One of the well known and popular locations for hiking and swimming near Millerton is Bash Bish Falls, near Copake Falls. This past weekend we were able to visit the location once again and although it was a bit more crowded, and the park rangers were out so “no swimming was allowed”, it was still a very enjoyable hike, a beautiful setting, and Kirby enjoyed herself immensely (as you can see from her appreciation).
Whenever I’m in this area I cannot help but consider its history. At the entrance of the park a sign provides visitors with a bit of history including a little about the wealthy landowners and some of the establishments they created.
Once upon a time there stood the Ceder Mountain Inn, built by Mrs. Josephine Douglas in 1879. As the sign reads, "Despite its dramatic siting on the side of Cedar Mountain, with views looking across the gorge to the falls, the in failed as a business venture. The inn was torn down about 1987." Seems a shame that it was torn down.
As we walked up to see the falls, with the lovely Bash Bish brook at my side, under a canopy of conifers, I couldn’t help but consider who else walked this path and who else swam in the deep, cool pools under the falls.
-Quote from "Haunted New England, A Devilish View of the Yankee Past, by Mary Bolte, 1972
Bash-Bish Falls
Mt. Washington, Massachusetts
Before the white man came to North America, many Algonquin tribes populated the northeast, among them the Mohicans of western Massachusetts. This legend revolves around a beautiful Mohican woman named Bash-Bish who was accusd of this gravest of crimes, found guilty, and condemned to death as prescribed by tribal law, despite her persistent protestations of innocence. For the execution of her sentence, a canoe equipped with leather thongs was secured in the swift water upstream from a waterfall. Bash-Bish was to be bound to the vessel, which was then to be released and drawn by the current over the fateful cataract.
At the appointed hour, the Indians, including the woman's infant daughter, White Swan, solemnly gathered for the ceremony. Suddenly a curious thing happened. A fine mist began to slant in from the sun while, simultaneously, a ring of bright butterflies circled Bash-Bish's head. As the Mohicans fell back in awe of the unexplained phenomenon, the condemned woman broke away, dashed to the edge of the falls and flung herself over the cruel shawl of water, the butterflies spiraling downward behind her. The pool below has never given up her body.
Bash Bish
A Bit of History and a Legend
By Hiram Todd
As early as 1692 the white men settled in what is now called the Town of Mount Washington in Berkshire County. These pioneers took over from the Indians of the tribe of Black Thunder who carried west with them their legends of the Taghconics; "The Spirit of Bash Bish Falls" being one of the best of them. It tells the story of White Swan - the beautiful young wife of Whirling Wind, the son of Chief Black Thunder. They lived happily together for several years but, as they had no children, the mighty chief ordered Whirling Wind to take to his tepee another squaw - one who would bear him a son. Although White Swan respected the tribal law, she began to pine and brood by the falls. One moonlight night she heard her mother calling from behind the mist of the cataract and with a joyous cry she leapt from the high cliff into her mother's waiting arms. So ever after, when the moon is full, the spirit of White Swan appears behind the mist of the troubled waters of the Bash Bish.
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