a few miles developed by the Metropolitan District Commission
on their reservations and parkways, and the Berkshires to
the Cape Trail, a through trail 450 miles in length.
The Berkshires to the Cape Trail is the first completed unit
in the proposed Massachusetts Bridle Trails System, sponsored by
the Massachusetts Forest and Park Association. It is the only
through bridle trail in the State, is well marked, and is so developed
that shelter for both horse and rider is available. The
trail was laid out to increase the recreation use of State forests
and reservations, to serve as an added attraction to tourists, to
increase the income of residents on the route through provision of
shelter accommodations, and lastly to increase the use of horses
for recreation.
Throughout the State, there are many miles of old wood roads
and minor back roads which might well serve as bridle paths. Excluding
these roads, there are over 500 miles of existing bridle
trails in Massachusetts, and a proposed network of many more miles
which will cover the entire State.
The Massachusetts Forest and Park Association is the principal
organization promoting interest in bridle trails. However,
there are 86 riding academies and many local outing clubs distributed
throughout the State, which also sponsor and promote interest
in riding. Many of these riding clubs are located on or near the
Berkshires-to-the-Cape Trail, and offer shelter to horse and rider.
It is fairly obvious that, at the present time, Massachusetts
has sufficient bridle trails or a State-wide character, and that
any additional facilities should be more local in character, to
provide riding facilities in and about the larger centers of population
I'd love to know if there are any remnants of this trail still in existence, or if there exists exists any map or route description of same. I'm a long time visitor to the Cape, and have certainly never heard or seen anything at that end. In fact it would be nice to know if that sign still exists, although it's doubtful. The fraternities we converted to eating clubs in the late 60s and I can't imagine there is anything like this left in that basement. If you happen to live in Williamstown, it was the Delta Phi house out on South Street.
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