Green Mountains
The Green Mountains are a mountain range in the U.S. state of Vermont. The range runs primarily south to north and extends approximately 250 miles (400 km) from the border of Massachusetts to Quebec, Canada. All mountains in Vermont are often referred to as the "Green Mountains". However, other ranges within Vermont including the Taconics, and Northeastern Highlands are not geologically part of the Green Mountains.
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Peaks [edit]
The best known mountains – for reasons such as high elevation, ease of public access by road or trail (especially the Long Trail and Appalachian Trail), or with ski resorts or towns nearby – in the range include:[1]
- Mount Mansfield, 4,395 feet (1,340 m), the highest point in Vermont
- Killington Peak, 4,226 feet (1,288 m)
- Mount Ellen, 4,083 feet (1,244 m)
- Camel's Hump, 4,083 feet (1,244 m)
- Mount Abraham, 3,953 feet (1,205 m)
- Stratton Mountain (Vermont), 3,940 feet (1,200 m), the mountain at which the initial ideas of both the Long Trail and the Appalachian Trail were born,
- Pico Peak, 3,930 feet (1,200 m)
- Jay Peak, 3,858 feet (1,176 m), receives the most amount of snowfall on average in the eastern United States[2][3]
- Mount Wilson, 3,763 feet (1,147 m)
- Glastenbury Mountain, 3,737 feet (1,139 m)
- Mount Roosevelt, 3,520 feet (1,070 m)
- Mount Cleveland, 3,471 feet (1,058 m)
The Green Mountains are part of the Appalachian Mountains, a range that stretches from Quebec in the north to Alabama in the south.
The Green Mountains are part of the New England-Acadian forests ecoregion.[4]
Three peaks, Mount Mansfield, Camel's Hump, and Mount Abraham, support alpine vegetation. For the most part, however, the Green Mountains, especially the northern sections, support a dense boreal forest up to the 3,000–3,500 feet (910–1,100 m) elevation treeline. This forest is well established in the Green Mountains. Throughout the winter months harsh temperatures, snowfall and winds would destroy other species. Much of the "green" in Green Mountains is due to this boreal forest.
Tourism [edit]
Some of the mountains are developed for skiing and other snow-related activities. Others have hiking trails for use in summer.[5] Mansfield, Killington, Pico, and Ellen have downhill ski resorts on their slopes. All of the major peaks are traversed by the Long Trail, a wilderness hiking trail that runs from the southern to northern borders of the state and is overlapped by the Appalachian Trail for roughly 1⁄3 of its length.
History [edit]
The Vermont Republic, also known as the Green Mountain Republic,[6] existed from 1777 to 1791, at which time Vermont became the 14th state.
Vermont not only takes its state nickname ("The Green Mountain State") from the mountains, it is named after them. The French Verts Monts is literally translated as Green Mountains. This name was suggested in 1777 by Dr. Thomas Young, an American revolutionary and Boston Tea Party participant. The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College is referred to as UVM, after the Latin Universitas Viridis Montis (University of the Green Mountains).[7]
Geology and physiography [edit]
The Green Mountains are a physiographic section of the larger New England province, which in turn is part of the larger Appalachian physiographic division.[8]
See also [edit]
- Green Mountain National Forest
- Green Mountain Boys – paramilitary infantry led by Ethan Allen that took Fort Ticonderoga during the American Revolution
- Green Mountain Club
- Griffith Lake
References [edit]
- ^ Peak elevations taken from "Mountain Peaks, Summits, and High Points". Retrieved 17 January 2010.
- ^ Wheeler, Scott (February 2008). The Man Who Helped Electrify the Jay Peak Ski Area. Northland Journal.
- ^ McLean, Dan (July 1, 2008). Investors purchase Jay Peak. Burlington Free Press.
- ^ Olson, D. M, E. Dinerstein, et al (2001). "Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Life on Earth". BioScience 51 (11): 933–938. doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0933:TEOTWA]2.0.CO;2.
- ^ http://www.summitpost.org/green-mountains-vermont/170967
- ^ See, e.g., Robert Temple, Edge Effects: The Border-Name Places (2008), p. 6; Paul Finkelman and Stephen E. Gottlieb, Toward a Usable Past: Liberty Under State Constitutions (University of Georgia Press, 2009), p. 375; Ralph Nading Hill, The College on the Hill: A Dartmouth Chronicle (Dartmouth Publications: 1965), pp. 46, 50; Vermont Historical Society, Vermont History, Vol. 66-67 (1998), p. 87.
- ^ History and Traditions, University of Vermont.
- ^ "Physiographic divisions of the conterminous U. S.". U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved 2007-12-06.
External links [edit]
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Coordinates: 44°47′30″N 72°34′58″W / 44.79167°N 72.58278°W
