The Encyclopedia of Fall: M is for Mohawk Trail

Photo Credit: Library of Congress The fast way to reach the Berkshires from the east is to hop on the Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90) and set your cruise control to 65, or 70 if you want to test the five-miles-over rule. Or you can drive through history–slowly, windows open, stopping here and there, taking photos, drinking in the mountain views that have drawn people for nearly a century. The Mohawk Trail comes with a more pedestrian name: It’s part of Route 2, from Orange to Williamstown, a delicious 65 miles or so of tourist traps, curves, rises, declines, and one hold-your-breath hairpin turn above the Hoosic Valley that’s an attraction in its own right. If this were an amusement park, you’d pay for the chance to steer around and around it. The first commercial foliage tours wended their way along this road. They were onto something special, and the road rarely lets you down.