The Wagon Train

Carroll Stowe, a longtime resident of Heath, has organized the "wagon train" every year since 1981.

A loose-knit group of "horse people" meet every year at the Heath fairgrounds on the Friday before the last full weekend of September. They camp there for the weekend and make two wagon train excursions, one on Saturday and one on Sunday.

There are generally more riders on horseback than there are wagons. The "wagons" are a hodgepodge of home-built and home altered horse-drawn equipment, usually wearing rubber tires. Those of us with only TWO legs have to hitch a ride wherever there is room. Carroll lets some of us actually DRIVE the wagon when the going is easy!

My favorite one of the trips is the one they make to the "Burnt Hill" blueberry farm.

The view from the hill is fantastic! You can see the hills of Vermont and New Hampshire. To the south you can see as far as Amherst Massachusetts and beyond.

There is usually a stop at the top of the hill to rest the horses. This year we found out that this is the only spot in the whole area where a cellular phone can reach the rest of the state! See the cellular phone addict standing atop the rock??!!

Many of the hills in the Berkshires are wooded and the view from the top is obscured by the trees. Burnt Hill is an exception; it is covered mainly with "low-bush" blueberry bushes. In several places there are stones arranged in "Stonehenge" fashion. If you stand in the right spot, they line up with the points of the compass.

The trip to the hill is made on backroads and dirt roads. The first part of the return trip is made on virtually NO road at ALL!