The Mohawlk Trail to Springfield, MA

Bridge of Flowers

This started out a bit average, and then after Whitcomb Summit, which wasn't announced really at all, the road swooped down some of the most impressive and imposing and completely beautiful sort of mountain pass that I had the pleasure of looking out the window at. It wasn't huge, it was just full of trees on the cusp of changing in the Fall, with various ridge lines curving down, and a blue sky and with that deep peace of a quiet road.
We stopped at the "Hail to the Sunrise" statue, in Charlemont, MA, which we didn't really get, and then at Shelbourne, MA, we spent some time walking across the Bridge of Flowers, and through the town. The Bridge of Flowers is an old trolley bridge built that duplicated the neighbouring iron car bridge, to haul freight. By 1928 the trolley service had finished, and the bridge was too expensive to demolish. Antoinette Burnham, with the support of the local Women's Club, had the vision to turn it into a Bridge of Flowers - so each year since then, an army of volunteers plants and tends flowers along its length. We also enjoyed the local diner, for a cheap, unpretentious lunch, and I took 10 mins on my own to check out a local arty sort of store (shopmormor.com), which was very relaxing.