Mount Holyoke (elevation 940'/286m) is the western-most peak of the Mt. Holyoke Range located in the Connecticut River Valley of western Massachusetts. While the Mt. Holyoke Range extends into the towns of Belchertown, Granby, Amherst, Hadley and South Hadley, Mt. Holyoke itself straddles just Hadley and South Hadley. Mt. Holyoke is the namesake of the nearby Mount Holyoke College. Official language(s) English Capital Largest city Boston Boston Area  - Total   - Width   - Length    - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 44th 10,555 sq mi  27,360 km² 183 miles  295 km 113 miles  182 km 13. ... Mount Holyoke College, (founded as Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in South Hadley, Massachusetts, 1837), is the oldest liberal arts womens college in the United States. ...

Mt. Holyoke is the home of Skinner State Park which is accessible from RT-47 in Hadley. At the summit is the historic Prospect House, an old hotel first opened in 1851. It was the first of several other mountain houses on nearby mountains including Mt. Nonotuck, Mt. Tom, and Mt. Sugarloaf. In its heyday, a steamer would pick up guests at the Smiths Ferry railroad station across the Connecticut River in what was then Northampton, ferry them to a tramway leading to the Half Way House. From there guests could take a steep inclined tram to the summit. The Prospect House was expanded twice, first in 1861 and again in 1894. The 1894 annex was badly damaged in the Great Hurricane of 1938 and demolished. Soon after Joseph Allan Skinner donated the hotel and the surrounding land to the State on the condition it become a state park. The dedication ceremony was held on June 19, 1940. In 1942 the enclosed tramway to the summit house broke down. A heavy snow storm in 1948 collapsed sections of the roof. Despite proposals to repair the tram it never ran again. The tram was finally demolished in 1965. The Great Hurricane of 1938 impacted Long Island and Connecticut, killing hundreds. ...

State funds for maintenance of the summit house during the 1950s and 1960s were never inadequate and by the mid-1970s there were proposals to condemn and demolish the summit house. This led to a public outcry and in the mid-1980s the summit house, consisting of the original 1851 structure and the 1861 addition, was restored by the state. The summit house is now open to the public only on weekends or for special events such as a summer concert series sponsored by the Friends of the Mount Holyoke Range (FOMHR).

The summit house with its wide porch and nearby picnic grove offer a spectacular view of the Connecticut River Valley. The park is typically open from late May to mid-October and during this time one may use the steep and windy auto road that leads to the summit. Hiking is permitted 12 months of the year.

Trivia

• Every year in October since 1838, students from nearby Mount Holyoke College participate in Mountain Day. On this day, at the sound of ringing bells from Abbey Chapel on a random Autumn morning, all classes are cancelled for that day and students hike to the summit of Mount Holyoke [1].
• On May 27, 1944, a B-24, flying a night training mission out of Westover Air Force Base in Chicopee, MA, crashed into the top of the mountain, killing all ten crewmen.
• A section of the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail, which starts near Meridian, CT and runs to Mt Monadock in NH, runs along the ridgeline of the Mt. Holyoke Range. In June 2001 the National Park Service designated sections of the trail on the Mt. Holyoke Range ridgeline as a "National Recreational Trail".
• Skinner State Park shares the mountain range with another state park: the Mt. Holyoke Range State Park. Its visitor center is located at the "Notch"... where RT-116 crosses the range.

Mount Holyoke College, (founded as Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in South Hadley, Massachusetts, 1837), is the oldest liberal arts womens college in the United States. ... Royal Canadian Air Force B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was produced in greater numbers than any other American combat aircraft, and was used by most of the Allied air forces in World War II. Designed as a heavy bomber, it served with distinction not only in that... Westover Air Reserve Base (IATA: CEF, ICAO: KCEF) is located in Chicopee, Massachusetts. ... Chicopee is the name of several communities in the United States: Chicopee, Georgia Chicopee, Kansas Chicopee, Massachusetts Chicopee, Missouri This is a disambiguation page, a list of pages that otherwise might share the same title. ...

External links

• State website for Skinner State Park

• State website for Mt Holyoke Range State Park

• Mt. Holyoke Range Historical Timeline

• Metacomet-Monadnock Trail

• Save The Mountain, a citizen action group