Warwick — Natural Features

Extracted from "History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, Volume II," by Louis H. Everts, 1879.


      No town in Franklin is more thoroughly mountainous than Warwick. Mount Grace, about a mile northwest of the centre, has the greatest elevation, and is said to be 1628 feet above the sea. There are also conspicuous eminences such as Bolster Hill, Flour Hill, Beach Hill, Barber Hill, and Chestnut Hill.
      Water-courses are plentiful, the most important being Tully Brook on the east, Valley Mountain and Kidder Brooks on the north, Hedge, Grace, and Wilson Brooks in the centre, and Moss and Gales Brooks in the south. There are thirteen large ponds in the town, among them being Lake Moore, Delva Pond, Harris Pond, and Long Pond in the south, and Hastings Pond in the centre.
      The minerals are calcareous gneiss, granite, and quartz, with indications also of iron, brimstone, copperas, and graphite. Freestone or steatite is found in considerable quantities, and it is said that some years ago iron ore was found near the centre. Radiated tourmaline* exists on Mount Grace, and on the old Wilder Stevens farm in the solid rock. Indian or prehistoric mortars are also found, some of them four feet in depth, and the largest two feet in width.
      Wild and variegated scenery meets the eye upon every hand, and from the top of Mount Grace the view is wonderfully expansive and charming, in which the winding Connecticut and the hills and vales of New Hampshire are conspicuous features.
      A natural curiosity of the town is the Bear's Den, about a hundred yards north of Stevens' mill-pond. The cavity, which is of considerable size, is covered by a shelving rock, under which, report says, five hundred men could find shelter. There is also, on the old Atwood farm near the Winchester line, a curiosity called the swinging rock,—a bowlder of a hundred tons' weight,—which is so placed that a person may, with one hand, easily rock it.
      The climate of Warwick is salubrious and healthy, and statistics show it to be conducive to remarkable longevity. In summer the town is a favorite resort of tourists in search of health and recreation.

* More probably staurolite.



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