By Kathy Baugh
Did you know that Becket is part of the Connecticut River Watershed? Water from Becket drains into the Westfield River, which flows into the Connecticut River. This places the town within a hydrologic system that spans four New England states and is the focus of wide-ranging conservation and management efforts.
From September 18 through 27, the Connecticut River Watershed Partnership (CRWP) promoted a host of events celebrating their 2nd Annual Watershed Week. The observance began with the Connecticut River Conservancy’s Source to Sea Cleanup on Friday, September 18 and concluded on World Rivers Day, Sunday, September 27. Throughout the week organizations and communities across all four watershed states held an array of events that invited people to celebrate and explore the Connecticut River Watershed. The celebration was funded in part by our own Wild and Scenic Westfield River Committee.
As New England’s largest river and watershed, the Connecticut River is a defining feature of New England. It supports healthy communities, sustainable local and regional economies, clean water, and diverse wildlife habitat. Watershed Week gave residents and visitors an opportunity to connect with their local waterways while learning about the organizations and volunteers working to protect, restore, and enhance this remarkable watershed.
One featured event took place at the Chester Railroad Museum, formerly the Chester Railroad Station. Throughout the week museum director David Pierce hosted a special program: Rivers and Railroads: An Enduring Partnership.
Pierce explained, “The Connecticut, Westfield, and Housatonic rivers guided the route of the Western Railroad, which in 1841 became the world’s first mountain railroad and the first railroad built through wilderness, as those who have walked the Arches are familiar with. The Western Railroad’s timber-frame truss bridge across the Connecticut River at Springfield was the world’s longest when it opened on July 4, 1841, stretching nearly a quarter mile. The Westfield River hosted America’s first cluster of stone-arch railroad bridges, while the headwaters of the Housatonic swallowed the railroad in deep mud three times before 1850. Museum tours feature all of this history, along with a helicopter video loop filmed from the Connecticut River to Muddy Pond.”
A visit to the Chester Railroad Museum is a trip through local railroad history. The restored 1862 depot and museum house an early steam engine, two boxcars, including one designed for children’s play, a Baker’s Chocolate tanker, a wooden campout caboose available to rent, and Bernie’s Restaurant dining car, the museum’s newest addition.
If you have not visited, the museum is well worth the trip. Pierce, a font of knowledge, will regale you with captivating stories on the development of the Hilltowns we call home.
To learn more about the Chester Railroad Museum visit chesterrailwaystation.net.
To visit the museum, call to schedule an appointment with David Pierce: 413-961-9166.
To learn more about the Connecticut River Watershed Partnership visit: ctriverwatershed.org.
