Mattapoisett talks bike path benches

Oct 12, 2021

MATTAPOISETT — From saddles to seats.

The Friends of the Mattapoisett Rail Trail met with the Mattapoisett Select Board on Tuesday, Oct. 12 to discuss the placement, design and number of benches and bike racks that will be placed along the bike path.

The proposed benches would be made of recycled plastic and would match other benches placed in public parks in town, according to representatives from the Friends of the Rail Trail group.

The Friends also picked out a number of locations where they’d like to put the benches, though the Select Board asserted that they would like to take a walk along the path with the group and examine the proposed placements before giving approval. A meeting time for the survey was scheduled for Oct. 15.

Still, Select Board Member Jordan Collyer said that the group should proceed with ordering at least a portion of the benches now so that some of them can be mounted before winter.

The Select Board also discussed the placement of memorial plaques on the benches and whether there should be one name for each bench or multiple.

Select Board Member Tyler Macallister proposed placing one name per slat on each bench to maximize the number of names that could be memorialized around town.

However, Renee Pothier, President of the Friends of the Rail Trail group, contended that the bench memorials are reserved for larger donations, so some might not want to share space on the benches.

“I can’t see someone wanting just a slat, they want the whole bench,” she said. “We had somebody give $1,000, they’re going to get a whole bench.”

Eventually, the two sides agreed that some of the benches could list multiple names, but probably not on every slat.