Farmington Canal Greenway Interpretive Design

New Haven, Connecticut, 2008-2010

This project compliments the long-awaited conversion of the Farmington Canal (1822-1848) and New Haven-Northampton Railroad (1848-1980s) into the Farmington Canal Greenway, a multi-use recreational trail. This historic trade route extended 89 miles from Northampton, MA to New Haven Harbor. The content and design of this project seeks to reconnect this oft-forgotten vestige of New Haven’s industrial past back into the physical, cultural, and contemporary fabric of the city.  This increment of interpretive design begins at the Hamden-New Haven town line and ends at Temple Street near Yale University's Central Campus. DSA's interpretive design expresses the actual placement of the canal and railway beds in relation to the new recreational trail. The materials of the interpretive project: steel, local stone and heavy timber, mirrors the construction of the original canal and railroad