Monterey Marks 250th Celebration of the Knox Trail

MONTEREY, Mass. — Join the Monterey Historical Society, Monterey Library and the Bidwell House Museum for a celebration of the 250th anniversary of Henry Knox's Noble Trail of Artillery through the Southern Berkshires.

Beginning in December of 1775 from Fort Ticonderoga in New York, 25-year-old Henry Knox led an expedition to move 60 tons of captured British artillery to the Continental army in Boston in order to force the British to evacuate the city. Knox's journey took three months and came through the Berkshires in January 1776, during the depths of winter, using little more than ox and horse-drawn sledges and manpower.

To commemorate the 250th anniversary of this achievement, the Monterey Historical Society, the Monterey Library and the Bidwell House Museum are collaborating on a series of Knox Trail-related programs on Jan. 16 and 17, 2026.

The weekend begins at the Monterey Library on Friday, Jan. 16, at 6 p.m. with the opening reception and program for the exhibition The Knox Trail through the Greenwoods. On Saturday, the program will continue with talks, a guided walk and a panel discussion. Rob Hoogs will present "Henry Knox and the Noble Train of Cannons Through the Greenwoods" at 10 a.m., followed by Jonathan Barkan at 11 a.m. and his Knox Trail Media Show. Barkan created a traveling slideshow about Henry Knox for the 1976 Bicentennial which has been updated and remastered for today's audience. Both of these talks will take place at the Monterey Library.

After lunch, the celebration moves to the Bidwell House Museum at 2 p.m. for the start of a guided walk on the Knox Trail, with Hoogs. Attendees will gather around the fire with hot cider while Hoogs introduces the walk and then carpool to Brett Road for a one-mile guided walk. Visitors will be encouraged to imagine the struggles of Knox and his team as they pulled 60 tons of cannons through the woods of the Southern Berkshires in mid-winter.

Finally, the celebrations will conclude back at the Monterey Library at 7 p.m. with a panel discussion with several Knox Trail historians including Hoogs, Ron Bernard, Bernie Drew, Gary Leveille and Tom Ragusa about their new book "Ye Trodden Path."

The Knox250 exhibit at the library will continue through Feb. 28.  Additional talks and programs will be scheduled during the exhibition run and will be posted on the website.  For more information and a full schedule of events, head to the Bidwell House Museum website.

The exhibit and programs are sponsored in part by grants from Housatonic Heritage and the Friends of the Monterey Library.  All programs are free and open to the public. Parking for the library is limited and visitors can also park in the public lot behind the Monterey Town Hall. Weather-related updates or cancellations to the program will be posted on the Bidwell House Museum Facebook page.

South County Celebrates 250th Anniversary of the Knox Trail

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
06:18PM / Sunday, January 11, 2026

State Sen. Paul Mark carries the ceremonial linstock, a device used to light artillery. With him are New York state Sen. Michelle Hinchey and state Sen. Nick Collins of Suffolk County.

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. —The 250th celebration of American independence began in the tiny town of Alford on Saturday morning. 

 

Later that afternoon, a small contingent of re-enactors, community members and officials marched from the Great Barrington Historical Society to the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center to recognize the Berkshire towns that were part of that significant event in the nation's history.

 

State Sen. Paul Mark, as the highest ranking Massachusetts governmental official at the Alford crossing, was presented a ceremonial linstock flying the ribbons representing every New York State county that Henry Knox and his team passed through on their 300-mile journey from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston in the winter of 1775-76. 

 

"The New York contingent came to the border. We had a speaking program, and they officially handed over the linstock, transferring control of the train to Massachusetts," said Mark, co-chair of Massachusetts' special commission for the semiquincentennial. "It was a great melding of both states, a kind of coming together."

 

State Rep. Leigh Davis called Knox "an unlikely hero, he was someone that rose up to the occasion. ... this is really honoring someone that stepped into a role because he was called to serve, and that is something that resonates."

 

Gen. George Washington charged 25-year-old bookseller Knox with bringing artillery from the recently captured fort on Lake Champlain to the beleaugured and occupied by Boston. It took 80 teams of horses and oxen to carry the nearly 60 tons of cannon through snow and over mountains. 

 

Knox wrote to Washington that "the difficulties were inconceivable yet surmountable" and left the fort in December. He crossed the Hudson River in early January near Albany, crossing into Massachusetts on what is now Route 71 on Jan. 10, 1776. By late January, he was in Framingham and in the weeks to follow the artillery was positioned on Dorchester Heights.