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Constitution Hill

Attention Trail Users: Due to bridge construction on Bridge Street, access Constitution Hill trailhead via Putnam Road, then take a right onto Meadow Lane. This brings you back to Bridge Street and bypasses the construction.

During the spring thaw conditions at the end of Bridge Street can deteriorate, making the trailhead at Constitution Hill difficult or impossible to reach. If you encounter poor road conditions (i.e. deep mud, ruts, erosion) on Bridge Street, please consider turning around and visiting another BNRC reserve. Please respect any “Road Closed” signs, and do not park on the side of the road or anywhere other than the BNRC trailhead for any reason. We ask this out of courtesy for our neighbors. 

A Lanesboro delegate arranged for a bonfire to be lit atop this hill when the state approved the new US Constitution. Trails let hikers recall that historic moment and take in views of Mt. Greylock.

Highlights

  • Lanesborough, MA
  • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.9 to 1.7 miles of trails
  • Difficulty: ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Easy to Moderate
  • Special features: Wetlands, hayfield, mature forest, shrubland

Activities

Difficulty

This land, and all of the present-day Berkshires, are the ancestral homeland of the Mohican people, who were forcibly displaced to Wisconsin by European colonization. These lands continue to be of great significance to the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Nation today. To learn more, visit mohican.com.

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      GPS 

      • ​​​​​​​Trailhead Parking:  ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Google Maps | 42.5238, -73.2423

      From Pittsfield

      Take Route 7 north into Lanesborough. Just past the Lanesborough Police Station turn left onto Bridge Street. If you pass The Old Forge you have just missed it. Follow Bridge Street to the end, past the BNRC sign, to the large parking area with a kiosk.

      From Lenox/Lee

      Take Route 20 north into Pittsfield. In Pittsfield, continue past the BNRC offices and hop on Route 7 (First Street, but North Street will work too). Take Route 7 north into Lanesborough. Just past the Lanesborough Police Station turn left onto Bridge Street. If you pass The Old Forge you have just missed it. Follow Bridge Street to the end, past the BNRC sign, to the large parking area with a kiosk.

      From North Adams

      Take Route 8 south toward Cheshire. In Cheshire, just past the fire station and just before Cheshire Reservoir, turn right onto Lanesboro/Old Cheshire Road. After 4 miles, turn right onto Prospect Street. At the bottom of the hill turn right onto Route 7 and immediately left onto Bridge Street. Follow Bridge Street to the end, past the BNRC sign, to the large parking area with a kiosk.

      • Constitution Hill Trail: 1.7 miles, round-trip, moderate
      • Field Trail: 0.9 miles, round-trip, easy

      Constitution Hill Trail

      This trail takes you past the Constitution Oak tree and a large rock outcrop. Beyond the summit, the trail turns westward past an old stonewall before bringing you back on what eventually becomes a woods road whose surface was once hardened by chunks of slag glass, which are still visible. Slag glass is a byproduct of iron production that was used as fill on old roads.

      Field Trail

      A mowed path that parallels Bridge Street before veering downhill through the hedgerow and winding around the field. This trail has great views of Mt. Greylock.

      In 1788, a Lanesboro farmer named Jonathan Smith was chosen to represent his town at the convention in Boston that would decide whether Massachusetts should ratify the proposed new US Constitution. At the convention he made a persuasive argument in favor of it as a way to prevent outbreaks of violence like Shays’ Rebellion in Western Massachusetts. The bonfire he had organized atop “Bald Headed Hill” alerted residents of Lanesboro and surrounding towns that his view had prevailed and Massachusetts had ratified the Constitution.

      The hill is no longer bald, and was renamed “Constitution Hill” by Smith. The forest has long since reclaimed the landscape, though there are winter views from the ridge after leaves have fallen. A plaque marks the bonfire site, near an oak that was planted in 1921 to replace an oak that was the solitary sentinel on the hill in Smith’s day.

      Near the trailhead and its two parking areas is a reclaimed orchard and the site of the home of a 19th century humorist, Josh Billings. He is now memorialized by Berkshire County’s annual Josh Billings RunAground triathlon.

      Historical Photos of Constitution Hill

      Deer are abundant on Constitution Hill, whose diverse habitats are home to white and yellow birches and other hardwoods, as well as Dutchman’s breeches. In 2006, the Berkshire Natural Resources Council, with the help of the Massachusetts Department of Fisheries and Wildlife’s Landowner Incentive Program, began reclaiming parts of the property’s abandoned orchards and fields to create conditions that various wildlife need. Forested areas will be cut to simulate natural disturbances, retaining large mature trees and standing snags for wildlife that depend on such “old growth” forested habitat characteristics.