Mount Tekoa and Grace Robson Sanctuary

Mount Tekoa and Grace Robson Sanctuary

Montgomery, Massachusetts 01085

About this Location

Tekoa Mountain, 1,121 feet, is a dramatic, rocky high point overlooking the Westfield River Gorge at the eastern edge of the Berkshire plateau in the towns of Montgomery and Russell. Tekoa Mountain, very prominent from the "Jacob's Ladder" section of US-20 in the town of Russell, is not a true mountain but a cleaver jutting from a dissected plateau; it was produced by glacial action and through continuous erosion by the Westfield River and Moose Meadow Brook before and after the last ice age.

With nearby Shatterack Mountain, another cleaver, Tekoa Mountain forms a 700-foot high knobby cliff face and gorge wall along the northeast side of the Westfield River as it plunges from the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts into the Connecticut River Valley. Much of the face of Tekoa Mountain is barren or populated by sparse tree cover exacerbated by frequent fires that support partially fire-dependent tree species such as pitch pine and scrub oak. The mountain is also the habitat of the New England cottontail, a species in decline in Massachusetts. Tekoa Mountain has been targeted by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service's Connecticut River Valley conservation plan as a "high priority" ecosystem. 

Notable Trails

The AllTrails website has a description and map of a hike at Mount Tekoa and Grace Robson Sanctuary.

Features

  • Restrooms on site

  • Wheelchair accessible trail

  • Entrance fee

Content from Wikipedia

Last updated January 6, 2024