Mount Norwottuck

Mount Norwottuck or Mount Norwottock, 1,106 feet feet above sea level, is the highest peak of the Holyoke Range of traprock mountains located in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts and part of the greater Metacomet Ridge which stretches from Long Island Sound to nearly the Vermont border. The peak rises steeply from the valley 1,000 feet below and offers sweeping views of the surrounding countryside. It is located within the towns of Amherst and Granby, Massachusetts.
Mount Norwottuck received its name from Edward Hitchcock, a former professor of geology at Amherst College with a colorful history. Hitchcock coined the term "Scenographical Geology" in 1841 to describe the dramatic geologic landscape of the Holyoke Range. Originally called Hilliard Knob, Hitchcock applied the Native American name Norwottuck to the mountain. Norwottuck is the Indian name of the village of Hadley. Hitchcock is also famous for suggesting that local dinosaur tracks discovered in the Triassic sediments near the range had been produced by an ancient species of bird . A summit of the Holyoke Range to the west of Mount Norwottuck is named after Hitchcock.

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