Signal Hill is a open space preserve located in Canton, 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 sove ...

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

; it is centered on a rocky knoll by the same name. The property, acquired in 2005 by the land conservation non-profit organization The Trustees of Reservations, offers frontage on the

Neponset River The Neponset River is a river in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. Its headwaters are at the Neponset Reservoir in Foxborough, near Gillette Stadium. From there, the Neponset meanders generally northeast for about to its mouth at ...

and views of

Great Blue Hill Great Blue Hill is a hill of 635 feet (194 m) located within the Blue Hills Reservation in Milton, Randolph and Canton, Massachusetts, about south of downtown Boston. It is the highest point in Norfolk County and the Greater Boston area. The ...

and

Downtown Boston Downtown Boston is the central business district of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The city of Boston was founded in 1630. The largest of the city's commercial districts, Downtown is the location of many corporate or regional headquarters; ...

from open ledges. The Signal Hill preserve also includes wetlands, open fields, and a car-top boating access point. Signal Hill contains the Wamsutta archaeological site, discovered during construction of Interstate 95, which was a seasonal camp for paleo-Americans

radiocarbon dated Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was dev ...

by nearby charcoal remains to 12,140 before present, around the time of the last

glacial retreat The retreat of glaciers since 1850 affects the availability of fresh water for irrigation and domestic use, mountain recreation, animals and plants that depend on glacier-melt, and, in the longer term, the level of the oceans. Deglaciation occur ...

, when rapid melting of the Wisconsin continental glacier created the mile-wide channel through which today's Neponset River flows. At this time, Signal Hill was a peninsula extending into a large lake of glacial meltwater. It is currently abutted by Interstate 95 as well as industrial and suburban land to the east, and river floodplain to the west. The preserve is open to non-motorized carry-in boating, hiking, picnicking, fishing, and similar pursuits. A trailhead for the 1.3 mile trail system is located on University Road in Canton.

Gallery

File:Signal Hill, Canton MA.jpg, The hill in Winter File:Signal Hill P1130635.jpg, View of Great Blue Hill File:Signal Hill P1130637.jpg, View of Downtown Boston skyline File:Signal Hill P1130640.jpg, Neponset River

References

External links

The Trustees of Reservations
Protected areas of Norfolk County, Massachusetts The Trustees of Reservations Open space reserves of Massachusetts Landforms of Norfolk County, Massachusetts Hills of Massachusetts Protected areas established in 2005 2005 establishments in Massachusetts {{NorfolkCountyMA-geo-stub