HillTowns Online Business Directory, Activities, Events & News for the Berkshire HillTowns

 

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One Step At A Time at Glendale Falls

One Step at a Time Down Glendale Falls needs volunteers like you August 7th 9am-1pm.  
Come for all or part of the day, bring your friend and family to pitch in. Don't forget gloves and your favorite shovel.
 The Trustees of Reservations and the Westfield River Wild and Scenic Committee have joined forces with community members to build rustic stairs and a woodland trail for the purpose of restoring and exploring this beautiful hidden treasure.  Glendale Falls is one of the highest waterfalls in Massachusetts, but the decent is daunting, those that do brave the walk are unwittingly causing erosion. What better way to give back to the river that inspires us all than by helping protect and preserve it. 
Call Meredyth Babcock at 413-623-2070 to sign up and for directi
ons.

Hancock Shaker Village Announces 50th Anniversary Programming

Hancock Shaker Village Upcoming Summer Events 50th Anniversary Gala and Family-Friendly Charter Day, New Tours, Workshops, and More 

Hancock Shaker Village’s 50th anniversary celebration continues through the summer with major special events, including a festive Gala and family-friendly Charter Day, newly-designed tours titled “A Young Shaker's Tour - For Kids Only!” and “Attic Access Tour,” woodworking workshops, and the “Return and Learn” series of lectures and workshops on a variety of Shaker-inspired topics, plus a book signing by author Ilyan Woo and a Limited Edition Shaker Button Box Signing by master artisan Steve Grasselli. Details on all of these events follow below. Hancock Shaker Village is open from 10:00am to 5:00pm daily for self-guided visits through October 31. Hancock Shaker Village members and children 12 and under are admitted free of charge. Admission for adults is $17.00 and youth visitors aged 13 to 17 are $8. On Ten Dollar Tuesdays, admission for adults is $10. For more information, call 800.817.1137 or go to www.hancockshakervillage.org

SPECIAL EVENTS 

Hancock Shaker Village 50th Anniversary Gala
August 7, 5:00pm

Hancock Shaker Village presents its 50th Anniversary Gala. The celebration will honor the founders and friends who have been associated with the Village during its first 50 years, and will look to the living history museum’s future. The evening kicks off with a preview of the exhibition Simple Gifts: Contemporary Artists Celebrate the Shaker Legacy in the Poultry House and Shaker-inspired performances by Shakespeare & Company’s founder, Tina Packer and the Cantilena Chamber Choir, with guest artist mezzo-soprano Deborah Rentz-Moore, in the Round Stone Barn. There will also be a Shaker-themed dinner catered by Savory Harvest Catering, followed by dancing to the music of The Brethren, a swing and jazz band featuring Jeff Link and Charlie Tokarz. Tickets range from $125 to $500 and may be purchased by calling Hancock Shaker Village at 413.443.0188 extension 115.  

Charter Day
August 21, 10:00am – 5:00pm

Charter Day will be a family-friendly celebration of Hancock Shaker Village’s official "birthday" as living history museum. This fun-filled day will include lawn games, wagon rides, Shaker story time, and musical concerts for children by Mister G. Charter Day will also feature the world premiere of Clara and Claire, a short play for young audiences written and directed by Juliane Hiam and conceived by Sharon Smullen on the occasion of Hancock Shaker Village’s 50th anniversary.  Two local 12-year-old actresses, Rebecca van der Meulen and Harper Glantz, will play girls from different places in time who have a magical, accidental meeting at Hancock Shaker Village.  
Additional activities will include ongoing historical artifact and contemporary art exhibits, a community slideshow, and a display of the founding documents, as well as regular daily tours and demonstrations. On Charter Day, admission is half-price ($8.50 for adults and $4 for youth visitors aged 13 to 17) and free for members and children 12 and under. 

NEW TOURS 

A Young Shaker's Tour - For Kids Only!
10:30am & 1:30pm Daily
July 19 - September 3

Rates: $10 for Non-HSV Members/ $8 Members

Children can now see the Village through the eyes of a Shaker child -  how they lived and played to where they went to school. This kids-only tour conducted by our Senior Interpreter for Child and Family activities, includes a make-and-take craft, visits to areas of the Village that show how Shaker children lived, including the Dwelling, Schoolhouse, and Barn Complex. Children will be returned to their parents with a framed photo of  them in Shaker costume.. For children 6 - 12 years of age.

Attic Access Tour
July 31, August 14, September 18, and October 16

Rates: $27 for Non-HSV Members; $24 for Members
Presenters: Todd Burdick, Education Director, and Lesley Herzberg, Collections Manager

Ever want to go beyond those "Museum Staff Only" signs and see what's behind closed doors? Sign up for this special tour and you'll get to peek into the nooks and crannies of rarely seen areas, normally closed to the public, which feature unique Shaker architectural details and design styles well ahead of their time. The tour will also explore curatorial storage areas and view furniture and artifacts not on view to the general public. Tour runs approximately 90 minutes and includes upper floors and basements of three highlight buildings. Space is limited and reservations are required. Participants must be able to negotiate multiple sets of stairs (up to six stories); proper footwear required.

BOOK SIGNING AND LIMITED EDITION SHAKER BUTTON BOX SIGNING 

Book Signing and Reading
July 24, 1:00pm

Ilyan Woo, The Great Divorce

The Great Divorce is a scandalous true tale involving a distraught mother, her errant husband, their missing children, and the Shakers—a utopian society that is now best known for their furniture, but was something quite different in the formative years of American history. There was a time when married women had few rights of their own. In 1815, Eunice Hawley Chapman fought back, taking on her husband, the law, and a reclusive religious sect known as the Shakers. She made history. This, for the first time, is her story. Published by Grove Atlantic. Paperback, $25.
At 2:00pm following the book signing, there will be a dramatic reading of excerpts from The Great Divorce in the Brick Dwelling.  

Limited Edition Shaker Button Box Signing 
July 25, 3:30pm

Steve Grasselli, Limited Edition Button Box Signing

Master box maker and artisan-in-residence Steve Grasselli will be dating, numbering, and signing a limited edition of 50 Shaker Button Boxes created in honor of Hancock Shaker Village's 50th anniversary as a living history museum. The boxes are painted in an especially distinctive and significant “Antique Rose,” which was the color of the Horse Barn at Hancock Shaker Village from 1880-1905. The "pink barn" is noted in a number of Shaker journals of the day, and is being returned to its historic color this summer. This is a unique piece and supplies are limited, so contact the Village Store today at 413.443.0188 ext 246 to reserve your very own signed and numbered work of Hancock craftsmanship and art. Box is $100.  

“RETURN & LEARN” EVENTS 

Lecture: Integrating Shaker Style into Your Home
July 29, 2:00pm

Presenter: Gladys Montgomery, Editor, Berkshire Living Home + Garden Magazine

The Shakers were famous in the 19th century for their creativity, design, simple style, and quality craftsmanship and the Shaker aesthetic is still appealing to the world’s people today. Not only are original Shaker artifacts highly sought after in the antiques marketplace, but a wide variety of replicas, reproductions, and adaptations of Shaker design are available as well. Don’t we all want to simplify our lives? This session will help guide you as you learn about and discuss various approaches and ways to incorporate Shaker design and style into your home. Free to members or free with admission. 

Lecture: Modern Day Intentional Communities
August 4, 2:00pm

Presenter: Daniel Greenberg, Executive Director, Living Routes

“Intentional Community” is an inclusive term describing a group of people who choose to live and strive together with a common vision. As part of its 50th anniversary celebration, Hancock Shaker Village is hosting a series of panel discussions with contemporary intentional communities.
Living Routes, based in Amherst, Mass., creates opportunities to purposefully live and learn within an international network of human-scale communities called “ecovillages”. These communities are based on a holistic view of sustainability, and “consciously strive to live well and lightly.” This presenter will give an overview of the goals, practices, mission, and vision of Living Routes and the many different eco-villages. Free to members or free with admission. 

Lecture & Book Signing: The Locavore Way
August 8, 1:00pm

Presenter: Amy Cotler 

In this lively and inspiring conversation with renowned culinary professional (a.k.a. food fanatic) and farm-to-table advocate Amy Cotler, she will discuss the Locavore movement, which emphasizes the many benefits of local eating and seasonal cooking. A recognized pioneer in the field, she was the founding director of Berkshire Grown, an early local farm and food advocacy organization that has become a national model. Copies of her recent book, The Locavore Way, will be available for sale and signing. 

Tour: Metal Ware
August 18, 2:00pm

Presenter: Lesley Herzberg, Hancock Shaker Village Collections Manager

This “curator’s tour” offers a rare opportunity to examine up-close some original artifacts from the Hancock Shaker Village collection. Hand-forged iron hardware, copper kettles, tin ware, kitchen implements, cast iron woodstoves, and all types of hand tools…these are some of the heavy and not-so-heavy metal artifacts, designed and crafted by the Shakers, that you will learn about in this session. The tour will also include accounts of the Hancock Shakers’ iron ore mining operations, and a visit to the Village forge to talk with blacksmiths as they carry out their craft in the authentic setting. Free to members or free with admission. 

Workshop: Sing like a Shaker (Family Fun!)
August 27, 1:00pm

Presenters: Todd Burdick, Hancock Shaker Village Director of Education, and HSV Staff Interpreters

Shaker worship has always intrigued the world’s people, since it incorporated not only praying, speaking, and singing, but also dancing – called “exercises” and “laboring” by the believers themselves.  Through motions and movements, such as bowing, bending, turning, marching, and shaking, the believers would “labor before the Lord.” This enthusiastic and energetic worship is what earned them the name Shaker. This program, great for all ages, will be held in the Meeting House, the authentic Shaker Sunday worship location during the warmer months. Led by Hancock Shaker Village staff dressed in Shaker costume, you’ll learn Shaker songs with accompanying motions, and be invited to sing-a-long with some Shaker tunes, including the well-known “Simple Gifts.” Free to members or free with admission.

What’s it Worth? An Informal Appraisal of Your Antique
August 30, 2:00pm

Presenter: Charlie Flint, Charles L. Flint Antiques Inc.

Ever wonder about the history, craftsmanship, and background of that antique harvest basket you use in your garden? Could that old framed painting you picked up for a song at a tag sale years ago perhaps actually be a hidden treasure? Did your grandma hand down to you an old, early American country style ladder back chair, and have you wondered ever since if it could be Shaker-made?  Bring in your item, whether Shaker or not, and this antiques expert will look it over, comment on it, and informally appraise it for you. Who knows what you might find out!  Free to members or free with admission. 

WORKSHOPS 

Workshop: Shaker Oval Box Making Basics
August 7 - 8 OR October 9-10, 9:00am - 4:00pm each day, maximum ten students

Tuition: $200 HSV Members / $220 Non-Members

Make your own nest of four boxes while learning to carve swallow tails, bend the box, and install tops and bottoms with instructor Steve Grasselli. A great weekend for woodworking beginners to get a good start, and for experienced woodworkers to develop a new skill. No previous experience required. Tools and materials provided.

Workshop: Classic New England Side Table
August 28 – 29, 9:00am - 4:00pm each day, maximum three students

Tuition: $585 HSV Members / $650 Non-Members

A tapered-leg one-drawer stand, this design was utilized throughout New England and fits well in any home décor. This class offers the opportunity to learn two skill sets: building the table and hand dovetailing the single drawer. Your completed cherry side table will stand two-feet tall, 20 inches wide, and 16 inches deep. This course utilizes both machine and hand tools.  

About Hancock Shaker Village 

Hancock Shaker Village celebrates its 50th anniversary as a living history museum and center for the study of principled living in 2010. Situated on a picturesque expanse of farm, field, and woodland in Pittsfield, Mass., the fully restored Village includes 18 historic buildings, heirloom medicinal and vegetable gardens, 22,000 examples of Shaker furniture, crafts, tools, and clothes that depict daily life at the Shakers’ City of Peace through its 220 years, as well as heritage breed farm animals and spectacular hiking trails. There are daily tours, craft and cooking demonstrations, lectures and workshops, and a variety of activities for children and families, as well as a Museum Store and Shaker-inspired cuisine at the Village Harvest Café. The Discovery Room offers hands-on opportunities for kids of all ages to try their hand at chair seat weaving, working at a loom, trying on Shaker-style clothing, or milking a life-sized replica of a cow. An interactive audio tour (free with admission) is available in English, French, Italian, and German. For more information, call 800.817.1137 or go to www.hancockshakervillage.org.
Hancock Shaker Village is located on Route 20 in Pittsfield, Mass., just west of the junction of Routes 20 and 41. For GPS purposes, the Village is located at 34 Lebanon Mountain Rd., Hancock, Mass. 01237. Or, enter 1843 W. Housatonic St., Pittsfield, Mass. 01201 then proceed 1/2 mile further west on Rt. 20 to the parking lot.
 

Earthwork Programs

SUMMER FUN EXTENDED! At Home in the Woods Summer Camps
August 9-13 and August 16-20, Conway, MA, ages 7-12 (August 2-6 has a couple of openings)
Earthwork Programs campers will explore hands-on wilderness activities and adventures, such as building natural shelters, practicing fire by friction, tracking animals, learning about wild edibles, knife safety, and so much more!
$225 per week, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Register online: www.earthworkprograms.com Or call 413-522-0338.

At Home in the Woods Summer Camps

Earthwork Programs campers will explore hands-on wilderness activities and adventures, such as building natural shelters, practicing fire by friction, tracking animals, learning about wild edibles, and so much more! Day camps start at the end of June and continue through August and are held in Greenfield (ages 7-12), S. Deerfield (ages 8-12), Conway (ages 8-teen--special Leader in Training week) and Shutesbury (ages 5-12). $225 per week. Check our Calendar for appropriate location and dates, and register online: www.earthworkprograms.com/blog/. Or call 413-522-0338.

OVERNIGHT Wilderness Skills Workshop for Adults

Fire without matches? Plants that are edible and/or heal? Build a shelter with all-natural materials? Earthwork Programs offers this new immersion experience--a two-day nature awareness program for adults. Sat, August 21, to Sun, August 22, in the Hilltowns, Western MA.
• Fire by Friction
• Animal Tracking
• Knife Safety
• Wild Edible & Healing Plants
• Shelter Building
• Scout Invisibility
• Wilderness Survival
• Games & Fun
• More hands-on experiences!!

$250-$350 sliding scale (food will be provided; BYOS (Bring/Build Your Own Shelter)). For details, call 413-522-0338 or visit www.earthworkprograms.com. Pre-registration is required.

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Affordable Demolition & General Construction
"We work in the HillTowns"
John Santaniello, President
P. O. Box 32
West Suffield, CT 06093
See Our Ad Here
Ph: 860-668-5780 or 860-305-4649
Email: affordabledemo@cox.net

Female Owned & Operated

Mass Call / Volunteer Firefighters Assoc.
See Our Ad Here
Website:
www.mcvfaTravel.com

O'Rourke's Auto School
Owner: Donna Hoernig/Contact: Natalie McCorkindale
122 Federal St.
Florence, MA 01062
See Our Ad Here
PH: 413-584-4000
Email: dch2@orourkesautoschool.com
Website: www.orourkesautoschool.com;
Westfield location: www.westfielddrivingschool.com
Registry approved Driver's Education Course
Class locations in Northampton, Westfield, & Huntington, MA

VALLEY YOGA
82 Broad Street (Lower Level)
Westfield MA 01085
See Our Ad Here
Ph: 413-562-1140
Email: info@valley-yoga.com
Website: www.valley-yoga.com

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Valley Yoga Class Fees, membership options & other Information

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THEATRE CAMP OPENINGS STILL AVAILABLE 

The Westfield Theatre Group’s 17th Annual Summer Theatre Camp still has openings for its Second and Third Sessions. The second begins Monday, July 19 and the third and final session begins on Monday, August 2, 2010. Each session has a morning group for campers aged 8-12 and an afternoon group for campers aged 13-19.
Campers learn the basics of acting on stage, learning basic stage movement, character development, auditioning basics and improvisations. Acting in and working on plays has proven to increase a young person’s self-confidence, self-expression and gives the camper a positive experience in public speaking. Campers with reading problems and speech problems also benefit from the experience. The campers will perform a production that is open to the public to practice what they have learned at the end of each session.
Larry Andersen, M.Ed., a teacher for more than thirty years, has been the Camp’s director for all seventeen years. He is a drama coach, an award winning designer and director of the Westfield Theatre Group’s acclaimed productions of “Godspell,” “Sound of Music” and “Barefoot in the Park.” Mr. Andersen has assisted in casting movies filmed in the local area. Former campers have appeared in the Disney movie “Cider House Rules” as well as other movies and one former camper appeared on Broadway in “Cats.”
The Co-Director of the Summer Theatre Camp is Tristan Andersen. Tristan was one of the Summer Theatre Camp's first campers. Tristan graduated out of the camp and then acted as Assistant Director for 4 years before being named as Co-Director in 2008. Tristan is a 2007 graduate of Westfield State College and is employed as a substitute teacher.
The Westfield Theatre Group is a department of the Westfield Woman’s Club, a non-profit corporation. The Westfield Theatre Group has been presenting quality live theatre performances for over 70 years, making it one of the oldest community theaters in the nation.
The Summer Theatre Camp is held at the Westfield Woman’s Club building at 28 Court Street in Westfield and is easily accessible by PVTA bus. Tuition is $150, with discounts available for families and groups. Tuition assistance is also available. Registration forms can be obtained by calling 413-214-1926, by emailing WTG Theatre Camp@aol.com or by downloading from our website www.westfieldtheatregroup.com.

Berkshire Community Radio Presents Award-winning Investigative Journalist Amy Goodman, Host of Democracy Now! at Monument Mountain Regional High School

Proceeds to Benefit WBCR-LP, 97.7 FM 

Berkshire Community Radio will present award-winning investigative journalist Amy Goodman on Friday, July 16 at 7:30 pm at Monument Mountain Regional High School (600 Stockbridge Rd., Great Barrington). Ms. Goodman will speak about her recent visits to Haiti and the Gulf of Mexico in a talk titled “The Role of Independent Media in Promoting Social Justice,” followed by a book signing. Proceeds from the event will benefit WBCR-LP, 97.7 FM, the volunteer-based, noncommercial, community radio station in the town of Great Barrington, Mass. Tickets are $20 (talk and book signing) and $100 (includes reception with Ms. Goodman, front row seats during the talk, and a copy of her newest book, Breaking the Sound Barrier). Tickets are available through www.berkshireradio.org, at Fuel Coffee Shop (286 Main St., Great Barrington), and at the door. 
Amy Goodman is an award-winning investigative journalist, syndicated columnist, author, and the host of Democracy Now! airing on more than 850 public television/radio stations worldwide. She is the first journalist to receive the Right Livelihood Award, widely known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize” for “developing an innovative model of truly independent grassroots political journalism that brings to millions of people the alternative voices that are often excluded by the mainstream media.” London newspaper, The Independent, named Amy Goodman and Democracy Now! “an inspiration”; and political blog PULSE placed Goodman at the top of its “20 Top Global Media Figures.” 
Ms. Goodman is the author of four New York Times bestsellers. Her latest book, Breaking the Sound Barrier, proves the power of independent journalism in the struggle for a better world. She co-authored the first three bestsellers, Standing Up to the Madness (2008), Static (2006), and The Exception to the Rulers (2004), with her brother, journalist David Goodman. She writes a weekly column (also produced as an audio podcast) syndicated by King Features, for which she was recognized in 2007 with the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Reporting. For more information about Amy Goodman and Democracy Now!, please visit www.democracynow.org.
Founded in 2004, WBCR-LP, 97.7 FM is a volunteer-operated and listener-supported noncommercial community broadcast and Internet radio station in the town of Great Barrington, Mass. Each week, WBCR-LP broadcasts over 90 locally-produced or sponsored radio programs; with programmers ranging from elementary school students to retirees; with topics including national and local community issues, astrology, skate-boarding, French cooking, women's issues, and water preservation and protection; and with live and recorded music ranging from classical to Italian folk, jazz to heavy metal. In addition, dozens of community volunteers perform the myriad of tasks required to maintain the studios and keep the station running. For more information about the station, see www.berkshireradio.org

Playwrights Philip Gerson and Kate Wenner to Workshop New Plays

Berkshire Playwrights Lab will present staged reading workshop productions of Philip Gerson’s Eyes Forward directed by Bob Jaffe and of Kate Wenner’s Make Sure It's Me directed by Joe Cacaci (Wednesday, June 30 at 8pm) at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center. Admission is free. For reservations, call 413.528.0100 or visit the Mahaiwe Box Office (14 Castle Street in Great Barrington, Mass.).
Playwright Philip Gerson’s work for theater includes productions at the Colony Theatre in Los Angeles, Musical Theatre Works in New York, The New York International Fringe Festival, and Gayfest NYC. Among the many television shows he has written for are two of the most successful series in TV history – Murder, She Wrote (for which he was story editor) and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (for which he was co-executive producer). He divides his time between New York and Los Angeles.
In Gerson's new play, Eyes Forward, a valuable painting stolen by the Nazis during WWII forms the background for two extraordinary love stories in two different countries, seven decades apart.  A story of the need for human connection in the present and to the past, it is about love and reconciliation and the healing power of art.  The cast of this staged reading workshop production includes Ylfa Edelstein, Chris Stack, and three other actors TBA.
Playwright Kate Wenner spent fourteen years as an award-winning producer for ABC's 20/20. She is the author of the novels Dancing with Einstein and Setting Fires and a memoir, Shamba Letu: An American Girl's Adventures in Africa. She lives in New York City and the Berkshires.  Her ten-minute play Einstein and Freud in Heaven was featured in the Ten-Minutes Plays in the Berkshires Festival.
Wenner’s new play, Make Sure It's Me, is set in a university brain trauma clinic, where five vets, injured in IED (improvised explosive device) blasts in Iraq, confront the truth that their lives will never be the same again.  Shocked by the level of brain damage sustained by these vets and by the Pentagon's continuing refusal to test for this injury, Josephine Fitch, the passionate and tough-minded clinic director, makes the fateful decision to expose what she believes will turn out to be the Agent Orange of the Iraq War. The ten-member cast of this staged reading workshop production is TBA. 

About Berkshire Playwrights Lab 

Founded in 2007 by theater professionals Joe Cacaci, Jim Frangione, Bob Jaffe, and Matthew Penn, Berkshire Playwrights Lab is dedicated to encouraging, developing, and presenting new plays. Currently, through readings, and, in the future, through workshops, and fully-staged productions, the Lab provides emerging and established writers with a professional and creative environment, while offering audiences the unique and provocative opportunity to share in the dramatic evolution of premiere works. For more information, see www.berkshireplaywrightslab.org.
Note: Press is welcome to attend Berkshire Playwrights Lab Free Staged Reading Series events, but not to review, as the plays presented are works in progress.

Trustees of Reservations Events

Saturday Sustainability Workshops
Land of Providence Reservation, Main St., Holyoke

Trustees members $5,  non-members $10.   Spaces are limited; Call The Trustees of Reservations at 413 532-1631 x13 or email pvregion@ttor.org to reserve a spot. Check www.thretrustees.org for full workshop schedule. 

Saturday, July 17 | 1 PM - 3 PM
Composting at Home

Composting is a simple way to put your food scraps to good use.  Cut down on the trash you are hauling to the dump each day and increase the health and vibrancy of your gardens.  This is an introductory session for first-time composters.

Meditation and Yoga
Sundays | 9:30 AM-10:30 AM
Land of Providence Reservation, Main St., Holyoke

Come for a peaceful class overlooking the Connecticut River. This is a gentle yoga session appropriate for beginners. Please bring a yoga mat and wear comfortable clothing. Meets every Sunday through the summer. Rain cancels. Trustees members and Holyoke Residents $5, non-members $10. Call the Trustees of Reservations at 413-532-1631 x13 or email pvregion@ttor.org for information.

Land of Providence Tours
Saturdays (June through October, and by appointment) | 11 AM
Land of Providence Reservation, Main St., Holyoke

Take a guided exploration of The Trustees of Reservations’ new property in Holyoke, which features community gardens, river views, and walking trails. $2 donation per person welcome. Call The Trustees of Reservations at 413 532-1631 x13 or email pvregion@ttor.org to register or for more information.

Summer Stewardship: Footprint Workday
Sunday, July 24 | 1 PM - 3 PM
Dinosaur Footprints Reservation, Holyoke

Spend this mid summer afternoon along the bank of the Connecticut River and the dinosaur track ways, pitching in to care for the property.  A variety of tasks possible, depending on the weather and your interest.  Please dress in long-pants, a work shirt and sturdy shoes.  Bring gloves and a water bottle if you have them. FREE. Call the Trustees of Reservations at 413-532-1631 x13 or email pvregion@ttor.org to register or for more information.

About the Trustees of Reservations in the Pioneer Valley

Since 2001, The Trustees have been building a stronger conservation presence in the Pioneer Valley region with educational and grassroots community outreach programs and the pursuit of significant land conservation opportunities. Currently, The Trustees own and manage 13 spectacular properties in the region.  These include Notchview, the Bryant Homestead, Dinosaur Footprints, Chapel Brook, Bear Swamp, Chesterfield Gorge, Petticoat Hill, Glendale Falls, Little Tom Mountain (to open 2012) and Peaked Mountain.  Recent acquisitions which will open to the public in the future include the Bullitt Reservation, Mt. Warner Reservation, and Land of Providence. The Trustees locally operate the Highland Communities Initiative (HCI), a program created to protect the natural and cultural character of 38 rural hilltowns located between the Connecticut and Housatonic Rivers.  To find out more about HCI, visit www.highlandcommunities.org. For more information on becoming a Trustees member, donor and/or volunteer or to reach The Trustees of Reservations Pioneer Valley regional office, please call 413.532.1631.

The Trustees of Reservations are 100,000 people like you, who love the outdoors and the distinctive charms of New England, and believe in celebrating and protecting them for current and future generations. Founded by open space visionary, Charles Eliot in 1891, The Trustees “hold in trust” and care for special places throughout the Commonwealth called "reservations.”

A member-, donor-, volunteer-, and endowment-supported organization, The Trustees (and its affiliate, Boston Natural Areas Network) own and care for  more than 100 spectacular reservations and 34 community gardens located on 25,000 acres in 73 communities throughout Massachusetts. From working farms and historic homesteads, several of which are National Historic Landmarks, to formal and community gardens, barrier beaches, open meadows, woodland trails, mountain vistas, a Gold LEED-certified green building, and a popular campground, all reservations are open for the public to enjoy.

The Trustees offer hundreds of programs and activities throughout the year, most of which are free-of-charge or discounted for members. In addition, The Trustees are a leader in the conservation movement and serve as a model for other land trusts nationally and internationally. Working with communities and conservation partners around the state in addressing important conservation issues and efforts, The Trustees hold conservation restrictions on more than 16,000 acres of privately owned land and have worked with partners around the state to assist in the protection of an additional 16,000 acres.

As land is being developed and open space is being fragmented at a rapid pace around the state, time is running out to save the best of Massachusetts’ landscapes and landmarks. To find out how you can protect a special place in your community, become a partner, request a speaker, and/or become a Trustee through your volunteer, donor, or membership contributions, please call 781.784.0567, visit www.thetrustees.org, or email membership@ttor.org. We are all Trustees.