The Housatonic Rail Trail is officially 2.5 miles of historic railbed hiking, we started at St. Bridgids Cemetery directly across from views of the Flag Rock summit in Housatonic.  The in and back included about 5.7 miles of railbed including spur paths we found along the way.

The original Housatonic Railroad was chartered in 1836 to build from Bridgeport, Conn., on Long Island Sound, north to the Massachusetts state line. From there, Berkshire Railroad was chartered the following year to build to West Stockbridge, Mass. West Stockbridge Railroad was incorporated to build to the New York state line, and continue as Hudson & Berkshire Railroad to reach the Hudson River.
The Housatonic Railroad is an historic New England system that linked western Connecticut with western Massachusetts.  At its peak, the north-south corridor stretched 189 miles connecting South Norwalk, CT with Pittsfield, MA.

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