The Navin Farm was one of the few who did not sell to the Whitney Estate and chose to continue farming. You could imagine this was probably not popular with Mr. Whitney, to the point, that the squeeze was placed upon him preventing access and expansion to his farming operations. Eventually, economics forced the sale of the farm and probably not at the same financial arrangement as the original offer. The farm’s house and barn foundations, a cobblestone lined well and an impressive field stone dam that still holds water exists on the Navin Trail with the Navin waterfall a short distance downstream from the dam. Courtesy “Christy Butler Berkshire Destinations”

Flash hike Saturday with Mr. Tom Hoffman as our guide into the history of the Navin name at October Mountain State Forest, largest in the State! You may all know about the Whitney Estate, but on the Lee/Washington line along West Branch lies much more. Here the original Washington settlers built sawmills, barns and made a hard living farming. The route we took from parking at the 4-corners: West Branch Road to the cemetery, past Washington Mountain Marsh Trail, onto the Navin Trail, past Spruce to Tannery Trail where the Navin homestead lies then Navin Falls, and heard moose. 2.5 miles in and back. Afterwards we took a scenic loop thru gate 7 to County Road around October Mountain Reservoir and back on Lenox-Whitney Place Road and of course drove to the Anderson vista. 7.5 miles. Just a fraction of the trails to explore here. All site detailed posts to follow.

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