Yokun Ridge
Encyclopedia
Yokun Ridge is a well defined ridge within the Taconic Mountains
in Berkshire County, Massachusetts
that principally include West Stockbridge Mountain and Lenox Mountain as well as other related features. The name Yokun Ridge was first applied to the ridge in 1971 by the Berkshire Natural Resources Council
and was subsequently designated by the United States Board on Geographic Names
in 2009. Yokun Ridge is 9 miles (14.5 km) long and contains a conservation planning area called the Stockbridge-Yokun Ridge Reserve designated in 1993 by the U.S. Forest Service under its Forest Legacy Program
. The ridge is notable for outdoor recreation and scenic beauty, as well as its conserved land and proximity to the tourist destinations of Lenox
and Stockbridge
. Yokun Ridge is located within West Stockbridge
, Stockbridge
, Lenox
, Richmond
, and Pittsfield, Massachusetts
. Approximately one-third of the ridge is protected as open space reserve
, municipal watershed, and wildlife sanctuary.
Water bodies related to the ridge include Lake Averic, Fairfield Pond, the two Lenox Reservoirs, Shadowbrook Reservoir (also called Monks Pond), and Darey Pond, as well a number of small brooks, ponds, and wetlands. A waterfall is located in Stevens Glen on the west side of Lenox Mountain. The southwest side of the ridge drains into Cone Brook, thence into the Williams River, the Housatonic River
, and Long Island Sound
; 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.
The Massachusetts Turnpike
is located at the south end of the ridge, near the foot of West Stockbridge Mountain, and the Bousquet Ski Area
is located at the north end of the ridge.
of the Mahican
tribe. As early as the 19th Century, Yokun's name applied to "Yokun Seat," a summit of Lenox Mountain. This term was accepted by the Board of Geographic Names in 1894.
George Wislocki, first director of the Berkshire Natural Resources Council, first applied the name "Yokun Ridge" to this landform in 1971. The name was accepted by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names in 2009 as the name of a 9 miles (14.5 km) long ridge of the Taconic Mountains including West Stockbridge Mountain, Lenox Mountain, Mahanna Cobble, Yokun Seat, and Baldhead. The Appalachian Mountain Club
uses the term in the 2004 and 2009 edition of its Massachusetts Trail Guide. The Massachusetts Audubon Society, the Town of Lenox, and the Bousquet Ski Area have also used the term.
of the Mahican Tribe
bought all the unsold land between Stockbridge and Pittsfield for 12 English pounds 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 French and Indian Wars
while later his son, Timothy, participated in the American Revolution as a member of the Stockbridge Militia
at the Siege of Boston and died in a battle in the vicinity of present-day Van Courtlandt Park in Bronx, N.Y. "Yokuntown" (a designation for the village of Lenox in the 18th Century) was named after Yokun.
European settlers logged the area's forests for lumber and charcoal
, the latter used as a source for nearby iron foundries, which helped supply ordnance in the American Civil War
.
During the late 19th Century's Gilded Age
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 seminary's replacement building is currently occupied by the health and yoga
retreat Kripalu. A former Stokes outbuilding is part of the Shadow Brook Farm Historic District
. The American author Nathaniel Hawthorne
, who briefly lived near Yokun Ridge, describes a fictional walk to the top of Baldhead in his A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys
(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.
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 Massachusetts Audubon Society
. 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 Tanglewood
, the former Brooks Estate.
Beginning in the 1970s, the Berkshire Natural Resources Council and others helped to further highlight the area's recreational and scenic potential .
The ridge and certain outlying features were designated as part of a conservation planning area in 1993 by the U.S. Forest Service under its Forest Legacy Program
. Called the "Stockbridge-Yokun Ridge Reserve," it is among at least five in Massachusetts authorized in 1993 by the program, which enables federal purchases of conservation easements. About 370 acres (1.5 km²) in the Stockbridge-Yokun Ridge Reserve had been conserved using the program as of 2000. The northern boundary of the Stockbridge-Yokun Ridge Reserve conservation zone includes Mud Pond and its surrounding wetlands, and the outlying summit of South Mountain 1388 feet (423.1 m). Both are located in Pittsfield.
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.
Taconic Mountains
The Taconic Mountains or Taconic Range are a physiographic section of the larger New England province and part of the Appalachian Mountains, running along the eastern border of New York State and adjacent New England from northwest Connecticut to western Massachusetts, north to central western...
in Berkshire County, Massachusetts
Berkshire County, Massachusetts
Berkshire County is a non-governmental county located on the western edge of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. As of the 2010 census, the population was 131,219. Its largest city and traditional county seat is Pittsfield...
that principally include West Stockbridge Mountain and Lenox Mountain as well as other related features. The name Yokun Ridge was first applied to the ridge in 1971 by the Berkshire Natural Resources Council
Berkshire Natural Resources Council
The Berkshire Natural Resources Council is a non-profit land conservation and environmental advocacy organization operating in western Massachusetts. The organization was formed in 1967 and owns in open space reservations and holds interest on of conservation restrictions...
and was subsequently designated by the United States Board on Geographic Names
United States Board on Geographic Names
The United States Board on Geographic Names is a United States federal body whose purpose is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the U.S. government.-Overview:...
in 2009. Yokun Ridge is 9 miles (14.5 km) long and contains a conservation planning area called the Stockbridge-Yokun Ridge Reserve designated in 1993 by the U.S. Forest Service under its Forest Legacy Program
Forest Legacy Program
The Forest Legacy Program was established in the 1990 Farm Bill to protect environmentally important forest lands that are threatened by conversion to nonforest uses...
. The ridge is notable for outdoor recreation and scenic beauty, as well as its conserved land and proximity to the tourist destinations of Lenox
Lenox, Massachusetts
Lenox is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. Set in Western Massachusetts, it is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,077 at the 2000 census. Where the town has a border with Stockbridge is the site of Tanglewood, summer...
and Stockbridge
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,947 at the 2010 census...
. Yokun Ridge is located within West Stockbridge
West Stockbridge, Massachusetts
West Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,416 at the 2000 census.- History :...
, Stockbridge
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,947 at the 2010 census...
, Lenox
Lenox, Massachusetts
Lenox is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. Set in Western Massachusetts, it is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,077 at the 2000 census. Where the town has a border with Stockbridge is the site of Tanglewood, summer...
, Richmond
Richmond, Massachusetts
Richmond is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,475 at the 2010 census.-History:...
, and Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Its area code is 413. Its ZIP code is 01201...
. Approximately one-third of the ridge is protected as open space reserve
Open space reserve
Open space reserve, open space preserve, and open space reservation, are planning and conservation ethics terms used to describe areas of protected or conserved land or water on which development is indefinitely set aside...
, municipal watershed, and wildlife sanctuary.
Geography
Yokun Ridge includes, from south to north, West Stockbridge Mountain 1831 feet (558.1 m), Lenox Mountain 2139 feet (652 m), Yokun Seat 2133 feet (650.1 m), The Damp 1814 feet (552.9 m), and Mahanna Cobble 1903 feet (580 m). Subordinate peaks located off the main ridge crest include Baldhead 1677 feet (511.1 m) (now wooded at its summmit), Osceola Mountain 1548 feet (471.8 m), and The Cobble 1558 feet (474.9 m).Water bodies related to the ridge include Lake Averic, Fairfield Pond, the two Lenox Reservoirs, Shadowbrook Reservoir (also called Monks Pond), and Darey Pond, as well a number of small brooks, ponds, and wetlands. A waterfall is located in Stevens Glen on the west side of Lenox Mountain. The southwest side of the ridge drains into Cone Brook, thence into the Williams River, the Housatonic River
Housatonic River
The Housatonic River is a river, approximately long, in western Massachusetts and western Connecticut in the United States. It flows south to southeast, and drains about of southwestern New England into Long Island Sound...
, and Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean, located in the United States between Connecticut to the north and Long Island, New York to the south. The mouth of the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook, Connecticut, empties into the sound. On its western end the sound is bounded by the Bronx...
; 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.
The Massachusetts Turnpike
Massachusetts Turnpike
The Massachusetts Turnpike is the easternmost stretch of Interstate 90. The Turnpike begins at the western border of Massachusetts in West Stockbridge connecting with the Berkshire Connector portion of the New York State Thruway...
is located at the south end of the ridge, near the foot of West Stockbridge Mountain, and the Bousquet Ski Area
Bousquet Ski Area
Bousquet Ski Area is a ski area located in on a northern summit of Yokun Ridge in Pittsfield, Massachusetts within the Berkshires cultural region. The resort features a vertical drop of , a lift-top elevation of , twenty-four trails, five lifts, one terrain park, and 75% snowmaking...
is located at the north end of the ridge.
Nomenclature
The name Yokun derives from Jehoiakim Yokun, a Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
of the Mahican
Mahican
The Mahican are an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe, originally settling in the Hudson River Valley . After 1680, many moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts. During the early 1820s and 1830s, most of the Mahican descendants migrated westward to northeastern Wisconsin...
tribe. As early as the 19th Century, Yokun's name applied to "Yokun Seat," a summit of Lenox Mountain. This term was accepted by the Board of Geographic Names in 1894.
George Wislocki, first director of the Berkshire Natural Resources Council, first applied the name "Yokun Ridge" to this landform in 1971. The name was accepted by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names in 2009 as the name of a 9 miles (14.5 km) long ridge of the Taconic Mountains including West Stockbridge Mountain, Lenox Mountain, Mahanna Cobble, Yokun Seat, and Baldhead. The Appalachian Mountain Club
Appalachian Mountain Club
The Appalachian Mountain Club is one of the United States' oldest outdoor groups. Created in 1876 to explore and preserve the White Mountains in New Hampshire, it has expanded throughout the northeastern U.S., with 12 chapters stretching from Maine to Washington, D.C...
uses the term in the 2004 and 2009 edition of its Massachusetts Trail Guide. The Massachusetts Audubon Society, the Town of Lenox, and the Bousquet Ski Area have also used the term.
History
In the 1740s, Jehoiakim Yokun and another Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
of the Mahican Tribe
Mahican
The Mahican are an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe, originally settling in the Hudson River Valley . After 1680, many moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts. During the early 1820s and 1830s, most of the Mahican descendants migrated westward to northeastern Wisconsin...
bought all the unsold land between Stockbridge and Pittsfield for 12 English pounds 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 French and Indian Wars
French and Indian Wars
The French and Indian Wars is a name used in the United States for a series of conflicts lasting 74 years in North America that represented colonial events related to the European dynastic wars...
while later his son, Timothy, participated in the American Revolution as a member of the Stockbridge Militia
Stockbridge Militia
The Stockbridge Militia was a military unit from Stockbridge, Massachusetts which served in the American Revolutionary War. The militia was composed of American Indians, mostly Mahican, Wappinger, and Munsee from the Stockbridge area...
at the Siege of Boston and died in a battle in the vicinity of present-day Van Courtlandt Park in Bronx, N.Y. "Yokuntown" (a designation for the village of Lenox in the 18th Century) was named after Yokun.
European settlers logged the area's forests for lumber and charcoal
Charcoal
Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of carbon, and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen...
, the latter used as a source for nearby iron foundries, which helped supply ordnance in the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
During the late 19th Century's Gilded Age
Gilded Age
In United States history, the Gilded Age refers to the era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States during the post–Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras of the late 19th century. The term "Gilded Age" was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their book The Gilded...
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 seminary's replacement building is currently occupied by the health and yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
retreat Kripalu. A former Stokes outbuilding is part of the Shadow Brook Farm Historic District
Shadow Brook Farm Historic District
Shadow Brook Farm Historic District on state Route 183 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, is a historic district that includes six re-purposed farm buildings related to the former Shadowbrook mansion destroyed by fire in 1956. Designed by architect H. Neill Wilson with landscaping by Frederick Law...
. The American author Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials...
, who briefly lived near Yokun Ridge, describes a fictional walk to the top of Baldhead in his A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys
A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys
A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys is a children's book written by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne in which he rewrites myths from Greek mythology...
(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.
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 Massachusetts Audubon Society
Massachusetts Audubon Society
The Massachusetts Audubon Society, founded in 1896 by Harriet Hemenway and headquartered in Lincoln, Massachusetts, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to "Protecting the nature of Massachusetts." Mass Audubon is independent of the National Audubon Society, and in fact was founded...
. 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 Tanglewood
Tanglewood
Tanglewood is an estate and music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is the home of the annual summer Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937. It was the venue of the Berkshire Festival.- History...
, the former Brooks Estate.
Beginning in the 1970s, the Berkshire Natural Resources Council and others helped to further highlight the area's recreational and scenic potential .
Conservation
Portions of Yokun Ridge are owned by the non-profit Berkshire Natural Resources Council (BNRC), the Massachusetts Audbon Society (MAS), and the towns of Lenox, Stockbridge, and West Stockbridge.The ridge and certain outlying features were designated as part of a conservation planning area in 1993 by the U.S. Forest Service under its Forest Legacy Program
Forest Legacy Program
The Forest Legacy Program was established in the 1990 Farm Bill to protect environmentally important forest lands that are threatened by conversion to nonforest uses...
. Called the "Stockbridge-Yokun Ridge Reserve," it is among at least five in Massachusetts authorized in 1993 by the program, which enables federal purchases of conservation easements. About 370 acres (1.5 km²) in the Stockbridge-Yokun Ridge Reserve had been conserved using the program as of 2000. The northern boundary of the Stockbridge-Yokun Ridge Reserve conservation zone includes Mud Pond and its surrounding wetlands, and the outlying summit of South Mountain 1388 feet (423.1 m). Both are located in Pittsfield.
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.
