Mill River Greenway Initiative

A community-based steward for the Mill River

Mill River Greenway

Re-live The 1874 Williamsburg Dam Disaster with Eric Weber!

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The Mill River Flood
Wednesday, April 17
1:00-3:00 at the Garden House
Tickets are $10 each and available by calling 413-584-5457
In the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, eleven Mill River manufacturers banded together to build a dam and reservoir in Williamsburg that would collect water at times of high stream flow to be released during the drier seasons, thus enabling mills and factories to run at or near full capacity year-round. The dam leaked from the beginning, and on May 16, 1874 it failed catastrophically, killing 139 residents of four downstream villages, making front-page headlines across the United States. It was the worst disaster of its kind in North American history up to then, and it raised important questions about the responsibility of those who design, build, inspect and approve large engineering projects to assure that they are safe.
 
Eric Weber, President of the Williamsburg Historical Society, has digitized some 350 stereo images of the disaster’s aftermath and analyzed what they tell us about the dam, the flood, and the experience of those who lived through it. Drawing on those images and on Elizabeth Sharpe’s award-winning “In the Shadow of the Dam,” Eric will tell the story of the Mill River Disaster and answer questions about it from the audience.

April 6 River Cleanup Florence Fields to Paradise Pond

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Cleanup The River Banks With Us On Saturday April 6 From 9:00 to 11:00 AM

Meet at the Smith College Museum of Art on Elm St.

MRGI and the Connecticut River Conservancy are co-sponsoring this clean-up effort to kick-off Community Day at the Smith College Museum of Art. We invite you to take action and respond to the challenges raised in the exhibition Plastic Entanglements: Ecology, Aesthetics, Materials at Smith’s Art Museum. Sign-up to volunteer for a morning of trash collection on our local river. Transportation from Smith College will be provided for those who need it. Afterwards, head over to the museum for Community Day to reflect, be inspired, and celebrate your hard work!  Register here by March 23. You are welcome to join us even if you don’t register!

We will be cleaning up the following sites: Florence Fields/Meadow Street near Crimson & Clover farm, Riverside Drive in Bay State, the Dog Park and Burt’s Pit Road area, Maines Field, Smith College Path at Paradise Pond Dam and upstream at end of path at Hinckley St

We’ll provide trash bags and Pedal People will pick them up. Thanks to everyone in advance!

Your MRGI crew

Devil’s Den to Lickingwater Events March-May

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March 13th 6:00 PM at Meekins Library in Williamsburg
April 18th 7:30 at Smith College
May 13th at Forbes Library

Dear Mill River Lovers,
The Devil’s Den event at Meekins Library will be at 6:00 PM. Williamsburg and the Upper Mill River Watershed will be featured.
The event at Smith College will be on April 18th at 7:30 PM.  The lecture and discussion are titled”The World As Seen From Paradise Pond.” We will send out further details on this and on
The event at Forbes Library on May 13th, which will focus on the Hidden Mill River and feature Laurie Sanders, Wayne Feiden, Dylan Gaffney, and yours truly.
Hope to see you at one or another event.

For the river!
John

Five Devil’s Den Readings upcoming for February and March

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Devil’s Den to Lickingwater has gotten a really lovely, warm reception — full houses at all events, and we had to turn away many at the door. So, we’re scheduling a bunch more presentations. I’m really looking forward to seeing our MRGI folk out there. We’ve scheduled five Devil’s Den to Lickingwater presentations between February 11th and early April in Northampton, Williamsburg, and South Hadley. Other venues and events are either in a planning stage or have been set.

  1. February 11th, 7:00 Broadside Books. This will be more a conversation between author and audience than a lecture, and there will be no powerpoint/slide show. Topics will include the early history of the Mill River and Native American perspectives on the Pioneer Valley; how the Mill River defined Northampton; and why the river matters.
  2. February 19th, 7:00 at Odyssey Books, South Hadley. We will present an overview of Devil’s Den to Lickingwater, including the creation of the Pioneer Valley from both the geological and Native American perspectives. We will discuss the Mill River and Pioneer Valley as a reflection of much of American history. The author will choose several river stories from among the many in the book about floods, diversions, industrial evolution and environmental transformations.
  3. February 21, 7:00 at Northampton Community Arts Trust on Hawley St. This will be a repeat of the December 1 talk at Historic Northampton when we had to turn away so many people. The focus will be on the Mill River and the creation of Nonotuck and Northampton. We will feature the two river diversions and dozens of flood events (not the 1874 Williamsburg Disaster). What was it like to live in Northampton prior to 1940?
  4. March 13, 6:30 at Meekins Library, Williamsburg. This presentation will be in memory of Ralmon Black. We will look at Williamsburg in the context of Native American and Colonial history and then focus on Williamsburg’s contribution to the cultural and industrial history of the Valley.
  5. March or early April on a  Thursday evening at 7:30 at Smith College, venue to be determined.The focus for the presentation will be chosen in consultation with the Landscape Studies program, which is sponsoring the talk.
  6. A presentation at Forbes is up for grabs. I’d like to see it as a panel about how to approach public history and how to integrate local history into schools.
  7. ?April or May? Hitchcock Center – there may be a forum on environmental history of the Valley in honor of Elizabeth Farnsworth.
  8. October 18 evening, Audubon’s Arcadia Refuge. This event will focus on environmental history.

We wish you much happiness and warmth in the cold of this season. Looking forward to the river connecting us,

John