Monument Mountain (Berkshire County, Massachusetts)

1

Monument Mountain is a 2.5 mi long quartzite ridgeline located in Great Barrington and Stockbridge, Massachusetts in the Berkshires geology. Beside the high point, 1739 ft, the mountain has several distinct features, most notably the open, knife-edge Peeskawso Peak, 1642 ft located on the southeast side of the mountain within the 503 acre Monument Mountain reservation managed by The Trustees of Reservations. The mountain receives over 20,000 visitors per year. Devil's Pulpit, part of Peeskawso Peak, is a free-standing pillar of stone. Flag Rock, located on the southwest side of the mountain, is an open ledge overlooking the village of Housatonic. The only official trails on the mountain ascend Peeskawso Peak from a parking lot on Massachusetts Route 7 north of Great Barrington center. There is no fee for members of The Trustees and a parking fee of $5 for non-members. An unnamed waterfall is located to the northeast of Peeskawso Peak along the Hickey Trail. Views from Peeskawso Peak include the Housatonic River Valley, The Berkshires, the Taconic Mountains, and the Catskill Mountains of New York. The west side of Monument Mountain drains into the Housatonic River thence into Long Island Sound. The east side of Monument Mountain drains into Konkapot Brook thence into the Housatonic River. In August 1850, Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. climbed Monument Mountain together.

This article is derived from Wikipedia and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. View the original article.

Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
Bliptext is not affiliated with or endorsed by Wikipedia or the Wikimedia Foundation.

Edit article