Mohawk Trail

The Mohawk Trail is a historic road in western Massachusetts that runs through the Berkshire Mountains, linking the Hudson Valley to the Connecticut River Valley. The route winds for about 63 miles (101 kilometers) through dense forests, past waterfalls, and over steep mountain slopes.

Indigenous tribes originally established it centuries ago as a trading path between the coasts. In the 1910s, the state rebuilt the route as one of America's first official scenic highways.

The name comes from the Mohawk people who used this route to trade furs and tools between settlements. Today, wooden cabins from the 1930s built by Civilian Conservation Corps workers still stand along the road and remain in use.

The best time to drive is early autumn when leaves change color and visibility across the valleys is clear. Several lookout points and trailheads along the way allow for short stops and walks.

In 1915, 700 automobiles traveled this route in a single day, an extraordinary traffic volume for that era. This number shows how quickly the path transformed from an ancient footway into a popular driving route.