Mount Grace

Mount Grace
View from Mount Grace firetower; Mount Monadnock visible in the distance
Highest point
Elevation	1,617 ft (493 m)
Coordinates	42°41′28″N 72°21′18″W / 42.69111°N 72.35500°W / 42.69111; -72.35500Coordinates: 42°41′28″N 72°21′18″W / 42.69111°N 72.35500°W / 42.69111; -72.35500
Geography
Location	Warwick, Massachusetts.
Parent range	Upland plateau of central Massachusetts
Geology
Age of rock	400 million yrs.
Mountain type	monadnock; metamorphic rock
Climbing
Easiest route	Metacomet-Monadnock Trail

Mount Grace, 1,617 feet (493 m), is a prominent monadnock located in north central Massachusetts in the town of Warwick, approximately two miles south of the New Hampshire border. The mountain is rugged and largely wooded, but a firetower on the summit provides expansive views of the surrounding rural countryside. Little Mount Grace, 1,226 feet (374 m), is the southern summit of the mountain. Mount Grace supports a predominantly northern hardwood forest as well as stands of red spruce near its summit.

The north side of Mount Grace drains into the Ashuelot River, thence into the Connecticut River, then Long Island Sound; the west side drains into the Connecticut River via Mill Brook; and the south and east sides drain into the Millers River, thence into the Connecticut River.

Mount Grace is named after Grace (Sarah) Rowlandson, the daughter of Mary Rowlandson, a Puritan colonist of Massachusetts. Grace died after she and her mother were captured by Native Americans of the Narragansett Tribe during King Philip's War in 1676. She was reportedly buried at the foot of the mountain.

In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps built a picnic area on the west side of Route 78, at the bottom of the mountain, below the Gulch. The banks of the brook were walled with stone. The Corps also built a picnic area with stone fireplaces and grills, and road access to it. The hardwoods were thinned out, leaving only the White Pines.

In the 1980s, the State ceased maintaining the picnic area. Brush grew up. The area started the transition back to forest. By the late 1990s many of the big White Pines were dead. The State logged the area, and left the slash on the ground to help new trees grow.