Historic Auto Trails of Massachusetts

Historic auto trails predate the U.S. highway system created in 1926. Such trails were usually given evocative names and marked with colored bands painted on utility poles.

Western Massachusetts is endowed with many scenic historic auto trails. These trails were popular with residents and visitors, and generally crossed the Berkshire Hills and related ranges. They therefore typically follow an east-west direction. Early tourist maps and brochures of the Berkshires promoted these scenic roads. The trails continued to be marketed as scenic attractions long after highways were numbered; and, indeed, until the present day.

Mohawk Trail - Mass. Route 2 & 2-A from Boston to Williamstown. Dedicated October 22, 1914. Crosses Hoosac Mountain and Greenfield Mountain. The most famous scenic highway of the region. While many of these trails originated as Native American paths, only the Mohawk Trail maintained any Native American connections.
Taconic Trail - MA/NY Route 2 from Williamstown to Troy, N.Y. Promoted beginning in the 1910's. Traverses Petersburgh Mountain. Constructed beginning in 1925 and finished in 1930.
Jacob's Ladder - U.S. Highway 20 from Westfield to Pittsfield, Mass. Dedicated on September 24, 1910 at the Summit on Morey Hill in Becket.
Lebanon Trail - U.S. Highway 20 from Pittsfield to Lebanon, N.Y. Built over Lebanon Mountain by 1916. Part of the Pittsfield-Albany Road.
Berkshire Trail - Mass. Route 9 from Northampton to Pittsfield. Summit at Windsor Hill.
Crane Trail - Mass. Route 8 from Becket to Dalton, Berkshire county. At Dalton, it joins the better known Berkshire Trail. This designation was used primarily in the late 1920's.
Knox Trail - Mass. Route 23 from Russell to Egremont in the Berkshires. Named after General Henry Knox who brought cannons captured from the British at Fort Ticonderoga along this then stage route during 1775-76 to support Gen. Washington's siege of Boston.
Skyline Trail - This twenty-one mile trail connects Route 8 to Jacob's Ladder through Huntington to Hinsdale. This is not a state route, but merely a series of local roads often called "Skyline Trail" in Middlefield and Chester. Though, the Chester section, for example, is also called "Chester Hill Road".
Lafayette Trail - Mass. Route 143 from Hindsale to Worthington. Connects to the Crane Trail in Peru, Massachussetts. Named after General Lafayette, who spent the night in Worthington in 1825.

Another trail in nearby Vermont:

Molly Stark Trail - Vt. Route 9 from Brattleboro to Bennington. Scenic outlook on Hogback Mountain. Just north of the Mohawk and Taconic Trail, with which it eventually merges towards Troy, N.Y. The name arose by the early 1920's; the route remains popular with tourists today.

Most trails would have some sort of food or lodging even if just a simple farmhouse turned auto camp or tourist home. In the town center, you might find an inn-restaurant from the stagecoach era. In the cities, you could stay at a full-fledged hotel. The busier trails also included souvenir stands, and perhaps a summit house with a wooden look-out tower to better enjoy a vista. Souvenirs included souvenir china and glasses, postcards and booklets, decals, pillow cases and pennants.

Muddy River Press hopes to publish Historic Auto Trail Guides that cover all of these trails. The first is already available for the Mohawk Trail and the related Taconic Trail.