The rare photograph shown above was taken in the 1880s. Looking southeast on Park Street, it features a portion of Monument Mills in the village of Housatonic. The brick structures were part of the complex known as Waubeek Mills, which made bedspreads. The present-day view on Park Street is shown in the below photograph taken atop the railroad track trestle.
Until 1858, the Housatonic River had not been bridged here. Route 183 (Park Street) heading north from Great Barrington was still a narrow farm road, which faded into wilderness after reaching the old Dutch stone house shown below, built in the 1700s by Issac Van Deusen. Access to Housatonic village was made a few miles west via the hamlet of Van Deusenville.
