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The Keystone to Civilization
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I keep ending up on these impromptu adventures all around the Berkshires. Maybe it’s the gorgeous weather that Earl brought, or that it’s the full moon. No matter. Saturday my travels took me all the way up to Chester (which is quite a haul from Sheffield) to the Keystone Arch Bridges Trail. It was here that the first keystone arch bridges in the U.S. were built. The bridges, which were built in 1841, range from 50 feet to 100 feet and provided railroad access over the Westfield River. At the time of their construction, they were called the “railroad to the moon.”
And I can see why. The hiking trail that runs parallel to the Westfield River is relatively unassuming. One side is marked by a steep ledge while the other slopes down to the river’s edge. It is in the moment that the trail clears that you realize that you are standing on the top of a giant bridge that is covered with grass where an old railroad line once stood.
And it isn’t a small bridge. The Keystone Arch Bridges are monoliths set oddly in the woods of Chester. Their sheer enormity is reminiscent of the Pantheon or the pyramids. And yet they are the literal arches to modernity in our tiny slice of rural New England.
The rocks used to construct the bridges are craggy and deeply marked by the blasting used to extract them from the nearby mountains which are now high rock walls surrounding either side of the railroad path. Whether they are wedged tightly into the structure of the bridge or angled sharply into the path, the rocks shared the same fate.
Being the adventurer that I am (actually, I was just lazy and thought I’d take a short cut) I veered off of the trail and walked alongside the operational tracks which abut the trail (and the river). The sun blaring down on my head and the black coal dust underfoot transported me, just for a minute; to that time long ago when blasting apart the guts of a mountain to make a railroad was the key to survival.
We haven’t changed that much, it seems.
Just words of caution if you’re planning on making the trip to Chester; wear comfortable, STURDY hiking boots. I wore my “terrain” sandals. It was a joke. Also, if you bring your pets or your young children just be aware that when you come to a clearing in the path, it usually means there’s a 100 foot drop on either side.
| Tags: Keystone, Arch, Bridges |
