The center of the Town of Mount Washington, Mass. is at the base of Mount Everett (2,602 feet), the highest summit of nine that ring the village on the Taconic Plateau, a sub-range of the Appalachian Mountains that run from Newfoundland to Alabama. A non-commercial settlement, the third least populous in the state, a town hall and church mark its center. The Town of Mount Washington is carved out of the most intact forest ecosystem in southern New England.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has established five Forest Reserve properties in the southwestern corner of the state, primarily in the Town of Mount Washington. They are Mount Washington State Forest, Mount Everett Reservation, Bash Bish Falls State Park, the Appalachian Trail Corridor, and Jug End State Reservation. The Mount Washington Forest Reserve Area is one of eight large Forest Reserves in the Commonwealth. The Forest Reserves were established to create areas of natural succession and natural disturbance to protect and conserve species that depend on this habitat.
The Town of Mount Washington is nestled in a ring of mountains. Mount Undine (2,195 feet), Mount Everett, and Mount Race (2,365 feet) shape Mount Washington’s eastern rim, with Mount Plantain (2,250 feet) to the southeast. In the northwest, summits of Cedar Mountain (1,870 feet), Bash Bish Mountain (1,900 feet), and Alander (2,239 feet) lead to Mount Ashley (2,650 feet) in the southwest and Mount Frissell (2,379 feet) on the town’s southernmost border. The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) maintains hiking trails in several of these locations. Download a trail map here.
What do we do when we learn that Mount Washington State Forest is ranked #376 and Mount Everett Reservation is #1,016 of 50,610 entities on a list of America’s Last Great Places, ranked as of November 19, 2023? These landscapes are designated priorities to be protected, places that preserve America’s diversity of landscape features, ecosystems, and species. Study the list here and here to find your community.
What can each of us contribute to supporting and protecting native landscapes? For one, become engaged with your local and state conservation commissions:
As hikers, we can clean our shoes and poles before each hike so as not to spread invasive species.
Samples from the Last Great Places list:
