Crum Hill, , located in northwest
, United States, in the towns of
Monroe and
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, is the highest point in
Franklin County. The mountain, part of the
Hoosac Range The Hoosac Range is a mountain range that forms the western edge of the northwest Berkshire Plateau of western Massachusetts, an extension of the southern Green Mountains of Vermont, which are part of the greater Appalachian Mountain chain. The mo ...
(a west facing escarpment rising from the
Hoosic River Valley directly east of
North Adams, Massachusetts
North Adams is a city in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its population was 12,961 as of the 2020 census. Best known as the ...
), is crossed by a trail system maintained by a local snowmobile club, the Florida Mountaineers. They maintain a trail map on their website.
Although Crum Hill is the highest geologic point of the Berkshires,
Mount Greylock
Mount Greylock is a mountain located in the northwest corner of Massachusetts and is the highest point in the state. Its summit is in the western part of the town of Adams (near its border with Williamstown) in Berkshire County. Geologicall ...
, , part of the
Taconic Mountains
The Taconic Mountains or Taconic Range () are a range of the Appalachian Mountains, running along the eastern border of New York State and adjacent New England from northwest Connecticut to western Massachusetts, north to central western Vermont. ...
and unrelated to the Berkshires geology, is often misattributed with the high point.
Raymo, Chet
Chet Raymo (born September 17, 1936 in Chattanooga, Tennessee) is a noted writer, educator and naturalist. He is Professor Emeritus of Physics at Stonehill College, in Easton, Massachusetts. His weekly newspaper column ''Science Musings'' appea ...
and Raymo, Maureen E.
Maureen E. "Mo" Raymo (born 1959) is an American paleoclimatologist and marine geologist. She is the Co-Founding Dean of the Columbia Climate School, Director of the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, the G. Unger Vetl ...
(1989). ''Written in Stone: A Geologic History of the Northeastern United States.'' Chester, Connecticut: Globe Pequot.
The summit of Crum Hill is located in the town of Monroe, Franklin County; the west side of the mountain is located in the town of Florida, part of
Berkshire County. The north and east sides of Crum Hill drain into Dunbar Brook, thence into the
Deerfield River
Deerfield River is a river that runs for from southern Vermont through northwestern Massachusetts to the Connecticut River. The Deerfield River was historically influential in the settlement of western Franklin County, Massachusetts, and its ...
, the
Connecticut River
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 ...
, and
Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...
; the west side drains into the
Cold River, thence into the Deerfield River; and the south side drains into the Deerfield River via several small brooks.
The summit is also the site of the
Hoosac Wind Power Project.
References
Geology of Massachusetts
Mountains of Franklin County, Massachusetts
Mountains of Berkshire County, Massachusetts
Mountains of Massachusetts
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