Hampshire Woods, Farm, and Campus

Welcome to the Hampshire College Woods, Farm, and Campus Walk.

This walk was conceived of, and created by, the students in a Fall 22 Division I seminar class entitled: Environmental Education: Teaching and Learning about Nature.

We hope that by using this GPS-guided walk, you will learn more about the natural environment of the campus and some of the College's sustainability efforts.

Although the walk was designed to start at the Farm Center, you can listen in any direction. If you are driving to the start of the walk, you can park at the lot on your left after entering the Hampshire College Farm Center off West Street (Rte. 116).

You can download the walk to listen to the audio even if you walk out of wi-fi range and don’t want to use cellular data. If you leave your earbuds in, you can simply put your phone in your pocket and explore without a map. When you enter a zone with information we have compiled, the audio will start automatically. The map is always there if you get lost. Alternatively, you can keep your phone open and use the map to guide you to the next audio-linked location.

At each audio-linked location, you will either be prompted to stop and look at a particular spot or continue walking and listen as you walk.

As you continue, we invite you to consider that land you walk on today was stolen from the Nonotuck people by white colonizers in the 17th century. The Nonotuck people, and their neighboring Indigenous nations were brutally exterminated by white colonial settlers.

Acknowledging that we reside on stolen land is just a first step toward better supporting the Indigenous communities that still reside in the region. It is a way of reminding ourselves about the land we occupy. We know this act alone does not repair the damage done by colonialism; we must do our best to respect this land and the Native people who call it home.

We invite you to begin by learning about the history and current state of the land, as a step in building a right relationship with this land. As a guest on this land, what can you, individually and collectively with others, do to repair the harm done by settler colonialism?