Holyoke Range - Geography

Geography

The Holyoke Range, located within the towns of South Hadley, Hadley, Granby, Amherst, and Belchertown, rises steeply between 300 feet (91 m) and 1,100 feet (335 m) above the Connecticut River Valley below; it has an east-west orientation and is roughly 9.5 miles (15.3 km) long by 2.5 miles (4.0 km) wide at its widest point, although the steepness of the terrain makes the actual square mileage much larger. The high point of range is the summit of Mount Norwottuck, 1,106 feet (337 m) above sea level.

Notable peaks include, (from west to east) Mount Holyoke 935 feet (285 m); the Seven Sisters, a series of ridgeline knobs with a high point of 945 feet (288 m); Mount Hitchcock 1,002 feet (305 m); Bare Mountain 1,014 feet (309 m); Mount Norwottuck 1,106 feet (337 m); Long Mountain 920 feet (280 m) and Harris Hill 550 feet (168 m). Round Mountain between Bare and Norwottuck has been removed by quarrying. A series of smaller, unnamed traprock hills continue from Long Mountain to the eastern end of the range. Another series of hills descends north from the range into the towns of Hadley and Amherst. Some of these have names: Tinker Hill 685 feet (209 m) and Little Tinker Hill 545 feet (166 m) located at the base of Mount Hitchcock in Hadley; Mount Pollux 331 feet (101 m) and Mount Castor 308 feet (94 m), between Mount Norwottuck and the center of Amherst. The Metacomet Ridge, of which the Holyoke Range is a part, continues west and south across the Connecticut River as the Mount Tom Range. The Metacomet Ridge is broken to the north; the Holyoke Range is separated from the Pocumtuck Ridge, 9 miles (14 km) away by a relatively low-lying area punctuated with occasional rises.

The north side of the Holyoke Range drains into the Fort River, thence to the Connecticut River and Long Island Sound; the south side drains into Bachelor Brook, then into the Connecticut River.