The Holyoke Range or Mount Holyoke Range is a traprock mountain range located in the

Connecticut River Valley The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges at Long Island ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. It is a sub-range of the narrow, linear

Metacomet Ridge The Metacomet Ridge, Metacomet Ridge Mountains, or Metacomet Range of southern New England is a narrow and steep fault-block mountain ridge known for its extensive cliff faces, scenic vistas, microclimate ecosystems, and rare or endangered plants. ...

that extends from Long Island Sound near

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

north through the

to the

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

border. A popular

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

destination, the range is known for its anomalous east–west orientation, high ledges and its scenic character. It is also notable for its unique

microclimate A microclimate (or micro-climate) is a local set of atmospheric conditions that differ from those in the surrounding areas, often with a slight difference but sometimes with a substantial one. The term may refer to areas as small as a few squ ...

ecosystems and rare plant communities, as well as significant historic sites, such as the Mount Holyoke Summit House and the Horse Caves.Farnsworth, Elizabeth J
"Metacomet-Mattabesett Trail Natural Resource Assessment."
(2004). PDF file. Retrieved November 20, 2007.
Retrieved December 10, 2007

Holyoke Range vs. Mount Holyoke Range

Both names for the range are frequently cited by reputable published sources. For instance, both the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and the non-profit Friends of the Mount Holyoke Range use ''Mount Holyoke Range,'' while the other form, ''Holyoke Range'' is used in several different map and guide sources (the

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

1990 Belchertown 1:25000 scale topographic map,USGS map. Belchertown 1:25000 1990. two longstanding popular retail hiking maps published by Newall Printing,Ryan, Christopher J. "Holyoke Range State Park: Western Section." 4th ed. Map. Hamilton I. Newell Printing, Amherst 1994. the 1999 version of the

Appalachian Mountain Club Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) is the oldest outdoor group in the United States. Created in 1876 to explore and preserve the White Mountains in New Hampshire, it has expanded throughout the northeastern U.S., with 12 chapters stretching from Ma ...

(AMC)'s ''Metacomet-Monadnock Trail Guide'',''The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail Guide''. 9th Edition. The Appalachian Mountain Club. Amherst, Massachusetts, 1999 and the 1989 version of the AMC's ''Massachusetts and Rhode Island Trail Guide'').''Massachusetts and Rhode Island Trail Guide.'' Appalachian Mountain Club. Boston, 1989. However, the AMC's 2004 ''Massachusetts Trail Guide'' uses "Mt. Holyoke Range" and the United States Board on Geographic Names now uses "Mount Holyoke Range".) Both names as well as the abbreviated ''Mt. Holyoke Range'' are used locally.

Geography

The Holyoke Range, located within the towns of

South Hadley South Hadley (, ) is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 18,150 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. South Hadley is home to Mount Holyoke Colleg ...

, Hadley, Granby, Amherst, and Belchertown, rises steeply between and above the Connecticut River Valley below; it has an east–west orientation and is roughly long by wide at its widest point, although the steepness of the terrain makes the actual square mileage much larger. The high point of range is the summit of Mount Norwottuck, above sea level. Notable peaks include, (from west to east) Mount Holyoke ; the Seven Sisters, a series of ridgeline knobs with a high point of ; Mount Hitchcock ; Bare Mountain ; Mount Norwottuck ; Rattlesnake Knob ; Long Mountain ; and Harris Hill . Round Mountain between Bare and Norwottuck has been removed by quarrying. A series of smaller, unnamed traprock hills continue from Long Mountain to the eastern end of the range. Another series of hills descends north from the range into the towns of Hadley and Amherst. Some of these have names: Tinker Hill and Little Tinker Hill located at the base of Mount Hitchcock in Hadley; Mount Pollux and Mount Castor , between Mount Norwottuck and the center of Amherst.''DeLorme Topo 6.0''. Mapping software. Delorme, Yarmouth, Maine. The Metacomet Ridge, of which the Holyoke Range is a part, continues west and south across the Connecticut River as the

Mount Tom Range The Mount Tom Range is a traprock mountain range located in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts. It is part of the Metacomet Ridge that extends from Long Island Sound near New Haven, Connecticut, north through the Connecticut River Valle ...

. The Metacomet Ridge is broken to the north; the Holyoke Range is separated from the Pocumtuck Ridge, away by a relatively low-lying area punctuated with occasional rises. The north side of the Holyoke Range drains into the Fort River, thence to the Connecticut River and Long Island Sound; the south side drains into Bachelor Brook, then into the Connecticut River.

History

Mount Holyoke, at the western edge of the range, received its name from

Elizur Holyoke Elizur Holyoke (1618 1676) of Springfield, Massachusetts was an English colonist, surveyor, scribe, soldier, the namesake of the mountain, Mount Holyoke, and indirectly, of the city of Holyoke, Massachusetts. Background Elizur Holyoke arriv ...

, a 17th-century colonial settler of the Springfield, Massachusetts region. Folklore suggests that Holyoke named the mountain after himself. The City of Holyoke, Mount Holyoke College, and the Holyoke Range were in turn named after the mountain. Before 1821, very little history had been recorded about the Holyoke Range that distinguished it from the surrounding landscape. Native Americans inhabited the area around the Holyoke Range for at least 10,000 years; they grew

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

beans A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes thr ...

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

and other crops in the Connecticut River floodplain, clearing small sections of forest by burning to make room for their crops.Cronin, William. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. 2003, Hill and Wang, New York. They hunted and fished in the area, and made tools and arrowheads from the basalt rock of the Metacomet Ridge. Tensions between the

Pocumtuc The Pocumtuc (also Pocomtuck or Deerfield Indians) were a Native American tribe historically inhabiting western areas of Massachusetts. Settlements Their territory was concentrated around the confluence of the Deerfield and Connecticut River ...

Native American tribe and colonial settlers, who began arriving in the region in the mid 17th century, reached a head in 1675 with the outbreak of

King Philip's War King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1676 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England coloni ...

, a conflict involving colonists and a confederacy of Native American tribes across southern New England under the leadership of the

sachem Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Al ...

Metacomet Metacomet (1638 – August 12, 1676), also known as Pometacom, Metacom, and by his adopted English name King Philip,charcoal, a primary source of fuel for the steel industry prior to the extraction of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

in the mid-Appalachians. Highland areas were also burned of timber when lowland fires, set to clear land for farms, raged out of control. However, by the early 20th century, after agricultural interests shifted west and charcoaling became unprofitable, rural New England became largely forested again. A 2004 ecological resource study conducted for the National Park Service suggests that the Metacomet Ridge may have remained more or less forested (cleared only intermittently) throughout New England's agricultural period, thereby allowing the area to retain its biologic diversity through the 20th century. Increasing urbanization and industrialization in 19th century New England resulted in an opposing aesthetic transcendentalist movement characterized by the paintings of the

Hudson River School The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. The paintings typically depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area ...

of American landscape painters such as Frederic Edwin Church and

Thomas Cole Thomas Cole was an English-born American artist and the founder of the Hudson River School art movement. Cole is widely regarded as the first significant American landscape painter. He was known for his romantic landscape and history painti ...

(who, in 1836, famously painted the Connecticut River from sketches he made from the summit of Mount Holyoke), the work of landscape architects such as

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co ...

, and the writings of philosophers like Henry David Thoreau and

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...

. This philosophical, artistic, and environmental movement transformed many areas of the Metacomet Ridge (as well as other places in New England) from a commercial resource to a recreational and aesthetic resource. Hotels, parks, and summer estates were built on the mountains from the mid-1880s to the early 20th century.''Mt. Holyoke Range Historical Timeline''
Cited November 20, 2007. Route 47 borders its west end. Down its middle is cut Route 116 from South Hadley to Amherst. Formerly, along the east edge of this highway ran the Holyoke to Amherst trolley tracks. The bed is still visible along most of its mountain route.

The Mount Holyoke Summit House

In 1821, an guest cabin was built on Mount Holyoke by a local committee—one of the first New England summit houses. The property changed hands several times between 1821 and 1851 when it was bought and rebuilt as a two-story, eight-room hotel. Local entrepreneurs John and Frances French were the primary owners; between 1851 and 1900, the hotel and property were subject to a number of upgrades and related construction projects including a covered tramway to the summit of the mountain (first drawn by horse, then mechanized), a railroad from the base of the mountain to a steamboat dock on the Connecticut River, and the construction of a number of outbuildings and trails. With passenger steamship to the connecting summit railway established, the Mount Holyoke "Prospect House" became a popular tourist destination. Competing establishments were built on Mount Tom and

Mount Nonotuck Mount Nonotuck, , is the northernmost peak of the Mount Tom Range of traprock mountains located in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts and part of the larger Metacomet Ridge which stretches from Long Island Sound to nearly the Vermont bo ...

across the Connecticut River, and on

Sugarloaf Mountain Sugarloaf Mountain ( pt, Pão de Açúcar, ) is a peak situated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at the mouth of Guanabara Bay on a peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean. Rising above the harbor, the peak is named for its resemblance to ...

and Mount Toby to the north. The property passed hands again in the early 20th century, to chain

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

ier

Joseph Allen Skinner Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

, who eventually donated the hotel and property to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for a state park in 1939 on the condition that the park be named after him (now the J.A. Skinner State Park). The summit house suffered from storm damage and lack of maintenance until the mid-1980s when it was renovated as a museum through local volunteer efforts supported by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Other historic events

Through_Turkey_Pass_(The_Notch),_Amherst,_Massachusetts

*''The Horse Caves'', a series of

sedimentary Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

rock overhangs located many hundreds of feet beneath the summit of Mount Norwottuck, are believed to have been used as a bivouac by rebels during Shays's Rebellion of 1786. * Edward Hitchcock, a former professor of geology at Amherst College with a colorful history, coined the term "Scenographical Geology" in 1841 to describe the dramatic geologic landscape of the Holyoke Range. Hitchcock renamed several of the natural features of the range, including Mount Norwottuck (originally called Hilliard Knob) and ''Titan's Piazza'', a

columnar basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90% o ...

outlook on Mount Holyoke. Hitchcock is also famous for suggesting that local

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

tracks discovered in the

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago (Year#Abbreviations yr and ya, Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 ...

sediments near the range had been produced by an ancient species of bird (the relationship between modern

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

s and prehistoric dinosaurs would not be established by scientists until the latter half of the 20th century). A summit of the Holyoke Range is named after Hitchcock. * Every year in October since 1838, students from nearby Mount Holyoke College participate in ''Mountain Day.'' On that day, at the sound of ringing bells from Abbey Chapel on a random Autumn morning, all classes are cancelled and students hike to the summit of Mount Holyoke. * On May 27, 1944, a

B-24 The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...

, flying a night training mission out of

Westover Army Air Field Westover Air Reserve Base is an Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) installation located in the Massachusetts communities of Chicopee and Ludlow, near the city of Springfield, Massachusetts. Established at the outset of World War II, today Westov ...

Chicopee, Massachusetts Chicopee ( ) is a city located on the Connecticut River in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 55,560, making it the second-largest city in Western Massachusetts after Springfield. ...

, crashed into the south flank of the range, killing all ten crewmen. A memorial plaque was placed onto the summit of Mount Holyoke to eulogize the disaster. The plaque is about 150 feet east of the house but the actual crash site is down the southern flanks in the woods. * The Five Colleges Library Depository is located on the north side of Bare Mountain in the Holyoke Range, within a subterranean bunker formerly occupied by the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command (SAC). The bunker was created to provide commanders of SAC at the Westover Air Force Base in

shelter in the event of a Cold War-era nuclear weapons attack. The three story bunker features 3 foot (1 m) thick walls, a 1.5 foot (.5 m) thick steel blast door, and is located underground. * Both the Holyoke Range and the Mount Tom Range were part of a 1966 proposal by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

for a "Connecticut River National Recreation Area." Although the project was never realized, it has been followed through in spirit by a number of similar local and national conservation efforts, including an increased effort to acquire land on both ranges for state park expansion, the creation by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts of the Connecticut River Greenway State Park,. On March 30, 2009 as part of U.S. Public Law 111-11 (Section 5202) the range's Metacomet-Monadnock Trail section was incorporated in the new National Scenic Trail called the New England Trail.New England Trail, National Scenic Trail
Cited October 8, 2012. See also the original National Park Service proposal and study.Monadnock, Metacomet, Mattabesett National Scenic Trail Study.
Cited Nov. 4, 2007.

The Tofu Curtain

The Holyoke Range has been nicknamed the Tofu Curtain as a divider between Hampshire and Hampden Counties. The nickname refers to a

socioeconomic Socioeconomics (also known as social economics) is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how modern societies progress, stagnate, or regress because of their l ...

, cultural and sometimes political divide between the wealthier Hampshire County and its affluent

Five College Consortium The Five College Consortium (often referred to as simply the Five Colleges) comprises four liberal arts colleges and one university in the Connecticut River Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts: Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount ...

to the north and the

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colo ...

Hampden County to the south, which comprises the cities of Holyoke and Springfield, as well as their surrounding towns and cities. While this southern part of the Massachusetts' Pioneer Valley is the second largest metropolitan region in the state, areas of it are economically depressed with Holyoke's average 2017 annual household income ranked at $14,000. Meanwhile, the towns of Northampton and Amherst to the north are home to many

worker cooperatives A worker cooperative is a cooperative owned and self-managed by its workers. This control may mean a firm where every worker-owner participates in decision-making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one in which management is elected by ...

and small businesses that often manufacture or sell natural products (such as

tofu Tofu (), also known as bean curd in English, is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness; it can be ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', ''extra firm'' or ''super f ...

) to a more affluent population.

Geology and environment

The ridge of the Holyoke Range was formed 200 million years ago during the late

and early

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...

periods and is composed of traprock, also known as

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...

, an

extrusive Extrusive rock refers to the mode of igneous volcanic rock formation in which hot magma from inside the Earth flows out (extrudes) onto the surface as lava or explodes violently into the atmosphere to fall back as pyroclastics or tuff. In contra ...

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

rock. Basalt is a dark colored rock, but the iron within it weathers to a rusty brown when exposed to the air, lending the ledges a distinct reddish appearance. Basalt frequently breaks into octagonal and pentagonal columns, creating a unique "postpile" appearance. Huge slopes made of fractured basalt talus are visible beneath many of the ledges; they are particularly visible along the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail on Bare Mountain. The basalt ridges are the product of several massive

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

flows hundreds of feet deep that welled up in faults created by the

rifting In geology, a rift is a linear zone where the lithosphere is being pulled apart and is an example of extensional tectonics. Typical rift features are a central linear downfaulted depression, called a graben, or more commonly a half-graben wi ...

apart of North America from

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. These basalt floods of lava happened over a period of 20 million years. Erosion occurring between the eruptions deposited deep layers of sediment between the lava flows, which eventually lithified into

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

. The resulting "layer cake" of basalt and sedimentary sheets eventually faulted and tilted upward. Subsequent

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is dis ...

wore away the weaker sedimentary layers a faster rate than the basalt layers, leaving the abruptly tilted edges of the basalt sheets exposed, creating the distinct linear ridge and dramatic cliff faces visible today. One way to imagine this is to picture a layer cake tilted slightly up with some of the frosting (the sedimentary layer) removed in between. One of the best places to view this layer-cake structure in the Holyoke Range is on Mount Norwottuck. The summit of Norwottuck is made of basalt; directly beneath the summit are the Horse Caves, a deep overhang where the weaker sedimentary layer has worn away at a more rapid rate than the basalt layer above it. The Holyoke Range hosts a combination of

s unusual in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

. Dry, hot upper ridges support

oak savanna An oak savanna is a type of savanna—or lightly forested grassland—where oaks (''Quercus ''spp.) are the dominant trees. The terms "oakery" or "woodlands" are also used commonly, though the former is more prevalent when referencing the Medite ...

s, often dominated by

chestnut oak ''Quercus montana'', the chestnut oak, is a species of oak in the white oak group, ''Quercus'' sect. ''Quercus''. It is native to the eastern United States, where it is one of the most important ridgetop trees from southern Maine southwest ...

and a variety of understory grasses and ferns.

Eastern red cedar ''Juniperus virginiana'', also known as red cedar, eastern red cedar, Virginian juniper, eastern juniper, red juniper, and other local names, is a species of juniper native to eastern North America from southeastern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico a ...

, a dry-loving species, clings to the barren edges of cliffs. Backslope plant communities tend to be more similar to the adjacent Berkshire plateau containing species common to the northern hardwood and oak-hickory forest forest types.

Eastern hemlock ''Tsuga canadensis'', also known as eastern hemlock, eastern hemlock-spruce, or Canadian hemlock, and in the French-speaking regions of Canada as ''pruche du Canada'', is a coniferous tree native to eastern North America. It is the state tree of ...

crowds narrow ravines, blocking sunlight and creating damp, cooler growing conditions with associated cooler climate plant species. Talus slopes are especially rich in nutrients and support a number of calcium-loving plants uncommon in Massachusetts. Because the traprock ridges generate such varied terrain, they are the home of several plant and animal species that are state-listed or globally rare, such as the

timber rattlesnake The timber rattlesnake, canebrake rattlesnake, or banded rattlesnake (''Crotalus horridus'') Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). ''Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada''. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates, a division of ...

. The Holyoke Range is also an important seasonal

raptor Raptor or RAPTOR may refer to: Animals The word "raptor" refers to several groups of bird-like dinosaurs which primarily capture and subdue/kill prey with their talons. * Raptor (bird) or bird of prey, a bird that primarily hunts and feeds on ...

migration path.

Recreation

A seasonal auto road climbs to the summit of Mount Holyoke and many miles of trails criss-cross the range, including the

Metacomet-Monadnock Trail The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail (M&M Trail) is a hiking trail that traverses the Metacomet Ridge of the Pioneer Valley region of Massachusetts and the central uplands of Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. Although less than from Boston and ...

and the Robert Frost Trail. The range is used for

picnicking A picnic is a meal taken outdoors ( ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event such as preceding ...

backcountry skiing Backcountry skiing ( US), also called off-piste (Europe), alpine touring, or out-of-area, is skiing in the backcountry on unmarked or unpatrolled areas either inside or outside a ski resort's boundaries. This contrasts with alpine skiing, which i ...

, cross-country skiing, mountain biking,

horseback riding Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the ...

bird watching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

hunting Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, ...

(in season), and snowshoeing. An

interpretive center An interpretation centre, interpretive centre, or visitor interpretive centre is an institution for dissemination of knowledge of natural or cultural heritage. Interpretation centres are a kind of new-style museum, often associated with visitor c ...

is located in "The Notch" on Route 116 on the tri-border of Granby, Amherst, and South Hadley.

Conservation

Much of the Holyoke Range has been conserved as part of Massachusetts's J.A. Skinner State Park and

Mount Holyoke Range State Park Mount Holyoke Range State Park is a state-owned, public recreation area encompassing the eastern half of the Holyoke Range in the Pioneer Valley region of Massachusetts. The state park is adjacent to J. A. Skinner State Park, which occupies the ...

. Other parcels are managed by non-profit organizations and town conservation commissions, or are private property. In 2000, the Holyoke Range was included in a study by the

for the designation of a new

National Scenic Trail The National Trails System is a series of trails in the United States designated "to promote the preservation of, public access to, travel within, and enjoyment and appreciation of the open-air, outdoor areas and historic resources of the Nati ...

which was designated on March 30, 2009 as the

New England National Scenic Trail The New England National Scenic Trail (NET) is a National Scenic Trail in southern New England, which includes most of the three single trails Metacomet-Monadnock Trail, Mattabesett Trail and Metacomet Trail. After the Metacomet-Monadnock-Mattabe ...

, which includes most of the

in Massachusetts and the

Mattabesett Trail The Mattabesett Trail is a long, hook-shaped blue-blazed hiking trail in central Connecticut and a part of the New England National Scenic Trail. One half of the trail follows the high traprock ridges of the Metacomet Ridge, from Totoket Mount ...

and Metacomet Trail trails in Connecticut.

Quarrying A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...

on the range has resulted in the loss of a prominent peak, Round Mountain, once located between Bare Mountain and Mount Norwottuck. In response to a proposed suburban development on the Seven Sisters part of the range in the late 1990s, several non-profit groups and local governments worked together to block construction and acquire the ridgeline for the Skinner State Park. Non-profit conservation organizations invested in the protection of the Holyoke Range and its

viewshed A viewshed is the geographical area that is visible from a location. It includes all surrounding points that are in line-of-sight with that location and excludes points that are beyond the horizon or obstructed by terrain and other features (e.g. ...

include the Kestrel Trust, The Valley Land Fund, the Berkshire Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club, and the Friends of the Mount Holyoke Range.Friends of the Mount Holyoke Range
/ref>

References

External links

Massachusetts DCR Mount Holyoke Range State Park

J.A. Skinner State Park Map

Berkshire Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club

The Kestrel Trust

The Valley Land Fund

Friends of the Mount Holyoke Range

U.S. Congress ''New England National Scenic Trail Designation Act.''

NPS brochure for National Scenic Trail proposal.

Natural resource assessment of the Metacomet Ridge

Guide to the Robert Frost Trail
(PDF) {{Authority control Landforms of Hampshire County, Massachusetts Mountain ranges of Massachusetts