Rail Trails Across Massachusetts:
A Zoom Presentation with Craig Della Penna
A Zoom Presentation with Craig Della Penna
Wednesday, October 25, 2023 at 7 pm
In this zoom presentation, Rails-to-Trails expert and Florence resident Craig Della Penna will explain the 40-year
effort to convert 104 miles of former steam railroad line between Boston and Northampton into a rail trail.
effort to convert 104 miles of former steam railroad line between Boston and Northampton into a rail trail.
Railroad Crossing at Main Street, Northampton, MA
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Within 150 miles of Northampton, MA lies the densest network of former steam railroad corridors in the United States. The longest, most complex of these corridors in New England is the MASS CENTRAL RAIL TRAIL (MCRT), which runs 104 miles from North Station in Boston to Union Station in Northampton, passes through dozens of towns, intersects more than 18 other developing rail trails, and is now close to completion. This network presents an extraordinary opportunity.
Come take a journey with Craig Della Penna who will show you just how complicated this 40+ year expedition has been and how we are likely in the home stretch to get it built out. You’ll learn just what it will mean to the communities along the way—in ways you never thought of. |
Here’s a few topics Della Penna will cover:
- A six step Infographic about how the Commonwealth of Mass came to own so many miles of former steam railroad corridor. Each one of these steps was a “Forrest Gump Moment” for me where I was a witness to what came to be remembered as a series of iconic events that no one saw coming at the time.
- How all the places that voted down the trail idea in the 90s came around and embraced the idea.
- What a 100+ mile long trail will mean to not only well-off suburbs, but what it will mean to places that have not experienced the well-being of 21st century life—yet.
Craig Della Penna is the Board President of Norwottuck Network (NN)—a 20+ year old 501c3. Today, NN is working to reassemble the former railroad corridor from Northampton all the way to Boston and to convert the ex-Boston & Maine Railroad’s Mass Central branch into the longest rail trail in New England. He has given over 1,200 lectures in 21 states on various topics related to the conversion of former railroads into linear parks. He is also the author of five books, op-eds in numerous newspapers. He is the first realtor in the United States with a niche practice of selling houses near rail trails. He and his wife Kathleen also operate an award-winning bed & breakfast, Sugar Maple Trailside Inn, that sits 8 feet from the rail trail in Northampton’s historic Civil War era industrial village of Florence.