| Mount Nonotuck | |
|---|---|
 The northern portion of theMount Tom Range, with Mount Nonotuck visible to the right | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 827 ft (252 m) |
| Coordinates | 42°16′48″N72°37′13″W / 42.28000°N 72.62028°W /42.28000; -72.62028 |
| Geography | |
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| Location | Holyoke, Massachusetts |
| Parent range | Mount Tom Range /Metacomet Ridge |
| Geology | |
| Rock age | 200 Ma |
| Mountain type | fault-blockigneous |
| Climbing | |
| Easiest route | Auto road |
Mount Nonotuck, 827 feet (252 m), is the northernmost peak of theMount Tom Range oftraprock mountains located in theConnecticut River Valley ofMassachusetts and part of the largerMetacomet Ridge which stretches fromLong Island Sound to nearly theVermont border. Rugged and considered scenic, the peak rises steeply from the river valley 700 feet (210 m) below. It is located within the town ofHolyoke.[1]
The 110-mile (180 km)Metacomet-Monadnock Trail, maintained by the Berkshire Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club, crosses Mt. Nonotuck, and a seasonal auto road (closed to vehicles indefinitely due to deteriorating conditions, hikers still welcome) climbs to a small parking lot just beneath the summit. During the winter, the auto road is often used forcross country skiing.[2]
In 1861, following the success of the hotel on the summit ofMount Holyoke across the river, William Street opened a summit hotel on Mount Nonotuck and named itEyrie House. The hotel was closer to the Connecticut River and therefore more accessible than the hotel on Mount Holyoke, which spurred the owners of the latter establishment to build a rail line and a ferry dock from the river to the base of Mount Holyoke. The hotel burned down in 1901 when Street attempted to cremate two horses on the mountain and lost control of the fire, leaving only the cellar holes and the walls of the stone understory standing. The hotel was subsequently included in theMount Tom Reservation managed by theCommonwealth of Massachusetts. TheConnecticut River Oxbow (now a lake), immortalized by the famous landscape painterThomas Cole just before natural flooding and erosion separated it from the Connecticut River, is visible from the ruins.[3][4]
Mount Nonotuck, like much of the Metacomet Ridge, is composed ofbasalt, also called traprock, avolcanic rock. The mountain formed near the end of theTriassic Period with therifting apart of theNorth American continent fromAfrica andEurasia.Lava welled up from the rift and solidified into sheets of strata hundreds of feet thick. Subsequentfaulting andearthquake activity tilted the strata, creating the cliffs and ridges of Mount Nonotuck.[5] Hot, dry upper slopes, cool, moist ravines, and mineral-rich ledges of basalttalus produce a combination ofmicroclimate ecosystems on the mountain that support plant and animal species uncommon in greater Massachusetts.[6] (SeeMetacomet Ridge for more information on the geology and ecosystem of Mount Nonotuck).
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