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Hiking Trail Honors Northern Berkshire Bog-TrotterBy Tammis Coffin
Trustees of Reservations
10:20AM / Friday, May 22, 2009
Submitted photo
Pam Weatherbee looks over Mountain Meadows Preserve. She will lead a hike over the trail named for former meadow resident Grace Greylock Niles. |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Trustees of Reservations will dedicate a trail in honor of the naturalist who spent so many of her summers wandering the rugged hills and vales of Northern Berkshire and Southern Vermont.
Born in Pownal, Vt., in 1864, Grace Greylock Niles adopted the name of her favorite mountain as her middle name later in life. She was a passionate botanist and artist who published two books in the early 1900s while dividing her time as a private-duty nurse in New York with summers spent "bog trotting" to her favorite wild haunts. Her former home was located in what is now the Trustees' Mountain Meadow Preserve.
Although the exact site of her home is not clear, she left behind a lasting legacy of words and art, calling attention to the restorative beauty of her beloved Hoosac Highlands in her 1904 book "Bog Trotting for Orchids."
"There is a beautiful cold spring under the hill near the swamps of Etchowog. I have known of it all my life ... It is here that I quench my thirst and rest after wading through the neighboring swamp. ... In the sweet solitude I have dreamed many dreams, mingled with the music of the stream."
The Trustees will dedicate the trail on Saturday, May 30, from 10 to noon in the form of a guided hike at the Mountain Meadow Preserve. The hike will explore a 2-mile portion of the newly named Grace Greylock Niles Trail, starting from the Mason Street entrance in Williamstown. Hikers will proceed to a scenic overlook near the Vermont state line and will pause along the way to hear brief quotations from "Bog Trotting for Orchids."
 Hike leaders Pam Weatherbee and other Trustees volunteers and staff will point out the unique plants and landforms found along the way and share more about the story of the gifted woman who once made Mountain Meadow her home. Niles celebrated the wild places found of Williamstown and Pownal landscape and plants with her paintings, photographs, poems, and stories.
Mountain Meadow Preserve is open daily for hiking and nature observation, with entrances in both towns. The dedication event is free and all are welcome to attend. The next guided program will be a free butterfly walk with Weatherbee on July 5.
The Trustees of Reservations invite Berkshires residents and visitors to explore Mountain Meadow and their 12 other historic and natural properties in the Berkshires, and to join the Trustees as members and volunteers.
To learn more about the upcoming event and other Trustees activities, visit www.thetrustees.org, or contact outreach coordinator Tammis Coffin at 413-298-3239, Ext. 3003 or tcoffin@ttor.org. |
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