Mt. Holyoke
History
Mt.
Holyoke’s massive
form anchors the valley and provides a solid point of reference on
the landscape. It endures as a favorite local destination for
relaxation and recreation.
Its Name and Fame
The details of its naming for Elizur Holyoke, a well-connected
landowner, constable, magistrate, judge, court recorder and a
representative to the court, are hazy at best. According to an
apocryphal story, he and Thomas Rowland surveyed land along the
river in the vicinity of Northampton in the mid-1600’s. Where the
prominent ridgeline dominates the view, Roland Thomas modestly
bestowed the name “Mt. Tom” upon the section west of the Connecticut
River. Elizur Holyoke claimed his own name for the ridge that runs
to the east.
In the early days of this country, some 200 years ago, Mount
Holyoke enjoyed far more fame than it does today. In fact, the
mountain was one of the most popular tourist destinations in the
United States, second only to Niagara Falls! And you could say
‘Geology is Destiny,’ for the mountain’s fame was closely connected
to its formation and location.
Its Creation and
Cultivation
Its geohistory began roughly 200 million years ago. The mountain
formed when lava flowed onto the land. The lava hardened into an
enormous sheet of basalt, now an upended ridge that cuts across the
valley.
The mountain retained its wild character long after Europeans first
settled the Valley. Steep slopes and shallow rocky soils made the
upper reaches less than ideal for agricultural development. Yet its
location, next to deep, fertile valley soils along the river,
created a perfect point of contrast that epitomized the young
nation’s identity. The “cultivated” view of farm fields and tidy
towns provided evidence of the settler’s triumph of civilization
over wilderness.
In 1836, Thomas Cole created his now-iconic “View from Mount
Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, After a Thunderstorm,” more
often called, “The Oxbow.” The painting quickly went into private
ownership. Yet its brief public life provided a template for
countless early Nineteenth Century imitations. Virtually all
versions depicted wilderness ridgeline juxtaposed with cultivated
farm field. This idealized landscape ensured the mountain’s place in
this young country’s identity. About the same time, Mary Lyon
capitalized on the mountain’s renown by attaching its name to her
school, the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (now Mount Holyoke
College) in South Hadley.
In 1821 the town fathers of Hadley and Northampton also capitalized
on the mountain’s fame. They formed a corporation and erected a
small cabin on the mountaintop. With a series of proprietors for
nearly 30 years, it provided shelter and refreshments by day for
tourists who wanted to take in
“The Finest Cultivated View in New England.” By night it served as
a drinking establishment for local men.
Hotel Hospitality
Everything changed in 1849. A young couple, Fanny and John French,
bought the cabin and nine acres of land. They tore down the
building, erected a small hotel and developed the mountain as a
resort destination. John, a clever, inventive man, and Fanny, a
gracious hostess, each made the hotel their life’s work. The
Prospect House, as they called it, consisted of a parlor, dining
room and office on the first floor and four guest chambers on the
second. An observatory topped the building.
Business at the hotel was so good that in 1861, just 10 years after
the hotel first opened, the couple enlarged the building to its
current size, greatly increasing the public areas and the number of
guest chambers. Several telescopes, including one with 60 power
magnification, were for edification and entertainment: Typical of
the time period, visitors could be uplifted by examining the
surrounding landscape and heavens. They could also closely observe
the everyday and comings and goings and the homes of people in
Northampton and Hadley.
Creative
Transportation
John French is well known for his technological creativity, most famously
for the transportation systems he designed to bring visitors to the
Prospect House.
John fashioned the first tram in New England in 1854, using pieces
of sleigh, attached to a thick rope that ran on a wooden track.
This primitive contraption, exposed to the weather and powered by a
horse, was originally built to bring water and other supplies to the
summit. John quickly realized its usefulness to visitors. He kept
making improvements. By 1867 the tram was fully enclosed, powered
by steam, and on a new track that ran at a steady grade, gaining 365
feet along its 600 foot length. “I kissed the ground,” is what some
of the early trams users allegedly wrote in the guest register upon
their arrival at the summit. Even as late as the 1930’s, some
visitors felt more safe walking up the steep staircase alongside the
tram rather than actually riding in it.
Distant travelers arrived by train at the Mt. Tom Junction station
on the west side of the Connecticut River, not far from a rival
hotel on the Mount Tom Range. For their convenience, and perhaps
to beat the competition, John built a steamboat and contracted a
service to meet guests and transport them across the river. He
constructed a steamboat landing not far from where Mitch’s Marina is
today. He put in a carriage road, called Mount Holyoke Avenue, that
ran from the steamboat landing to the Halfway Area. For a brief
period, a small tram operated alongside the carriage road.
Changing Times;
Changing Owners
In an interesting and astute move, the couple sold ownership of the
hotel in 1871 to industrialist John Dwight. They continued to
manage the establishment, renamed the Mount Holyoke Hotel, and
retained for themselves a “life estate” on the mountain. Shortly
after John French’s death in 1891, Fanny French and John Dwight more
than doubled the size of the building to 40 guest chambers, a
200-seat dining room with large windows and a panorama to the south,
and a separate section for John Dwight’s summer residence.
Fanny passed away in 1899, John Dwight in 1903, ending the glory
days of the Mount Holyoke Hotel. The building went into corporate
ownership of civic-minded businessmen who wanted to preserve the
building and the land. By 1916, Joseph Allen Skinner became the
sole owner. He had a successful textile business and didn’t need to
rely on the hotel for income.
Again, his motivation lay in protecting the land. He made many
improvements, bringing electricity to the building and installing
new wallpaper and some private bathrooms. He made improvements to
the auto road, originally constructed in 1908. He converted the
tram from steam to an electric motor and replaced the rope with
steel cable. While Skinner did much to change the hotel, he could
not control the world around him. Changing preferences for leisure
time, the economic depression of the 1930’s, and the devastating
hurricane of 1938 spelled the end of hotel hospitality on the
mountain.
After years of unsuccessfully lobbying the legislature to make the
mountain a state park, Skinner simply donated the hotel and 375
acres of land to the state in 1940. He asked nothing in return,
save that the park be named Joseph Allen Skinner State Park. At the
dedication ceremony, Skinner expressed the wish that the park be a
“thing of beauty and a source of joy to the people of the
Commonwealth.”
Mount Holyoke and the
Summit House Today
After decades of relative neglect, the Summit House went through
extensive renovations 1982-1988.
What Remains
The Summit House today is essentially the size of the 1861-1894
hotel. New wallpaper and fixtures give it a turn of the 20th
Century flavor. Artifacts, photographs and displays help tell the
hotel’s story.
While the 60-power telescope is gone, its massive supporting pivot
and arm dominate the observatory. The piano that entertained guests
early in the 20th Century still sits in the lobby. The
park’s Friends group restored the piano and it is occasionally used
during summer concerts today. Visitors today see the same guest
register desk with the same mail slot used by visitors during the
hotel’s life. Most of the tram is gone, but the gear box and
waiting platform remain in the lobby.
A closer look reveals changes in technology, amenities and styles.
Some are more obvious than others – Floorboards and ceiling
treatments. Fire protection, room illumination and sanitary
facilities. Vacation clothing styles worn, menu items served and
prices charged. Furniture and accessories in guest chambers and the
ladies’ parlor on the second floor represent different styles
popular during the hotel’s life.
What Remains
Unchanged
From the shack of 1821, to the small hotels of 1851 and 1861, to the
grand hotel of 1894, to the restored Summit House of today, Mount
Holyoke’s allure continues. This “Enduring Prospect” invites
visitors to experience its peace and beauty.
History of Some Hiking Trails
Halfway House Trail from the Halfway Area to the Summit:
Built in 1845 by Edward Hitchcock and Amherst College Students, as
an improvement over the earlier route. Before that time, visitors
climbed up the sometimes vertical cliff face from the Halfway Area
to the Summit.
Tramway Trail between Route 47 and the Halfway Area. The upper
portions of this trail are the same as Mount Holyoke Avenue, built
by John French in the mid-1800’s. In just a couple of places, the
bed of the “other tram” that ran next to this road, is still
visible.
Metacomet-Monadnock Trail – The section from Route 47 to the Summit
House.
The upper third existed as part of an older route that ran from the
summit to South Hadley. The lower 2/3 was constructed, probably in
the 1950’s, when the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail system was first
developed.
