MassWildlife: Why did the turtle cross the road?

11:01AM / Sunday, May 10, 2026Print Story | Email Story

Across Massachusetts, spring is the season of movement. Hibernating animals emerge from their winter resting areas in search of food and mates. Turtles are no exception. From mid-May to early July, thousands of turtles throughout Massachusetts travel to new areas to find food and nest. You may see turtles on roadways, in your backyard, or other unexpected locations as they move across the landscape to find resources they need to survive. Even if it’s not apparent to you where they’re headed, turtles have a keen sense of direction and may be on their way to wetlands or open, upland sites such as lawns, gravel pits, or roadsides for nesting. If you find a turtle, do not move it far away.

Protecting adult turtles during this vulnerable time can make a big difference. "Most of our native turtle species regularly reach age 50, with some notable individuals living and reproducing into their 70s. Young turtles and eggs, on the other hand, have a variety of predators and a low chance of reaching adulthood," says Dr. Mike Jones, MassWildlife State Herpetologist. "This is why it's especially important to protect older adult turtles from cars, especially during this time of year when turtles are crossing roads more frequently." Losing any adult turtles, particularly adult females, is a serious problem that can lead to the eventual local extinction of a population.

What to do if you see a turtle in or near a road:

Be safe. Do not risk getting hurt or causing harm to others by unsafely pulling off the road or trying to dodge traffic. If the opportunity to safely move a turtle from the road occurs, move it in the direction it was heading and off the edge of the road. The turtle is trying to get to habitats and resources it needs and knows. Do not take turtles home or move them to a "better" location; turtles should not be moved more than 100 yards from where they are found.
Handle with care. Most turtles should be grasped gently along the shell edge near the mid-point of the body. However, snapping turtles are fast and have very powerful jaws that can inflict a bad bite. A snapping turtle can reach your hands if you lift it by the sides of its shell. If you must move a snapping turtle, use a broom to coax it into a plastic tub, into a box, or on to a car mat. Never lift a snapping turtle only by the tail; this can injure their spine. Make sure thoroughly wash your hands after handling any wildlife, including turtles.
Slow down, be observant. Watch for turtles on roadways bordered by wetlands on both sides. These areas are commonly used as crossing points. If you see one turtle crossing, there's a chance that others will be crossing soon as well.
Report busy crossing locations. Let MassWildlife know if you see multiple turtles crossing the road or if you see multiple turtles that have been hit by cars. Email location information to natural.heritage@mass.gov. You can also contact your town Conservation Commission or local conservation groups and support measures to help turtles. Signage, barrier fencing, or seasonal speed bumps can help reduce roadkill.

Spread the word and help protect our native turtles. In addition to five species of sea turtles that frequent our coastal areas, Massachusetts is home to ten native species of terrestrial and aquatic turtles. Six of the 10 species are protected under the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act. Learn more in our native turtles.

Injured turtles
Please leave turtles with minor injuries, such as a hurt foot or damage to the outer rim of a shell, exactly where you find them. They are resilient, and they will most likely heal on their own. For major injuries, such as a large open wound, please contact a wildlife rehabilitator who specializes in treating turtles.

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The Round Stone Barn is 200 as Hancock Shaker Village Celebrates

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires.com
11:49AM / Monday, August 03, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Hancock Shaker Village shared a bicentennial birthday, inviting the community to take part in the festivities.

On Sunday, Hancock Shaker Village celebrated the 200th birthday of their signature Round Stone Barn, the only circular barn ever built by the Shakers.

"The Round Stone Barn turned 200 this year," Hancock Shaker Village CEO Carrie Holland said. "It was erected in 1826, so we thought we would celebrate with the whole community. We'd do some cupcakes, and then we're lucky to work with Yo-Yo Ma's team to curate some special performances in the Round Stone Barn."

The community was invited to come to the village for free and take part in a wide range of activities including tours, live music from Ida Mae Specker Trio and Tanglewood, demonstrations, and more.

The Round Stone Barn is widely recognized as an architectural icon and agricultural wonder.

The Shakers operated a working dairy farm at Hancock until the 1950s, and the barn was originally a stable for its 52 milk cows, according to the museum's website.

It has ground-level access on all three levels so, wagons could enter on the upper level to deposit hay into the central haymow on the main floor below, then the empty wagons would be driven around the circular barn floor and exit the same door it came in, eliminating the potentially dangerous activity of backing wagons out of a barn, the website said.

The cows stabled on the main floor faced inward toward the haymow for ease of feeding and manure was shoveled through trapdoors to the cellar, where it was stored until needed as fertilizer in the gardens.

"Every time anyone comes into the timber frame, it's the very first thing that they see, and they always say, 'It's just like a photograph,' and it is," Director of Collections Kathleen Lynch said. "It's beautiful. People want to get married in front of it. We did our Christmas the festival of trees in here, and the mechanisms of it are so phenomenal."

Hundreds enjoyed music in the round barn and celebrated with free cupcakes and food trucks while listening on the history the village portrays.

"I think this is one of our most iconic buildings, and a lot of people have their own memories tied to it," Holland said. "We do baby animals here, and so there's personal history. ... But it's also a fantastic opportunity to share a bit about the Shakers, their design techniques and practices, their sort of obsession with making operations efficient, because this is used as a dairy barn, and so they created these three layers to make their operations more efficient."

"So you can talk about their innovation. Of course, they're the longstanding legacy of agriculture here. So it provides us an opportunity to kind of share the Shaker history in this beautiful space, tied to folks who have their own personal memories here as well, and it's such an impressive, beautiful spot. I have such appreciation for what it took to build this 200 years ago, and whenever we can do fun things and throw good parties here, it's a great day.""

Holland helps build momentum for the unveiling of Hancock Shaker Village's new visitor center that is planned to take place next month.

The new facility will include updated galleries, community event spaces, collection storage, and research areas for the museum's collection of over 22,000 Shaker artifacts and ephemera. The renovated building aims to enhance the visitor experience through improved orientation, expanded program offerings, closer access to collection items, and views of the surrounding landscape.

"Part of what we're also celebrating is past, present, future, and the future," Holland said. "We're very excited for expanded programming. We're opening our new visitor center, our Center for Shaker Studies, so that creates a whole new opportunity for our visitor experience, our galleries, our stewardship, and then that relates also to the programming that we can do in the historic village."

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