Great Blue Hill
| Great Blue Hill | |
|---|---|
Great Blue Hill
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| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 640+ ft (195+ m) |
| Prominence | 483 ft (147 m) |
| Coordinates | 42°12′43″N 71°06′56″W / 42.2120434°N 71.1156064°WCoordinates: 42°12′43″N 71°06′56″W / 42.2120434°N 71.1156064°W |
| Geography | |
| Location | Norfolk County, Massachusetts |
| Parent range | Blue Hills |
| Topo map | USGS Norwood |
Great Blue Hill (called Massachusett by Native Americans) is a hill of 635 feet (194 m) located within the Blue Hills Reservation in Milton and Canton, Massachusetts 10 miles (15 km) southwest of downtown Boston. It is the highest point in Norfolk County. The modern name for the hill was given by early European explorers who, while sailing along the coastline, noticed the bluish hue of the exposed granite faces when viewed from a distance (due to Riebeckite). The Blue Hills's eastern slopes face the ocean and lie within Quincy. The area attracted quarrying for its "blue granite". The name of the Massachusett Indian tribe and their language (and thus the name of the Bay, Colony, Commonwealth/State, etc.) derive from the Massachusett name for the hill: massa-adchu-es-et, where massa- is "large", -adchu- is "hill", -es- is a diminutive suffix meaning "small", and -et is a locative suffix, identifying a place.
The north and west sides of Great Blue Hill drain into the Neponset River, and thence into Boston Harbor. The south and east sides of Great Blue Hill drain into the Blue Hill River, thence into the Farm River, Monatiquot River, Weymouth Fore River, and into Boston Harbor.
Its summit is the highest point in Norfolk County and also the highest within 10 miles of the Atlantic coast south of central Maine. For this reason, American meteorologist Abbott Lawrence Rotch chose Great Blue Hill as the site for an observatory, which became known as the Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory after its completion in 1885. Rotch conducted ground-breaking studies of the atmosphere at Blue Hill for many years, and meteorological data is still gathered at the site. From the Eliot Tower at the summit, the city of Boston and many of the surrounding hills of the Milton and Canton area are visible.
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