EASTHAMPTON – On Sept. 9, city and state officials gathered with community members and various other organizations for a ribbon cutting at the new Mt. Tom North Trailhead.

The site, which has become the official trailhead of the New England Scenic Trail, includes a nine-car parking area and a 1,200-foot long, 5-foot-wide Forest Service Accessible trail with resting areas, and interpretive signs and benches which culminates at the top of the hill overlooking the Oxbow and the valley.

The project was a group effort over the past five years in collaboration with the Kestrel Land Trust, the Pascommuck Conservation Trust, Florence’s Dodson & Flinker, Easthampton’s Community Preservation Act (CPA) Committee, and the state’s Parkland Acquisitions and Renovations for Communities (PARC) program.

With the help of the CPA committee and PARC program, the city and Kestrel acquired 23 acres of land on the side of Mount Tom off of East Street for a trail system and recreation area. The ribbon cutting took place at the top of the site and featured multiple speakers including, Mark Wamsley from Kestrel Land Trust, state Rep. Dan Carey, Easthampton Mayor Nicole LaChapelle and City Planner Jeff Bagg.

“I imagine that conversations about the conservation of this property have been going on for at least a decade, maybe longer,” said Wamsley. “Kestrel Land Trust is thrilled that we were able to play a role, and that we did in both the acquisition and conservation of the property. We’re now honored and trusted with caring for 10 acres of the park known as ‘Little Mountain’… which includes the park’s most prominent geological feature…that’s now accessible by a loop trail.”

Bagg said during the ceremony that discussions about the importance of conserving Mount Tom’s land go back multiple decades. With this specific trailhead, Bagg said the city owns about 12 of the 23 acres, while Kestrel owns the other 11.

According to Bagg, the acquisition of the land cost around $900,000, and In 2020, the city received a $560,000 for the construction of the trailhead and parking area. The two separate parcels off East Street were purchased by a $400,000 PARC grant, $340,000 in CPA funds, an $85,000 conservation partnership grant, $85,000 from the Beveridge Family Foundation and an anonymous donation, and $75,000 from Kestrel and Pascommuck for the initial option agreement.

“The entire time, the vision has been to create a property that would be available to the widest range of people,” said Bagg.

Due to the site’s unique qualities, Bagg said it was too difficult for the trailhead to be ADA-accessible. Despite this, the trail meets the Forest Service Trail Accessibility guidelines. “That grade is perfect for the use for motorized wheelchairs,” said Bagg, in reference to the Forest Service Trail Accessibility guidelines. “That was an important stakeholder group that we wanted to make the trail accessible too. By doing that, we’re opening the site to a wide range of people; whether they are older people, people who don’t get out into nature very often, or parents with strollers.”

During the ceremony, Carey spoke about how he grew up in Easthampton traversing the mountains through the different thorny avenues.

“To have this parking lot here and this great accessible trail, and to see so many wheels up here now, it’s so special and so important,” he said. It’s so special and so important to open up this really important resource to so many more people.”

LaChapelle, meanwhile, acknowledged the connection of the land to the indigenous population of North America, and how they stewarded it. “We have their names all over our city and all over our state, certainly as a point of pride” LaChapelle said. “I would ask as we walk up here over and over again…that as you read the history of long ago…that you take in a sacred breath.”