Great Blue Hill
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Great Blue Hill is a hill of 635 feet (194 m) located within the Blue Hills Reservation in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Massachusetts, 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Boston. The name of the now-extinct Massachusett Indian tribe and their language (and thus the name of the Bay, Colony, state, etc) derive from the Massachusett name of this hill.
Its summit is the highest point in Norfolk County, and also the highest within ten miles of the Atlantic coast south of central Maine. For this reason, American meteorologist Abbott Lawrence Rotch chose Great Blue Hill as the site for an observatory, which became known as the Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory after its completion in 1885. Rotch conducted ground-breaking studies of the atmosphere at Blue Hill for many years, and the National Weather Service still gathers data at the site to this day. From the modern—albeit somewhat neglected—Eliot Tower at the summit of the mountain, one can often see the city of Boston and many of the surrounding hills of the Milton and Canton area.
Great Blue Hill, and the Blue Hills Reservation in general, is a popular hiking destination, valued as much for its splendid trails and views as for its proximity to the metropolitan area. There is also alpine skiing available at Blue Hills Ski Area, consisting of eight trails served by a double chair and two surface lifts.
The well known Boston public television and radio station WGBH takes its call letters from Great Blue Hill, the original location of the station's FM and TV transmitters.
[edit] External links
- Blue Hills Reservation, information from the Commonwealth's Conservation Division
- Great Blue Hill, technical data from mountainsummits.com
- Blue Hills Ski Area, Ski area located on Great Blue Hill
- The Blue Hill Observatory homepage
- The Blue Hill Observatory, a history of the observatory
- Friends of the Blue Hills, a community preservation group
