Parting Shots August 8, 2024

Have A Seat On The OCRT ---- Although passenger trains stopped running on the Old Colony Rail line many decades ago, you can still get a seat on the Old Colony Rail Trail (OCRT). In August 2023, the Chatham Select Board approved the OCRT Bench Donation Program proposed by the Chatham Bikeways Committee. Since that time, nine donors have come forward, paying $2,500 to $2,700, to donate either a five- or six-foot bench along the 4.6 miles of the Chatham portion of the OCRT. Each donor had the opportunity to place a plaque on the bench with a memorial or other inscription. Spaced at convenient intervals on the Chatham section of the OCRT, including at Veterans Field, just off Wilfred Road south of the airport, at Chatham Airport, Sam Ryder Road, Route 137 and the Chatham/Harwich boundary, the benches will get plenty of use in-season and off-season. Last July, a one-day trail count recorded a total of 1,098 users, the highest one-day total ever recorded on the trail, up 23 percent from two years earlier. Of this total, 76 percent were cyclists, 13 percent walkers, 9 percent joggers, with the remainder being skaters, skate boarders, child carriers, etc. Pictured below are members of the Old Cranks Bicycle Group who donated the bench at Chatham Airport in recognition of Bob Oliver (seated right), founder of the Old Cranks Bicycle Group, who conceived and administratively implemented the OCRT Bench Donation Program. The inscription on the plaque reads: “This bench was donated by the Old Cranks Bicycle Group. All friends are invited to sit. You are especially welcome if you are old and cranky.” COURTESY PHOTO