A journey through the tangle of rich narratives surrounding Mount Holyoke, a locally cherished mountain in Western Massachusetts. Through an accessible blend of storytelling and scholarly analysis, this ethnography of place examines the significance of the natural landscape, historic sites, and material culture, revealing how cultural perspectives, community activism, and personal experiences shape our understanding of a place. Raad provides the backstory on the Summit House, the erstwhile tramway, its multiple airplane crashes, the local fight to preserve the mountain as a natural space free from development, and its myriad uses today. 

Danielle Raad is assistant professor of history and museum studies at University of Georgia. She is a public historian, anthropologist, archeologist, and curator with a focus on how people in the present make meaning from the material culture—art, artifacts, and historic sites—of the past.

List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 – The Ascent: An Introduction
Chapter 2 – Narrating the Mountain’s Past
Chapter 3 – “Is Not the Scene Magnificent?”: The View from Mount Holyoke
Chapter 4 – Participation and Parcel: Conserving and Experiencing Nature
Chapter 5 – Ruin to Museum: Historical Engagement at the Summit House
Chapter 6 – Materializing Memory on the Mountain
Coda – The Descent
Endnotes
Bibliography
Index