Mill River Greenway Initiative

A community-based steward for the Mill River

JW Sinton

Williamsburg Reservoir Dam Walk 11/1/14

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We’re excited about our upcoming river walk in Williamsburg, which will take us up to the old dam itself.

The walk will take place this Saturday, November 1 from 9:30am to 12:30pm.  For our regulars, please note the longer time frame this month to accommodate a packed agenda!

Please park in the Anne T. Dunphy School parking lot and walk to meet up on the front lawn of the Meekins Library, facing Florence Savings Bank.  We’ll be joined by local Landscape Artist/Architect Todd Lynch, who’ll introduce his Flotsam Weirs installation at the confluence of the west and east branches of the Mill River.

From there we’ll carpool in as few cars as possible up to Judd Lane, the trail head for the old dam.  Our guide for the dam walk will be the esteemed Eric Weber from Williamsburg Historical Society.

Back to the center of town by 12:30pm.  As always please let me know if you will NOT be able to make it to make room for other folks off the waiting list.

Directions to Flotsam Weirs in Williamsburg

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At summer’s end, we’re looking back on a wonderful series of walks and some great news that we’ll be sharing with you in the next couple of weeks.  Meanwhile, what remains?  Well, here are directions to Todd Lynch’s fantastic “Flotsam Weirs,” which you might have seen in the Daily Hampshire Gazette.  Take time to visit it, especially now that the leaves are falling.  (The bird’s nest, by the way, was placed there by an unnamed visitor.  You’re welcome to add your flotsam to the weirs.  Until soon, your co-moderators Gaby, Neal, and John.

Directions to Todd Lynch's Flotsam Weirs in Williamsburg

Directions to Todd Lynch’s Flotsam Weirs in Williamsburg

Welcome Back to a Busy September

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Welcome back from a cool, wet, lovely summer.  We’ve got a busy fall planned for the Mill River, starting with 3 (count ’em — three) walks in September alone.  Here’s what’s coming your way:

Saturday, September 6, Riverwalk in Leeds, a wonderful historic village in Northampton, near the Northampton/Williamsburg town line, which dates back to the 18th century.  Heidi Stevens and Jason Johnson, founders of the Mill River Greenway Committee of the Leeds Civic Association, will lead us on a tour that will focus on the heyday of Leeds during the first three-quarters of the 19th century, with stops at the Old Nonotuck Woolen Mill and 3 other mill sites, the old post office and train depot, the Dimock mansion, the Hotel Bridge, and the memorial to the 1874 Flood that devastated Leeds.  There are very few places left for this walk, so please write us at info@millrivergreenway.org if you’d like too participate or to get on the waiting list.  If there is sufficient interest, Heidi and Jason will organize a repeat of this walk later in the fall.

Saturday, September 13th Todd Lynch’s Art Installation, “Flotsam Weirs,” in Williamsburg.  See below, posts on Aug. 5 and 6, for details.  You do not need to sign up for this walk to participate.

Saturday, September 20th, Florence II Riverwalk — Crimson & Clover Farm to Meadow St. Bridge.
        This walk from Crimson & Clover Farm on Spring St. to the Meadow St. Bridge combines historic and ecological information.  Laurie Sanders will talk about Mill River ecology as we travel along the river corridor, and Elizabeth Sharpe (In the Shadow of the Dam) will discuss the dramatic results of the 1874 Flood, which ended at what is now the farm and recreational fields in Florence.  There are very few places left for this walk, so please  please write us at info@millrivergreenway.org if you’d like to participate or to get on the waiting list.

Todd Lynch 9/13 Updated Link

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Here’s a link to Todd Lynch’s blog that gives you a hint of this exciting adventure next month.  Note the nest (probably a Carolina wren) a bird couple already built in the photo in the second row, far right.

Filed Under: Art

Sept. 13th New River Walk and Art Installation in Williamsburg

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MRGI is proud and excited to support Todd Lynch’s art installation, lecture, and walk on the Mill River in Williamsburg on Saturday Sept. 13th.  Todd is a landscape architect and artist who’s been a long-time friend of the Mill River.  He will be creating a series of “flotsam weirs,” or interwoven nets of Mill River flotsam that will lead the walker down through the peninsula created by the East and West Branch of the Mill at their confluence in Williamsburg.

Meeting details: Meet at 10:00 at Meekins Library in Williamsburg, then a 5-minute walk to the site of the installation where Todd will lead a tour and discussion of his work.

Here is Todd’s proposal for his work sponsored by the Williamsburg Cultural Council: Todd’s proposal Todd Lynch weir proposal