Mount Ascutney State Park is a

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "Federated state, state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on accou ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

. The park entrance is located along Vermont Route 44-A near the town of Windsor in Windsor County. Operated by the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, a significant portion of the park is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

Description

The park has more than of hiking trails. Four of these trails—the Futures Trail, the Weathersfield Trail, the Brownsville Trail, and the Windsor Trail—lead to the summit of

Mount Ascutney Mount Ascutney is a mountain in the U.S. state of Vermont. At , it is the highest peak in Windsor County, Vermont, Windsor County. Mount Ascutney is a monadnock that rises abruptly from the surrounding lowlands. For example, the Windsor Trail is ...

, the park's most significant feature. Alternatively, visitors may drive to within a half-mile of the summit via the Mount Ascutney Parkway, a paved toll road that rises over in less than . On the parkway, grades average 10% with some sections as steep at 19%. In 2016, the state designated the Cascade Falls Natural Area in the southwest corner of the park. The Weathersfield Trail, named after the nearby town of

Weathersfield, Vermont Weathersfield is a New England town, town in Windsor County, Vermont, Windsor County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,842 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. History The town of Weathersfield was named after Wethersfield ...

, traverses the natural area on its way to the summit of Mount Ascutney. The trail passes by Cascade Falls, an waterfall on Ascutney Brook.

History

Mount Ascutney State Park was founded in the 1930s by the state with funding provided by

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

-era federal government funding. In 1933, the state acquired more than , and a crew of the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...

(CCC) was assigned to the area to develop it for recreational use. The CCC crew was responsible for construction of the parkway to the summit area, campground and picnic areas, and other amenities. The company assigned to the park was relocated to

Ludlow Ludlow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road (Great Britain), A49 road which bypasses the town. The town is near the conf ...

in 1938. The area where the CCC camp was located is now part of the main campground; no buildings survive. of the park were listed on the

in 2002 in recognition of its CCC legacy.

References

{{authority control State parks of Vermont Protected areas of Windsor County, Vermont Windsor, Vermont National Register of Historic Places in Windsor County, Vermont