Mount Sugarloaf

Whether you arrive at the top of Mount Sugarloaf’s south summit by driving (just a few minutes) or walking (about a half-hour) up the winding auto road, or by hiking up one of the marked trails, once the Connecticut River comes into view you’ll have no doubt that agriculture is alive and well in this valley. Lined with trees and productive farmland, and an occasional red barn and white steeple in the distance, this spectacular and quintessential rural New England view is both serene and inspiring. Before it was called Sugarloaf (sugar was once molded into cone-shaped loafs for shipping), the indigenous Pocumtuck people called the mountain Wequamps, believing it was a giant greedy beaver killed by the god Hobomok and turned to stone. The south summit is the head, the north ridge its back.