Hamp Crew, offers beginner, recreational, and competitive rowing programs year-round for adults and youth of the Pioneer Valley. Northampton Community Rowing began as “Hamp Crew” in 1997, when a small group of parents set out to create rowing opportunities for their high school aged children in the Pioneer Valley. Originally located at the Oxbow in a donated showroom owned by the Oxbow Marina, Ham
p Crew grew quickly into a vibrant program for both youth and adult rowers. In 2013, the organization began to work with the City of Northampton to develop a site off Damon Road on the north end of the city. The new 11 acre site on the west shore of the Connecticut River includes a public, shallow boat landing in a harbor dug in the 19th century to connect the river to a canal that once ran to downtown Northampton. In June of 2015, NCR completed construction of a new 3600 sf boat storage building. NCR is working with support from a State of Massachusetts PARC Grant and the Northampton Community Preservation Commission to provide canoe and kayaking programming by 2018.
