100 Art School Road
Monterey
MA
Bidwell House Museum will hold a Charcoaling in the Berkshires Tour on September 17th from 10 am to noon at the Museum on Art School Road in Monterey.
Charcoaling was a major industry for Berkshire farmers and landowners in the mid to late-1800s and was used primarily in the iron smelting industry. Producing charcoal for the iron furnaces yielded much-needed hard money; it was one of their few cash “crops.”
There are a number of charcoal hearths on the Bidwell House Museum property and the adjacent BNRC Steadman Pond Reserve property which was owned by the Bidwell and Carrington families at that time.
The tour will begin with a 15 minute documentary film about charcoaling, produced by the Housatonic Heritage Area, and then walk to several of the charcoal hearths to explore.
To Register for the tour, email bidwellhouse@gmail.com
This walk is part of the annual Housatonic Heritage Walks, which are free, guided interpretive walks to historical, cultural, industrial, natural, and scenic sites in Berkshire County, MA and Litchfield County, CT. Find more Housatonic Heritage Walks here.