Mill River Greenway

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.

The Williamsburg Mill River Greenway Committee is pleased to provide you with a link to our recently-completed report on the feasibility of establishing a Greenway along the Mill River between Haydenville and Williamsburg centers.

The report provides a thorough, thoughtful evaluation of the many variables in creating a Greenway, including the technical, environmental, financial, historical, commercial, and social aspects of such a project.  It includes maps, concept sketches, community feedback, and next steps for further action.

We’re sending you our report because we hope for and need your continued input and energy to move this exciting project forward.  It will take the power of many citizens, organizations, town government, and state/federal granting agencies to make the dream of a Mill River Greenway come to fruition.

Please take some time to flip through this informative and enjoyable report, and forward this email to others who would be interested.

Williamsburg Mill River Greenway Feasibility Report

Onward!

gaby (on behalf of the Williamsburg MRGC)

We’re back from summer hiatus and ready for a great fall.  Here’s the news:

1. Please welcome our new co-moderator Gaby Immerman, who joins Neal Bastek and John Sinton in leading our MRGI initiatives.  Gaby wears many hats — she’s a member of the Williamsburg Greenway Town Committee, serves on the board of Grow Food Northampton, and is the chair of the Florence Organic Community Garden steering committee.  By day she teaches horticulture at Smith College as well as running her own small landscaping business, Green Thumb for Hire, out of her Haydenville backyard.

2. October 30, 7:00pm at Northampton’s City Council Chambers is a meeting of the CPA (Community Preservation Committee) to consider funding of a crucial trail project that will finish off the final 0.35 miles of the multi-use rail trail from Leeds to the Williamsburg town line.   Here’s the link to the project application. The CPC will  also consider an application for an ecological assessment of Northampton open space, including key parcels along the Mill River.  Please attend this meeting to show strong community support for this application!

3. Save the Date — Friday December 6 from 6:00-8:00 PM for a late fall get- together of everyone interested in the Mill River.  We’ll be talking about a long-term strategic plan for MRGI and will need your input.  Topics include: Trail initiatives, a watershed-wide master plan for managing invasive plants, and the opportunity to create a Mill River Consortium of all groups invested in the Mill River.

Here it is!  After a year’s study, Williamsburg’s Mill River Greenway Committee has published its Mill River Greenway Feasibility Report that focuses on ways to link Haydenville and Williamsburg Center along the river.  It’s well worth a look, and congratulations go out to the committee and the town.

“Our study established conceptual path corridors and documented public comments, which serve as a basis for the next physical planning phase. The report identifies a number of strategic phases for competitive grant applications in order to combine our local objectives with ongoing regional planning processes to achieve the economy of scale needed to obtain economic feasibility.

The Mill River Greenway Committee concludes that such a Greenway within the Mill River Corridor is feasible, and would be of great benefit to our Town and the surrounding communities. We have refined the goal, identified community support, and affirmed the physical, ecological, technical, and economic feasibility of implementing alternative transportation linkages.”

You can find the full report here.

 

Come celebrate another year of inspiring activity on the Mill River with us at our annual spring celebration. The party will take place on Friday April 26th, from 5 to 7 PM at the home of MRGI co-moderator Neal Bastek, 3 Village Hill Avenue, in Williamsburg.

An advance copy of our first self-guided Mill River Walk brochure will be available at the party. The tour explores the changes to the river’s flow as a result of Northampton’s growth as an industrial center in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The walk follows the Mill River between Paradise Pond and South Street, Northampton, revealing the ‘hidden’ clues to the original river bed and the many diversions that once flowed through what is now downtown Northampton. Free copies will be distributed to the public in May. We’ll also share a presentation to introduce our vision of a Mill River Greenway that Sophia Geller, a Smith senior, developed.

We’re looking to grow our membership base this year so please consider bringing a friend of the river along and introducing them to our work. Please rsvp to info@millrivergreenway.org