The Billy Goat skipped across the Connecticut River recently to take a hike up to Mt. Holyoke located on the Holyoke Range in Hadley. 

Here are a few pictures of the Summit House atop Mt. Holyoke. The history of the Summit House goes back to 1821 when it was a guest cabin of 18x 24 ft. eventually becoming a two story eight room hotel by the mid 1800s complete with a tramway that guests took to the summit.

It continued to be a very popular spot up until around the Great Hurricane of 1938 when it suffered extensive damage, (the tram was in use till around 1942 when it broke down and was never repaired despite proposals to do so, it was finally demolished in 1965).

The Summit House was finally restored in the early eighties and now is open for tours and special events during the late spring till early fall.

When one compares the Mt. Holyoke Summit House with the Summit House that was once atop Mt. Tom and the Eyrie House that was atop Mt. Nonotuck, you wouldn't have thought

this one would of outlived the other two, this one didn't have certain logistics the other two had, first of all the Eyrie House was nearer the Connecticut River and had a railroad and main route below it, while the Mt. Tom Summit House had the trolley park and the city of Holyoke nearby, yet this one flourished and still flourishes while the other two are now a memory.