CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The state Department of Conservation and Recreation is planning to add four yurts to Clarksburg State Park. 

 

The Historical Commission was apprised of the plans by DCR late last year along with the Massachusetts Historical Commission and leaders of a number of Massachusetts tribes.

 

The commissioners did not vote on the matter; the information was being provided to alert them no historical sites were being disturbed. 

 

The state park, known locally as Mausert's Pond, covers 368 acres of pond and woodland with 45 campsites and nearly 10 miles of trails. 

 

Four of the campsites — 10, 17, 19, 21 — are being proposed as the locations for the yurts. 

 

The circular structures are now available at eight state parks, including October Mountain State Forest in Lee. The notification did not include when the yurts would be installed in Clarksburg. 

 

The yurts have amenities not too dissimilar from cabins: power, water, bunkbeds, table and seating, skylights, screened windows and locking doors. They can accommodate four to six people. 

 

Installation will consist of a 6-inch think concrete slab — two each at 20 feet and 16 feet in diameter. Twenty-four-inch trenches will bring power and water to each site; water will come from a spigot outside the yurts. 

 

Yurts have become a popular camping option, particularly among the "glamping" crowd. The state charges from $45 to $55 a night for them. 

 

DCR informed the commission that there would be no demolition or renovation of any existing structures and that the 1956 park is not in the Massachusetts Historical Commission's inventory of assets. 

 

"No ancient Native American or historic archaeological resources, or historic resources are recorded within or in the immediate proximity to the proposed project area," DCR wrote. "In 1990, an archaeological investigation was conducted nearby, within the park, and found only modern and historical materials, mostly associated with campsite use."

 

The project area has also been disturbed through road construction, campsite leveling and the construction of the restrooms and showers in that loop.

 

Michael Mausert first used the pond to harvest ice around the turn of the last century, a venture carried on by relatives until William Mausert began exploiting the property's recreational opportunities — and as electric iceboxes became more ubiquitous. 

 

By the time the state became interested in the park it was owned by George Flood and operated as a private beach club. With $80,000 in hand for a new recreation area, state officials had looked at Sand Springs in Williamstown and Anthony's Pond in Adams, among other sites. They settle on Mausert's Park and took over the property in 1954.