Rhode Island's mighty Jerimoth Hill sits on land owned by Brown University on which they have built supports for telescopes and such for astronomical observation. Until 3 months ago (July 2005), however, the access to the spot from Rt 101 was across a very short strip of private land and only Brown University had the legal right to use it.
The owner -- a 70-year-old, flamboyantly-gay music teacher to some of the small children in the neighborhood -- was reputed to have frequently driven off innocent Highpointers at gunpoint. The story is told of a Boy Scout troop and its leaders being forced to lie face down in the dirt for 45 minutes waiting to be arrested for trespassing by the bemused local Ocean State constabulary.
This past July, however, to the delight of Highpointers the world over, the property was sold to Jeff and Debbie Mosley who have an entirely different view of things. With the help of the now-recovered Boy Scouts and the Highpointers Club the Mosley's have built a little stone pathway from the highway to the sainted highpoint of the great state of Rhode Island.
On September 24, 2005 when I showed up, I was met by Jeff Mosley who was fantastically solicitous. The RI highpoint ain't much, but meeting and talking to Jeff Mosley made the trip well worth while.
One of the things Jeff told me was that Rhode Island has a pair of nesting Bald Eagles on a little island or such in the Scituate Reservoir, just off Rt 116. He said that there often were people standing on a platform with telescopes, as well there might be for such a sight, but I drove around the entire reservoir and could see neither hide nor hair of eagles or oglers. The National Wildlife Magazine confirms this phenomenon but gives no information about how to locate the birds. If anyone knows something about this, I'd love to hear from them.
Directions to Jerimoth Hill, RI
Take I-395 in Connecticut to exit 93 (101, Dayville, E. Killingly)
Take Rt 101 East 5.4 miles:
Past/over two little lakes
Ascend Jerimoth Hill
At the top of the hill, on the left, is a sandy pull-off marked with large rocks in front of a large cell/radio tower.
Park here.
Across the street is the "trailhead", a white stone path marked with a prominent Highpoint sign.
This trail is now open to highpointers everyday from 8a-4p courtesy of the access owners. The web sites for America's Roof (link to following)and Highpointers.org have not been updated, but Highpointers have placed the information signs at the trailhead. Enjoy, the site is as described in previous logs, but now more freely accessible.
Visiting HP's from a cruise is not my usual method, but was this time out. The ship stopped in New London CT., where we rented a car and drove up to Jerimoth HIll.
A perfect day it was, as we took the short stroll to our 15th.
Great job to the trail crew, who created the path. it is well kept and clean.
It wa also my first time in the state of Rhode Island, which is also my last to visit of the lower 48!
Had several hours to kill before my flight out of Logan.
Drove over the hill on the road back in 1993 but this time I walked to the actual summit. Very anti-climatic. According to the logbook, 3 or 4 other folks were already there earlier that day.
I didn't see any sign at the road like we saw years ago, but this time I came in from the opposite direction.
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