299:" in places, yet in others a more amorphous upland, hosting a couple of small municipal reservoirs (at an elevation of about 1,400 feet) for nearby Lenox. It includes from south to north, West Stockbridge Mountain 1,831 feet (558 m) and the various summits of Lenox Mountain 2,139 feet (652 m), Yokun Seat 2,133 feet (650 m), The Damp 1,814 feet (553 m), and Mahanna Cobble 1,903 feet (580 m). Subordinate peaks include Baldhead 1,677 feet (511 m) (now wooded at its summit), Osceola Mountain 1,548 feet (472 m), and The Cobble 1,558 feet (475 m). (Surrounding lowlands average around 800-900 feet)
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366:"Yokun Ridge" was accepted by the Board on Geographic Names in 2009. Apparently in error, the board cited as a first reference for this term a 1939 WPA regional guidebook titled "The Berkshire Hills." However, the term "Yokun Ridge" doesn't appear in the WPA work, which cites instead the historical figure Yokun in several contexts including as a source for the name of Lenox Mountain's "Yokun Seat" summit as well as for the obsolete appellation "Yokuntown" for the town of Lenox.
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457:. The Bousquet Ski Area opened in 1932 on the north side of the ridge at Mahanna Cobble. The New York Philharmonic gave a series of summer concerts in 1934 at the Hanna Estate, located on the lower east side of West Stockbridge Mountain. Two years later, the Boston Symphony began its longstanding seasonal residency at nearby
315:; the southeast side drains into Marsh Brook, Stockbridge Bowl, and Larrywaug Brook, thence into the Housatonic River; the northwest side drains into Richmond Pond and Southwest Branch Brook, thence the Housatonic River; and the northeast side drains into Yokun Brook, thence into the Housatonic River.
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in Lenox. Cooperative agreements with towns, private landholders, and MAS and BNRC have resulted in the marking of a ridgeline trail extending from the southern end of West
Stockbridge Mountain to the Bousquet Ski Area. The trails are open to hiking, skiing, picnicking, and similar pursuits. Mountain
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Water bodies on Yokun Ridge include Lake Averic, Fairfield Pond, the two Lenox
Reservoirs, also the very small Shadowbrook Reservoir (sometimes called Monks Pond locally), and Darey Pond, plus various small brooks, ponds, and wetlands. A waterfall on the west side of Lenox Mountain in Stevens Glen.
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About 370 acres (1.5 km) in the
Stockbridge-Yokun Ridge Reserve, or about 6 percent of the area, had been conserved using the Forest Legacy Program as of 2000. The northern boundary of the Stockbridge-Yokun Ridge Reserve conservation zone includes Mud Pond and its surrounding wetlands, and the
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The BNRC maintains trails through its Olivia's
Lookout property on West Stockbridge and Lenox Mountain; they also manage a roadside scenic vista along Lenox Road at the Stockbridge/ Lenox border, as well as Steven's Glen, a waterfall on Lenox Mountain Brook. The Massachusetts Audubon Society (MAS)
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West
Stockbridge Mountain and the several Lenox Mountain summits are mostly part of the allochthonous Everett Formation, described as "largely greenish-gray, or dark-grey quartzose schist." Fine-grained mica in the matrix gives the rock a "phyllitic sheen." The formation may have been originally
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much of Yokun Ridge was held by a handful of large estates, including the Stokes property, whose 1894 "Shadowbrook
Cottage" below Baldhead was at the time reputedly the largest residence in America. It later became the site of a Catholic seminary and was subsequently destroyed by fire . The
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from two fellow tribesmen. The land was subsequently acquired by the
English in the 1750s. The Dutch name "Jehoiakim" may indicate that Jehoiakim Yokun was baptized by the Dutch in the Hudson Valley, a region where most Mahicans resided at the time. Yokun subsequently was active in the
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George
Wislocki, first director of the Berkshire Natural Resources Council, invented the name "Yokun Ridge" 1971. In coining his new term, Wislocki hoped to draw attention to perceived continuity of highlands to the west of Lenox and north-western Stockbridge.
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Beginning in the 1970s, the
Berkshire Natural Resources Council and others helped to further highlight the area's recreational and scenic potential, in part by offering the invented name "Yokun Ridge" to emphasize its then relatively unrecognized continuity.
499:. Called the "Stockbridge-Yokun Ridge Reserve," it consists of 6,300 acres and is among at least five in Massachusetts authorized in 1993 by the program, which enables federal purchases of conservation easements.
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Tourism helped to boost interest in recreation and conservation in the area as early as 1929, when the Lenox Garden Club established the
Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary on Lenox Mountain, now owned by the
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In December 2010, the Berkshire Natural Resources Council closed on the purchase of 80 acres of land around Mahanna Cobble from the Bousquet Ski Area after two years of negotiation.
449:(1852). In the same work, Hawthorne describes Shadow Brook, the local name for a minor stream that flows in the ravine separating Baldhead from the southern reach of Lenox Mountain.
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south of Pittfield, Mass. The term was invented in 1971 by a conservation group to draw attention to a perceived geographical continuity. The name was accepted in 2009 by the
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583:"Bedrock geologic map of the Stockbridge Quandrangle, Berkshire County, Mass.,' by Nicholas M. Ratcliffe, 1974, USGS (see its narrative notes) USGS
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Berkshire Natural Resources Council (BNRC), the Massachusetts Audubon Society (MAS), and the towns of Lenox, Stockbridge, and West Stockbridge.
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Lautzenheiser, Tom. "The Myth of the Unchanging Forest." Sanctuary Magazine, Fall 2010. Massachusetts Audubon Society. Retrieved May 6, 2011.
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251:. The area is notable for its recreational and scenic value, as well as its conserved land and proximity to the tourist attractions of
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tribe. As early as the 19th century, Yokun's name was applied to "Yokun Seat," a summit of Lenox Mountain and accepted by the U.S.
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deposited to the east and then thrust into its present position, riding over the separate Stockbridge and Wallomsac formations.
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The ridge and certain outlying features were designated as part of a conservation planning area in 1993 by the
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in Bronx, N.Y. "Yokuntown" (a designation for the village of Lenox in the 18th century) was named after Yokun.
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Although Yokun Ridge only emerged as a geographical concept in 1971, in the 1740s, Jehoiakim Yokun and another
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consisting mainly of West Stockbridge Mountain and the Lenox Mountain massif, is a ten-mile stretch of the
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passes the south end of West Stockbridge Mountain, while at the opposite, northern end of Yokun Ridge is
884:"Biomap" (by Commonwealth of Massachusetts and The Nature Conservancy) showing conserved lands in region
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The Massachusetts Audubon Society, the Town of Lenox, and the Bousquet Ski Area have also used the term.
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outlying summit of South Mountain 1,388 feet (423 m). Both are located in Pittsfield.
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while later his son, Timothy, participated in the American Revolution as a member of the
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https://archive.org/details/berkshirehills00fede/page/n17/mode/2up?q=%22yokun+ridge%22
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725:"Summer Camp in the Berkshires" Bousquet Ski Area, 2011. Retrieved May 6, 2011.
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at the Siege of Boston and died in a battle in the vicinity of present-day
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seminary's replacement building is currently occupied by the health and
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The southwest side of the ridge drains into Cone Brook, thence into the
634:, v. 18, no. 2, page 4. Berkshire Natural Resources Council. Fall 2010.
574:(2005). Berkshire Natural Resources Council. Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
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http://www.townoflenox.com/public_documents/lenoxma_webdocs/ataglance
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bought all the unsold land between Stockbridge and Pittsfield for 12
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see search of "The Berkshire Hills" 1939 Federal Writers' Project {
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539:(2009) United States Board on Geographic Names. Database entry.
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Clarence J. "Clare" Bousquet; The founding of Bousquet Ski Area
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http://www.bousquets.com/summer/summer-camp-in-the-berkshires/
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866:. Massachusetts Audubon Society. Retrieved january 5, 2009.
713:"At-a-Glance" Town of Lenox website. Retrieved May 6, 2011.
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European settlers logged the area's forests for lumber and
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Friends, family gather at Mahanna Cobble to thank Wislocki
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employs "Yokun Ridge" in the 2004 and 2009 edition of its
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689:, 9th Edition (2009). Boston: Appalachian Mountain Club.
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Berkshire Eagle, Sunday October 24, 2010 Section: Local.
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http://www.massaudubon.org/sanctuary/features.php?id=81
279:. Approximately one-third of the zone is protected as
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newspaper, Sunday October 24, 2010. Section: Local.
910:Protected areas of Berkshire County, Massachusetts
347:derives from Jehoiakim Yokun, a mid-18th century
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16:Ridge in Massachusetts, United States of America
515:maintains a network of hiking trails at their
437:. A former Stokes outbuilding is part of the
925:Landforms of Berkshire County, Massachusetts
677:(2004). Boston: Appalachian Mountain Club.
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484:Portions of Yokun Ridge are owned by the
853:"BNRC Closes Purchase of Mahanna Cobble"
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838:: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
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62:9 mi (14 km) north-south
734:A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys 1852
612:"Geographic Names Information System"
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520:biking is permitted in some areas.
439:Shadow Brook Farm Historic District
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890:Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary
864:Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary
517:Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary
479:Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary
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601:University of Nebraska Press.
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455:Massachusetts Audubon Society
477:View of Lenox Mountain from
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599:The Mohicans of Stockbridge
283:, municipal watershed, and
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920:Stockbridge, Massachusetts
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375:Massachusetts Trail Guide.
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295:Yokun Ridge is an actual "
49:2,139 ft (652 m)
750:January 22, 2009, at the
687:Massachusetts Trail Guide
675:Massachusetts Trail Guide
371:Appalachian Mountain Club
357:Board of Geographic Names
277:Pittsfield, Massachusetts
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33:View from Lenox Mountain
905:Ridges of Massachusetts
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441:. The American author
400:French and Indian Wars
320:Massachusetts Turnpike
497:Forest Legacy Program
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158:42.35139°N 73.33778°W
259:. Yokun Ridge is in
493:U.S. Forest Service
443:Nathaniel Hawthorne
404:Stockbridge Militia
163:42.35139; -73.33778
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743:Laurie Puliafico,
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419:American Civil War
408:Van Cortlandt Park
285:wildlife sanctuary
281:open space reserve
39:Highest point
915:Taconic Mountains
324:Bousquet Ski Area
313:Long Island Sound
245:Taconic Mountains
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182:Taconic Mountains
136:Range coordinates
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572:Yokun Ridge
265:Stockbridge
257:Stockbridge
241:Yokun Ridge
218:Age of rock
161: /
92:Yokun Ridge
22:Yokun Ridge
899:Categories
825:2009-01-25
780:2009-01-10
524:References
510:Recreation
495:under its
486:non-profit
459:Tanglewood
426:Gilded Age
359:in 1894.
149:73°20′16″W
54:Dimensions
343:The name
291:Geography
146:42°21′5″N
67:Geography
45:Elevation
834:cite web
789:cite web
748:Archived
433:retreat
415:charcoal
273:Richmond
435:Kripalu
389:of the
381:History
353:Mahican
351:of the
330:Geology
206:Orogeny
200:Geology
105:Country
311:, and
307:, the
275:, and
125:Region
59:Length
819:(PDF)
812:(PDF)
774:(PDF)
767:(PDF)
345:Yokun
297:ridge
269:Lenox
253:Lenox
189:Biome
115:State
840:link
795:link
431:yoga
369:The
318:The
255:and
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832:{{
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787:{{
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
