Great Blue Hill, originally called Massachusett, is a six hundred thirty-five-foot summit in the Blue Hills Reservation south of Boston and the highest point in Norfolk County and the Greater Boston area. Its name reflects both its bluish granite and its deeper Native significance: the Massachuseuck, or “people at the large hill,” gave rise to the name Massachusetts. Because of its prominence near the Atlantic, the hill became a center for scientific observation when Abbott Lawrence Rotch founded the Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory there in 1885, where weather study continues. It also serves recreation, regional broadcasting, and rare wildlife habitat, including protected timber rattlesnakes and copperheads.

Milton, Massachusetts · USA