Mt. Toby Cabin

Title

Mt. Toby Cabin

Subject

[no text]

Description

Prior to its inclusion in the University of Massachusetts, Amherst campus, the area of Mt. Toby, which consisted of the southern part of Montague, Leverett, and Shutesbury, had been under the care of Native American chiefs. As one source claims, the area had been traded to white settlers by these locals in return for wampum beads. Once in the hands of the settlers, it earned the name Mt. Toby in recognition of Captain Elnathan Toby, the first caucasian man to climb the mountain.

After the exchange between the area’s indigenous peoples and the settlers who arrived, the mountain became the nucleus for recreational activities in the Amherst region. On the summit of the mountain, an old wooden tower stood as a hotel where visitors spent Sundays and holidays. During the economic downturn in the aftermath of the Civil War, a road was built up through the mountain and leading to the hotel. For fifty cents per person, buses would bring holiday-goers from the railroad station on Central Vermont to the tower. However, the popularity of Mt. Toby as a resort diminished after the tower burned down, and the mountain was only visited by hunters or exploring students from neighboring colleges, such as Amherst College. During the 1840s, Amherst College students took field trips to find unusual mineral and botanical samples for study. In 1916, the State of Massachusetts acquired Mt. Toby and the adjoining lands to the North and East of its central location as a forest reservation. Subsequently, the State turned the land over to the Massachusetts Agricultural College (also known as the M.A.C, and the future University of Massachusetts, Amherst) for maintenance and supervision as well as educational applications. Mt. Toby became a laboratory for college instruction in forestry and the application of forestry principles by the Forestry Department of the M.A.C. The goal of forestry education at M.A.C was to develop a “sustained yield” practice, where the Forestry Department and its students maintained a supply of timber to cycle out old timber with new via harvest and plant methods; whatever number of trees that grew in a year, timber would be cut less than what the forest grew in that period of time. Additionally, the Forestry Department provided work for farmers in the winter, a steady wood supply, and a medium of enjoyment for those who loved the outdoors.

The Metawampee Club was one such group of students invested in the outdoors. This club was organized by the M.A.C faculty and named after one of the Nanotuck chiefs who traded the mountain to settlers when they came to the area. The club took a profound interest in the mountain itself, and often partook in field trips for camping, hiking, and hunting. In the April of 1921, thirty people, including the college president, faculty, and the Metawampee Club, built a log cabin not far from the Roaring Brook Trail on the side of Mt. Toby. The log cabin became the prime location for the Metawampee Club and their active interest in and pursuit of outdoor activities.

The log cabin was also used in the annual “Mt. Toby Day,” or “Mountain Day.” As of October 1923, a few years after the cabin’s construction, Kenyon L. Butterfield, the president of the college, instituted a recreational day in which people from the general public as well as the student body participated in a long hike to the summit for lunch and presentations, which aimed to illustrate the educational features of the forest itself and to draw attention to the positive uses of Massachusetts forested landscapes. Today, this annual celebration has become the annual Metawampe Hike every October. The hike begins on the east side of the mountain and makes several stops along the way, one of which is the Metawampee Club log cabin, or Metawampe Cabin as it is now called. This event begins at noon, and now includes dinner at the Sunderland Congregational Church rather than lunch on the summit. In of September 2012, this hike will celebrate its 105th anniversary.

Creator

[no text]

Source

UMass Special Collections and University Archives

Publisher

[no text]

Date

[no text]

Contributor

[no text]

Rights

[no text]

Relation

[no text]

Format

[no text]

Language

[no text]

Type

[no text]

Identifier

RG150-0004829, RG150-0004832

Coverage

[no text]

Original Format

[no text]

Physical Dimensions

[no text]

Files

RG150-0004829.png
RG150-0004832.png
Date Added
August 31, 2012
Item Type
Still Image
Citation
“Mt. Toby Cabin,” Lost UMass, accessed March 29, 2024, https://lostumass.omeka.net/items/show/31.