The Heart of Holliston: CPA Restores the Upper Charles Rail Trail & Historic 8-Arch Bridge
Written by Chase Mack
At first glance, some CPA success stories can appear quite simple: in this case, the town of Holliston utilized Community Preservation Act funds to create a beautiful community trail and restore their historic stone-arch bridge. But the full history behind Holliston’s 8-Arch Bridge and the Upper Charles Rail Trail reveals so much more beyond the finished product: it becomes a testament to the local character of this pastoral CPA community.
In the introduction to “Images of America: Holliston,” written by the Holliston Historical Society, the town is presented as “the quintessential New England village.” The opening pages of the book reference a newspaper article dating back to 1894 that credits the community’s prosperity “solely due to the genius of its people.” Over a century later, a pair of CPA projects have been completed that perfectly represent the town’s hard-working reputation. Running through the heart of the town is nearly 7 miles of rail trail with roots in Holliston’s industrious origins—and standing strong in the center of that trail is an iconic granite bridge that residents value dearly as a symbol of Holliston’s unique character. Thanks to decades of careful planning and over $1.4 million in CPA funds, Holliston was able to acquire and protect all 7 miles of completed rail trail, as well as restore their historic 8-Arch Bridge.
Holliston is one of several towns that contain a section of what is known as the Upper Charles Rail Trail: 24 miles of non-operational railway land in various states of repair, all connecting the towns of Holliston, Milford, Hopkinton, Ashland, and Sherborn. With plans beginning in the late 1990s, the town of Holliston gradually made in-roads to protect and preserve the 7 miles of the trail located within their borders. However, one of the largest hurdles that needed accomplished was acquiring the land itself—CSX Transportation, a railroad company operating throughout the eastern United States, still technically owned the land for railroad purposes, even though the line had been defunct for years. Converting it into a proper rail trail would be impossible until this situation changed.
Rail trail conversions can be complex for a number of reasons, and the case in Holliston was no exception. But the town had an important tool available that ultimately provided the resources needed to fulfil the dream of a completed and accessible rail trail—Holliston was one of the first communities to adopt the Community Preservation Act back in 2002. After years of planning and negotiation, Holliston came to an agreement with CSX in 2014 to purchase the 2 mile stretch of railroad property running through the center of town using $660,000 in CPA funds. At the same time, a transportation bond bill from the Department of Transportation allowed the town to purchase the remaining 2.5 miles of land leading to the Sherborn town line. By the end of 2015, the town had acquired the entire 7 mile stretch of the Upper Charles Rail Trail, and had begun work on building it out with a gravel and stone dust path.
But there was another important element of the trail in Holliston that would require help from the Community Preservation Act. The Bogastow Brook Viaduct, colloquially known as the 8-Arch Bridge, stands proudly in the center of Holliston’s rail trail, and for many in the town, it symbolizes the blue-collar roots of Holliston. Originally built in 1846 by the Boston and Worcester Railroad, the bridge measures 260 feet long and 14 feet wide and connected the railway for passenger and freight trains for over a century (supposedly the last known freight train to pass over the bridge did so in 1995).
Part of Holliston’s efforts to protect the historic 8-Arch Bridge began even while the town was in the midst of negotiating purchase for the 2 mile stretch owned by CSX – this was one of the motivations for acquiring the rail property in the first place, as the town would not be able to do any restoration work on the bridge while it was still considered as part of the railroad. In 2014, the Holliston Trails Committee, led by Robert Weidknecht and backed by both the town’s Historical Commission and the Town Administrator, submitted an application to Preservation Massachusetts to have the viaduct designated as an Endangered Historic Resource. This important designation would help bring attention to the site and facilitate funding for its repairs. In the full application, Weidknecht describes how the 8-Arch Bridge is intrinsically tied to the roots of Holliston and its residents:
“The [Bogastow Viaduct] is significant for its design and its beauty. It is significant for the work it took to build. It is significant to us because the immigrants that came to build the railroad brought the industrial revolution to our town on the rails and stayed here to do the manufacturing work necessary for success.
This bridge is symbolic of Holliston in other ways, too. Blue-collar workers built Holliston, stone by stone, inch-by-inch and day-by-day. While the bridge is aesthetically pleasing, it is not grand – it is not slick and sophisticated or fancy or elaborate. It is functional and strong, and we’d like to keep it that way.”
Preservation Massachusetts accepted the application that year and placed the Bogastow Brook Viaduct onto the list of Massachusetts' Most Endangered Historic Resources. With this designation in place and the deal with CSX completed, efforts to protect the bridge were then mobilized.
Significant repairs were needed to protect both the landmark itself and ensure that it was a safe part of the trail for visitors. Suffering from years of neglect, the 8-Arch Bridge had cracks in the granite, roots and vegetation encroachment threatening the masonry, and extensive drainage issues, all impacting the long-term stability of the structure. With the town now free to begin work on preserving this unique historic asset, a total of $790,000 in CPA funds were ultimately approved to address these issues. Additionally, safety railing was implemented to ensure the bridge could be fully integrated into the Upper Charles Rail Trail.
And the end result of these decades-long efforts? Holliston’s 7 mile stretch of the Upper Charles Rail Trail is now complete and fully traversable: the gravel and dust path is now a popular outdoor recreation site, attracting local pedestrians, bicyclists, and providing an easily accessible route running throughout the town. The repairs to the 8-Arch Bridge were completed in 2018, and the newly-restored viaduct was then the centerpiece of Holliston’s 4th of July celebration. An official ribbon cutting was held to honor the completed trail, and residents enjoyed live music, free BBQ, and at the end of the evening, the bridge itself starred in a spectacular laser light show (click the link or the video preview to watch) – if only every CPA project could have such festivities!
The complete Upper Charles Rail Trail is still a work in progress, but the Holliston CPA program allowed the town to fund the work that was needed to ensure that their section of the trail will remain open and accessible to residents. Year by year, piece by piece, Holliston was able to fully realize the dream of a restored rail trail, as well as preserving their historic Bogastow Brook Viaduct. The Community Preservation Act may have only been one of the building blocks involved, but success stories like these prove that each step of progress is integral to the finished result.
