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Earth Matters : Fifty ways to love your river

By Monya Relles

How often do you cross the Connecticut River? Do you drive across the majestic and sometimes trafficky bridges that span its banks? Do you ever walk the Norwottuck Rail Trail in Hadley, peering over the edge toward the shocking cold of the water below? Or maybe you only cross on special occasions, to visit distant friends? Do you skate across the Oxbow in the winter time, or even brave the cold for ice fishing? Over thousands of years, the Connecticut River has been many things to many people, and the roles the river has played in our conscious and unconscious lives reflect back elements of the cultures and peoples who interacted with it.