Great Blue Hill
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| Great Blue Hill | |
|---|---|
| Elevation | 635 feet (194 m) [1] |
| Location | Norfolk County, Massachusetts |
| Range | Blue Hills |
| Coordinates | Template:Coord |
| Topo map | USGS Norwood |
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 (15 km) southwest of Boston. The name was giving by early European explorers who, while sailing along the coastline, noticed the bluish hue on the slopes when viewed from a distance.[2]
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[edit] Name
More than ten thousand years before those Europeans arrived, Native American made their home in the hills. The Natives referred to themselves as Massachusett, or "people of the great hills". The Commonwealth of Massachusetts derives its name for this Native American name. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was named after the indigenous population, the Massachusett, whose name can be segmented as mass-adchu-s-et, where mass- is "large", -adchu- is "hill", -s- is a diminutive suffix meaning "small", and -et is a locative suffix, identifying a place. It has been translated as "at the great hill," "by the many small hills" "at the little big hill," or "at the range of hills," referring to the Blue Hills, or in particular, Great Blue Hill, located on the boundary of Milton and Canton, to the southwest of Boston.[3][4][5] (c.f. the Narragansett name Massachusêuck;[4] Ojibwe misajiwensed, "of the little big hill").[6]
[edit] Geography
The north and west sides of Great Blue Hill drain into the Neponset River, and thence into Boston Harbor. The south and east sides of Great Blue Hill drain into the Blue Hill River, thence into the Farm River, Monatiquot River, Weymouth Fore River, and into Boston Harbor.
Its summit is the highest point in Norfolk County and also the highest within 10 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. From the modern — albeit somewhat neglected — Eliot Tower at the summit, 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] References
- ^ Summit elevation between 192 and 195 m.
- ^ The Blue Hills Reservation. Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. Retrieved on 2007-11-29.
- ^ This derivation is located in C. Lawrence Bond, Native Names of New England Towns and Villages, privately published, Topsfield, Massachusetts, 1991. The pamphlet was never mass produced but it is probably obtainable through the library or bookstores in Topsfield.
- ↑ a b Salwen, Bert, 1978. Indians of Southern New England and Long Island: Early Period. In "Northeast", ed. Bruce G. Trigger. Vol. 15 of "Handbook of North American Indians", ed. William C. Sturtevant, pp. 160-176. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. Quoted in: Campbell, Lyle. 1997. American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pg. 401
- ^ Bright, William (2004). Native American Place Names of the United States. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, pg. 270
- ^ Freelang Ojibwe Dictionary. Freelang.net.
[edit] External links
- Blue Hills Reservation, information from the Commonwealth's Department of Conservation and Recreation
- 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
- Peakbagger.com: Great Blue Hill
- Template:Gnis
- Great Blue Hill is at coordinates Template:Coordpt:Great Blue Hill
