Berkshire Magazine: Springside Park

The Heart of Pittsfield
B y t A ylor s t A u BACh // Photos B y Jimmy i enner, Jr .
The city of Pittsfield is known as the
heart of the Berkshires, but something
special lies within the heart of Pittsfield.
Cradled in the city’s center is the 238-acre
Springside Park, former farm and pasturelands
with 112 years of local memories
and written history. From family picnics
to the petting zoo, ask a local Pittsfielder
about Springside Park, and they’ll rattle
off enough misty-eyed memories to fill
every day of a Berkshire summer.
Springside is the city’s largest park,
featuring rich areas of wildlife and woodlands,
ornamental and demonstration
gardens, an arboretum, daffodil and lilac
fields, American chestnut seed farm, more
than ten miles of walking and hiking
trails, a softball complex, and a fully accessible
playground. Once pulsing with life
in the ’60s and ’70s, Springside’s grassy
hills bustled with picnickers and pond
hoppers, the latter of which doubled as
a popular ice-skating spot in the winter
months. Today, the pace at Springside has
slowed down, but the fields and forests
are still places one can go wild.
What began as Abbott Park in 1910
with a donation of ten acres by Kelton
B. Miller (a former Pittsfield mayor and
editor of The Berkshire Evening Eagle), grew
considerably over the years as more acreage
was endowed and purchased. Miller
deeded Springside to the city with the
understanding “that the City of Pittsfield
acquire and add to the above-described
parcel and maintain as a public park
forever.That the city shall reasonably
improve upon the granted premises …
and shall forever maintain the granted
tract [& additions] for the use and enjoyment
of the public as is usual with lands
of this character.”
Covering well over 200 acres by
1970, the next few decades of the park
saw a shift in recreational use as well
as budgetary funding. Collaborative
community groups such as the Friends
of Springside, Springside Greenhouse
Group, Morningside Neighborhood
Initiative, and the Hebert Arboretum
have traditionally stepped up to spearhead
nonprofit efforts to steward the land and
to make use of the park’s size and unique
location for activities like annual clean-up
days, plant sales, environmental programs,
outdoor performances, fitness and yoga
classes, nature therapy, and more. The
different stakeholders unified to form the
Springside Park Conservancy and spent
18 months drafting a master plan for the
park that would “maintain a balance of
mixed complementary usages, improve
infrastructure and enhance its educational
benefit, safety and accessibility for all,”
according to the 2016 Springside Park
Masterplan. With needed improvements
and additions broken down into phases,
projects such as the exterior renovation of
the Springside House are nearing completion,
while others are still in the works.
The ample parking area at 874 North
Street acts as a welcome mat for the 1856
Springside House—a recently awarded
$500,000 grant from Save America’s
Treasures will enable interior renovations
to begin this year—and from the porch
steps, the expansive views to the south
and west are a spectacular trade-off for
just a few steps from the car. Venture
behind the estate towards the edge of a
slim wooded ecotone, where at the base
of the hill is a red-roofed pavilion offering
a shaded seat. Sit and listen to the distinctive
“oka-lee” of red-winged blackbirds
hiding in the reeds across Springside
Pond. A migratory bird funnel, Springside
has been a frequent location for Berkshire
bird-watching groups like the Hoffmann
Bird Club each spring and fall. Make
tracks on one of Springside’s well-worn
paths, perhaps the red trail for a walk
past the site of the proposed bike skills
park, or the Robert J. Presutti Chestnut
Orchard. The orchard contains 3,000
seed trees that are part of a national effort
to develop a blight-resistant variety of the
once ubiquitous American chestnut.
From a golf course proposal, to pickle
ball courts and a pump track, Springside
has been the subject of differing opinions
when asked, “What’s next?” For
Pittsfield’s Mayor Linda Tyer, the answer
lies in the park’s size: “Springside Park is
large enough that there are many kinds
of activities that can take place there and
do take place there.The park itself is big
enough that we can be really creative in
how we design it for the future use of
families that are here today, for active
retirees, or people thinking about the
future of our park.”
86 // BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE July 2022

season 48
season 48
presents:
featuring the
Aaron Diehl
5week5week5
JAZZ TRIO!
THURSDAY 7:30PM august 4 2022
arkell pavilion, SVAC
represented by Opus 3 Artists
tickets & info at mmfvt.org or 802-362-1956
CHAMBER
ORCHESTRA
THURSDAY
7:30PM
sept 1 2022
arkell pavilion, SVAC
SPONSORED BY
tickets & info at mmfvt.org or 802-362-1956

+LVWRU\
/LYHV+HUH
The recently approved 2.3-acre bike skills park, a
joint project of Berkshire New England Mountain Bike
Association (NEMBA) and Berkshire Mountain Bike,
seeks to provide a sustainable, valuable, accessible, and
unique recreation experience to the Berkshire region and
help expand the mountain bike community in a meaningful
way, according to Alison McGee, President of the
Berkshire NEMBA.
The two community groups that have utilized Springside
for several long-standing youth biking programs have now
begun fundraising efforts for construction on the paved
pump track and youth area. The choice to put the bike
skills park at Springside was an intentional one, as it abuts
an underserved neighborhood and a public middle school.
McGree says, “It has been extremely important to us, from
the start, that this park not only add excitement for existing
mountain bikers, but also new opportunities for at-risk
youth and families. The Berkshire Bike Skills Park is intended
to be a free, open, and easily accessible recreation option
to guide area youth toward healthy and rewarding choices.”
Future plans include partnerships with community organizations
to provide organized activities and equipment access
to the school and community members.
Situated within walking distance of both a middle and
elementary school, Springside is a vital part of the heavily
populated Morningside neighborhood and its children.
With a fully accessible playground located at the southeast
corner of the park (the only one of its kind in Berkshire
County), the open greenspace does much to support the
physical and mental well-being of the community. The lush
fields of Springside are a natural extension of the neighborhood,
offering residents room to roam.
Ways to Enjoy Springside Park:
• Visit the ornamental, demonstration, butterfly and
remembrance gardens, take a stroll along the seasonal
lilac walk and daffodil hill, peruse the living library
of the arboretum, or take in a sunset from the expansive
Springside House front porch. Parking: 874 North Street.
• Bird-watch along Springside Pond. Picnic at the pavilion.
Walk or bike the trails. Springside contains just under
5.5-miles of marked trails with another 5 or so of
unmarked trails. Trail maps available at springsidenow.
wordpress.com/park-maps Parking: Various points of entry.
• Let the kids roam free at the Berkshire’s only fullyaccessible
playground. Rotary Park features a basketball
court, baseball diamond, and concession stand.
Parking: 159 Springside Avenue.
• Take in a ball game at the Doyle Softball Complex.
Parking: 561 Benedict Road.
Summer Happenings:
• Eagles Band Concerts in the Park, Tuesday, July 19 at
7 p.m. eaglescommunityband.org
• Berkshire Athenaeum Literacy in the Park, Tuesdays,
July 5 and August 9 (Rotary Park Playground on
Springside Ave.) pittsfieldlibrary.org

• Berkshire Mountain Bike Training Series,
Tuesday nights from June 21 to August 16
(North Playground, 874 North St.
entrance) berkshiremtb.com
• Little Bellas, a mountain bike group
whose goal is to create female camaraderie
on bikes, and have fun in a constructive
environment. July 25-29, 8:30 a.m. to
12:30 p.m. each day. littlebellas.com
• Berkshire Yoga Dance & Fitness, Bucket
Drum & Dance Fitness Classes, Sundays
starting June 12 to September 25 from
10:30 to 11:15 a.m.
berkshireyogadancefitness.com
• Shire Fitness, mobile gym offering
a range of outdoor exercise options in
Springside Park’s old zoo lot. Small
groups, 1-on-1 sessions, and drop-in
workouts. (874 North St. entrance)
Check out @shirefitness on Instagram
and Facebook for the drop-in schedule.
• Berkshire Health Ranger, weekly one-hour
in-person nature treatment sessions aimed at
“restoring connections with play, people and
places.” berkshirehealthranger.com
PARTNERING
with NATURE
in the beautiful
Berkshire Hills
& beyond
Design
Installation
Maintenance
natureworkslandcare.com | 413-325-1101