Mount Greylock
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| Mount Greylock | |
|---|---|
 A view of Greylock from West Mountain Road |
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| Elevation | 3,492 ft (1,064 m) |
| Location | Berkshire County, Massachusetts |
| Range | Taconic Mountains |
| Prominence | 2,470 ft (755 m) |
| Coordinates | |
| Type | Thrust fault; metamorphic rock and sedimentary rock |
| Age of rock | Ordovician |
| Easiest route | Gould Trail |
| Listing | New England Fifty Finest, U.S. state high points |
Mount Greylock, 3,491 feet (1,064 m), is located in the northwest corner of Massachusetts and is the highest point in the state. Although geologically part of the Taconic Mountains, it is popularly associated with the abutting Berkshire mountains to the east. The mountain is known for its expansive views encompassing five states and for its bird's eye views of the valleys of the Hoosic River, Housatonic River, and Hudson River. A seasonal automobile road (to be closed in 2008 and 2009 for repairs) climbs to the summit, where stands the iconic 93-foot (28 m) high lighthouse-like Veterans War Memorial Tower, clearly visible from points more than 30 miles (48 km) distant. A network of hiking trails traverse the mountain including the 2,174-mile (3,499 km) Appalachian Trail. Much of Mount Greylock has been conserved as part of the Mount Greylock State Reservation and associated conservation easements.
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[edit] Geography
Mount Greylock is located in northwestern Berkshire County, Massachusetts. The summit is located in Adams, but the entire landform spreads into the towns of North Adams, Williamstown, Cheshire, New Ashford and Lanesborough. The mountain is composed of a north-south oriented central ridge: Saddle Ball Mountain (elev. 3,247 ft; 990 m); Mount Greylock, the high point; Mount Fitch (3,110 ft; 948 m); and Mount Williams (2,951 ft; 899 m); flanked by two subordinate ridges: on the west by Mount Prospect (2,690 ft; 820 m) and Stony Ledge (2,560 ft; 780 m), and on the east by Ragged Mountain (2,528 ft; 771 m).[1]
Geographically, Mount Greylock forms an 11-mile (18 km) long by 4.5-mile (7.2 km) wide island-like range between the Hoosac Range to the east, the Green Mountains to the north, the Berkshires to the south and east, and the Taconic Mountains to the west (which it is geologically part of); all ranges are associated with the Appalachian mountain chain. On the average, Mount Greylock rises 2,000 feet (610 m) above surrounding river valleys and 1,000 feet (305 m) above the Berkshire and Taconic Mountains. From the summit, views upwards to 70-100 miles (110-160 km) are possible into five different states: Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire.[1][2][3]
The ridgeline of the Taconic Mountains continues southwest from Mount Greylock as Brodie Mountain. Mount Greylock is flanked to the north by the Green Mountains escarpment of East Mountain and Pine Cobble. It is flanked to the west across the Green River valley by the Taconic peak Berlin Mountain, and to the east across the Hoosic River valley by the Hoosac Range of the Berkshires. The northwest side of Mount Greylock drains into the Green River, thence into the Hoosic River, Hudson River, and Long Island Sound. The south side of the mountain drains into Town Brook, thence into the Housatonic River and Long Island Sound. the rest of the mountain drains into the Hoosic River.[1]
[edit] Geology and ecosystem
Mount Greylock and the neighboring Taconic Mountains are comprised predominately of Ordovician phyllite, a metamorphic rock, overlain on younger layers of metamorphized sedimentary rock, especially marble. Mount Greylock is the product of thrust faulting, a tectonic process by which older rock is thrust up and above younger rock during periods of intense mountain building. The younger, underlying marble bedrock layers have been quarried in the lower foothills of the mountain in nearby Admas and North Adams, Massachusetts. During the Pleistocene, 18,000 years ago, Mount Greylock and the surrounding region were covered by ice sheets up to 1-kilometre (0.62 mi) thick. Glaciation rounded and wore down the mountain, carving out U-shaped valleys and leaving glacial erratics such as the balanced rock on the west side of Greylock. The Hopper, a cirque, also located on the west side of Greylock, is the southernmost such glacial feature in New England.[2][4]
During the 1800s, much of the mountan was denuded by logging, fires, and grazing. Forests have since reclaimed the mountain. Several forest communties exist on Mount Greylock. Lower slopes are inhabited by northern hardwood forest species while upper summits are dominated by boreal balsam fir and red spruce. Stands of 150 year old old growth red spruce can be found in The Hopper on the west side of the mountain; the area has been designated a National Natural Landmark.[5]
[edit] History
[edit] Early history and naming
Prior to the arrival of Europeans the Mahican people were closely associated with this region. The traditional trade route connecting the tribes of the Hudson and Connecticut River Valleys (today, Route 2, known as the Mohawk Trail) passes beneath the northern flank of Mount Greylock.
The mountain was known to eighteenth century English settlers as Grand Hoosuc(k). In the early 19th century it was called Saddleback Mountain because of its appearance (Saddle Ball, the name of the peak to the south, still reflects this).[6]
The origin of the present name of Greylock and its association with the mountain is unclear. It first appeared in print about 1819, and came into popular use by the 1830s. It may be in reference to its appearance, as it often has a gray cloud, or lock of gray mist upon his head, or in tribute to a legendary Native American chief, Gray Lock. Gray Lock (c.1670-1750) was a Western Abenaki Missisquoi chief of Woronoco/Pocomtuc ancestry, born near Westfield (MA). Continued English settlement onto Abenaki lands erupted into a new conflict in 1722. While the French, New York colonists, and Iroquois looked on, Abenakis from coastal Maine to Lake Champlain focused raids on the Massachusetts Colony in the conflict known variously as Dummer's War, Three Years War, Lovewell's War, The War with the Eastern Indian or Father Rasle's War. Gray Lock distinguished himself by conducting guerrilla raids into Vermont and western Massachusetts. He consistently eluded his pursuers, and acquired the name Wawanolet (also Wawanolewat, Wawanotewat), meaning "he who fools the others, or puts someone off the track." Eastern Abenaki groups made peace with Massachusetts in 1725 and 1726, and Abenakis from Canada agreed to peace terms in 1727, but Gray Lock refused to. Although it is not clear whether he was actually ever personally associated with the mountain, perhaps in tribute to his notoriety the mountain came to bear his name.[6][7]
[edit] The 1800s
Timothy Dwight IV, President of Yale University, along with Williams College President Ebenezer Fitch, climbed Greylock in 1799, probably over a rough route cut by a local pioneer farmer Jeremiah Wilbur (in that time more land had been cleared on the slopes for farming than today). His account in Travels in New England and New York describes the experience, although he noted the summit vegetation was so thick he and Fitch had to climb a balsam fir tree to get a better view:
| “ | (Saddle Back) is the highest land in the state...Its southeastern front is extensively visible throughout Berkshire, and from high elevations in the states of New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and Connecticut at very great distances...During a great part of the year, it is either embosomed or capped by clouds, and indicates to the surrounding inhabitants the changes of weather with not a little exactness.[8] | ” |
Williams College, founded in 1793 in nearby Williamstown, has always been closely associated with Greylock and the study of its natural history. On May 12, 1830, a group of students directed by college President Edward Dorr Griffin improved and further cut a trail from the end of the Hopper Road to the summit. Today this route is the Hopper Trail, traditionally climbed by students once a year on Mountain Day.[9]
In May of 1831 the first wooden meteorological observatory, "Griffin's Tower", was built on the summit by students. Nine years later, it was replaced by a more substantial 60-foot (20 m) tall wooden observatory tower, from which Donati's Comet was photographed in 1858. In 1863 the first organized hiking and nature study club in the United States, the Alpine Club, was founded by Professor Albert Hopkins. The club frequently camped on the mountain.[10]
By the mid-nineteenth century improved transportation into the region attracted many visitors to Greylock. Among them were writers and artists inspired by the mountain scene: Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Cullen Bryant, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Herman Melville, and Henry David Thoreau.[11]
Melville is said to have taken part of his inspiration for Moby-Dick from the view of the mountain from his house Arrowhead in Pittsfield, since its snow-covered profile reminded him of a great white Sperm Whale's back breaking the ocean's surface.[12] Melville dedicated his next novel, Pierre, to "Greylock's Most Excellent Majesty", calling the mountain "my own... sovereign lord and king". Thoreau summited and spent a night in July of 1844. His account of this event in A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers described his approach up what is today the Bellows Pipe Trail. Scholars contend that this Greylock experience transformed him, affirming his ability to do these excursions on his own, following his brother John's death; and served as a prelude to his experiment of rugged individualism at Walden Pond the following year in 1845.[13]
By the late nineteenth century clear-cutting logging practices had stripped much of the mountain for local industries that produced wood products, paper and charcoal. Along with this came devastating forest fires and landslides. A group of local businessmen concerned about the mountain incorporated the Greylock Park Association (GPA) in 1885, one of the earliest land conservation groups in the state. They purchased 400 acres (1.6 km²) on the summit. The GPA also undertook long-needed repairs to the Notch Road so that carriages could access the top. Aside from shares to fund its operation, the GPA charged a 25-cent toll for the carriage road and a 10-cent fee to ascend the iron observation tower (built 1889).[11]
By the winter of 1897, with the GPA venture in debt, conservation interests in the state sought to protect the mountain through other means. Legislation was filed to transfer the GPA land holdings on the mountain to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. On June 20, 1898 Greylock State Reservation was created, with the stipulation that the state add to the original land (to ultimately total 10,000 acres (40 km²)). With this land acquisition the Massachusetts state park system was created. A three-person, governor-appointed Greylock (Reservation) Commission, a body of Berkshire County government, was entrusted with the care and maintenance of the reservation. The title Reservation refers to county management of state land, since there was only one state forester and a handful of state fire wardens in service at the time; similarly other early State Reservation properties in Massachusetts were previously managed and operated by county commissions for the state. ]].[14]
[edit] The 1900s
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In 1906 the surveying and construction of another approach from the south began. Two years later it was opened to the public, and today the Rockwell Road is probably the most popular route up the mountain. Afterwards the Commission turned its attention to the foot trails, and by 1913 it was able to boast that 17 trails existed on the mountain.
By 1929 the Appalachian Trail route up Mount Greylock was first cut, and most of the Massachusetts section route was complete by 1931. But due to disputes between the local Berkshire Hills Conference trail group and the outsider Appalachian Trail Conference/Appalachian Mountain Club Berkshire Chapter, the trail was in jeopardy of growing back in until the local Mount Greylock Ski Club assumed maintenance in 1937.
The greatest period of recreational development on Mount Greylock occurred in the 1930s. The Massachusetts War Memorial Tower on the summit was constructed (1931-32). The Civilian Conservation Corps (107th Company, Camp SP-7) made extensive improvements on roads, trails, vistas, firebreaks, forest health programs and recreation area development. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built Adirondack lean-to shelters, the Thunderbolt Ski Shelter (1940) and completed work on Bascom Lodge (1936-38). The CCC also cut the Thunderbolt Ski Trail (1934), site of the United States Eastern Amateur Ski Association (USEASA, today the United States Ski Association) Championship Races in 1938 and 1940.
In 1966 following years of legal disputes over the Greylock Commission's perceived commercial use of public land, led by the conservation group the Mount Greylock Protective Association, responsibilities for management and operation the mountain reverted from the county to the state park system.
[edit] Features
Today, the 12,500 acre (50.6 km²) Mount Greylock State Reservation is managed and operated by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of State Parks and Recreation. The ridgeline of Greylock, between Mount Fitch on the north and Saddle Ball on the south is the only place in Massachusetts where a boreal or sub-alpine forest flourishes. The staffed Visitors Center in Lanesborough is open year-round (1.5 miles off Route 7) and provides orientation, trail maps, informational brochures, exhibits and accessible rest rooms. Five lean-to shelters are available for backpacking. About 70 miles (110 km) of trails approach the mountain from various locations, including the Appalachian Trail.
Please note: The road system is closed to auto traffic for the 2007 and 2008 seasons and currently under repair for safety and access improvements. This affects public access to certain facilities; as a result the summit is not accessible by automobile, Bascom Lodge and the Veterans War Memorial Tower are closed, the Campground and Stony Ledge are accessible by hiking only, and the north parking area on Notch Rd. at the base of the mountain is not available to the public. Operation and access to these facilities are scheduled to resume in spring 2009 upon completion of the Historic Parkway road repairs. The Visitors Center and trails remain open. Until the Lodge is reopened, there are no sources of potable water anywhere on the mountain. Hikers are urged to carry extra during warmer weather, or use a filtration system.
Prominent features on the summit are the Massachusetts Veterans War Memorial Tower, Bascom Lodge, the Thunderbolt Ski Shelter and a television/radio tower. Based on the cultural significance of the summit and excellent examples CCC period park structures, the area was listed as on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
The Veterans War Memorial Tower was approved by the state legislature in October 1930, supported by Senator Theodore Plunkett of Adams and Governor Frank G. Allen. The memorial was originally intended to be erected as a lighthouse in Boston, before plans were changed to build it on Mount Greylock, supposedly due to the mayor of Boston. designed by Boston-based architects Maginnis & Walsh, and built by contractors John G. Roy & Son of Springfield in 1931-32 at a cost of $200,000. It takes the form of a perpetually lighted beacon to honor the state's dead from World War I (and subsequent conflicts). The light used to be the strongest beacon in Massachusetts, with a range covering up to 70 miles.
The architectural design of the tower, a 93-foot (28 m) tall shaft with eight frieze-framed observation openings, was intended to have no suggestion of Utilitarianism but instead to display classic austerity. It includes some minor Art Deco details such as the decorative eagle on the base. Inside it is a domed chamber for a reverential shine that was intended to store tablets and war relicts from wartime units in the state's history.
Although local legislators and residents advocated for local stone to be used, it was ultimately quarried from Quincy (MA) Granite. In part, it bears the inscription "they were faithful even unto death." One of the inscriptions inside the monument is, "Of those immortal dead who live again in the minds made better by their presence", which is a line from a poem by George Eliot. The translucent globe of light on top, originally illuminated by twelve 1,500 watt lights (now six), is said to be visible at night for 70 miles (110 km). The formal dedication ceremony in 1933 by Governor Joseph B. Ely was attended by about 1,500 and broadcast nationally over NBC radio.
Bascom Lodge was built between 1933-1938 using native materials of Greylock schist and red spruce. Designed by Pittsfield architect, Joseph McArthur Vance, it displays the rustic architectural design of period park structures. The Greylock Commission had desired to rebuild a more substantial shelter for visitors and hikers to the summit since the previous summit house (c.1902) burned down in 1929. The initial west wing was constructed in 1933 by Jules Emil Deloye, Jr. The main-central and east wings were completed later 1936-38 by the CCC. It is open seasonally from mid-May though mid-October, operated as a concession by arrangement with the state. It sells hot food and rents overnight lodging.
The Thunderbolt Ski Shelter, built in 1940, remains open to the public year-round. The Shelter enjoys nice views to the north, and has four wooden benches built into a large fireplace in the center. Overnight camping is prohibited, however. The shelter is for emergency situations only.
Greylock Glen was a planned alpine ski area, to be operated near the end of the Thunderbolt Ski Trail on the east face of the mountain. Construction was started in the early 1970s, but was never completed. Remains of the lifts and buildings can still be found in the woods.
All of the roads to the top of the mountain are currently closed as they are under construction. Bascom Lodge and the War Memorial Tower are also closed for renovations, which are expected to last until 2009.
Television/Radio Tower: Three stations transmit from a broadcast tower below the summit on the west side:
- WAMC (90.3 Albany, New York)
- WCDC-TV (19/36 Adams, Massachusetts)
- W38DL (38 Adams, Massachusetts(Repeater of WNYT-TV)
- A NOAA Weather Radio station (WWF-48, 162.525 MHz) also broadcasts from a different tower on this site. (A short tower east of the summit).
[edit] References
- ^ a b c DeLorme Topo 6.0 (2004). Mapping software. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme.
- ^ a b Raymo, Chet and Maureen E. (1989). Written in Stone: A Geologic History of the Northeastern United States. Chester, Connecticut: Globe Pequot.
- ^ Massachusetts Trail Guide (2004). Boston: Appalachian Mountain Club.
- ^ Natural History of the Berkshires Williams College. Retrieved March 9, 2008.
- ^ Mount Greylock Reservation. Massachusetts DCR. Retrieved March 8, 2008.
- ^ a b Berishire web.com. Retrieved March 6, 2008.
- ^ MIllard, James P. (2007)"Greylock Great Chief of the Abenaki." Historiclakes.org. Retrieved March 6, 2008.
- ^ Dwight, Timothy IV (Reprinted 1969) Travels in New England and New York Ed. Barbara Miller Solomon. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
- ^ "Williams College Traditions" Williams College. Retrieved March 6, 2008.
- ^ Fanto, Clarence (August 7, 2007)The Berkshire Eagle. Cablemills.com. Retrieved March 6, 2008.
- ^ a b Mount Greylock Reservation. Massachusetts DCR. Retrieved March 9, 2008.
- ^ Mobydick.org. Retrieved March 9, 2008.
- ^ Thoreau, Henry David (1983) Thoreau In The Mountains: Writings By Henry David Thoreau. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, New York.
- ^ Mount Greylock Reservation. Massachusetts DCR. Retrieved March 9, 2008.
[edit] External links
- Wildflowers of Mount Greylock
- MA DCR, Mount Greylock State Reservation
- Mount Greylock Scenic Byway
- Berkshire Web: Mount Greylock
- America's Roof: Mount Greylock
- Preserved One-room Schoolhouse near Mount Greylock
- Mount Greylock - FranklinSites.com Hiking Guide
- Mt. Greylock - New England Lost Ski Areas Project - Details on abandoned ski area on east face
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