Mount Philo State Park

44°16′41″N 73°12′53″W / 44.2781°N 73.2148°W / 44.2781; -73.2148Area237-acre (0.96 km²)Created1924 (1924)Operated byVermont Department of Forests, Parks, and RecreationOpenMemorial Day weekend - Columbus Day weekendWebsitehttps://vtstateparks.com/philo.html MPSHistoric Park Landscapes in National and State Parks MPSNRHP reference No.01001286Added to NRHPNovember 29, 2001

Mount Philo State Park is a state park located in Charlotte, Vermont. The 237-acre (0.96 km²) park protects the area around Mount Philo (968 feet high) and provides views of Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains to the west. The Green Mountains (including Camel's Hump in the winter) can be seen to the east and south. It is accessed by trail or steep narrow road (seasonal).

Features

The park features hiking trails that lead from the base to the summit of Mount Philo. There is a mountaintop picnic area with views of Lake Champlain, the valley, and the Adirondack Mountains and Green Mountains to the west and south.^[1]

There is a small camping area with a total of 10 sites including 3 lean-tos, with restrooms and hot showers.

History

From the late 19th century to 1924, Mt. Philo was a popular destination for guests of the Mt. Philo Inn. It was accessed by carriage road and had a wooden observation tower at its summit.

The park was established in 1924 when Francies Humphreys of Brookline, Massachusetts, owner of the adjacent Mt. Philo Inn, donated the land to the State of Vermont for recreational use. This land would become Vermont's first state park.^{[citation needed]} In 1929, the carriage road was improved and a summit picnic area was created. From 1935-1937, CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) crews further enhanced the road and picnic area and built a ranger cabin and camping sites.^[2] The park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001 for its importance in the state's recreational history, and for its CCC-related architecture.^[3]

Biology

From September to November, Mt. Philo is an excellent viewpoint for migrating raptors. Three main types can be viewed: falcons such as the kestrel and merlin; accipiters such as the cooper's hawk; and buteos such as the red-tailed hawk.^[2]

Geology

Mt. Philo sits atop the Champlain Thrust fault of Middle Ordivician age. It is a Klippe made up of difficult to weather sedimentary rocks—the Cambrian Monkton Quartzites—that are thrust over younger Ordovician rocks of the Stony Point Formation. The rocks that hold up Mt. Philo were originally deposited during the Cambrian on a passive margin in a warm shallow marine shelf setting along the east coast of Laurentia (Proto North America). These rocks have subsequently been thrust west during the Taconic Orogeny (~450 Ma) and perhaps again during the Acadian Orogeny (~350 Ma).^{[citation needed]}

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Chittenden County, Vermont

References

External links

Federal

National Historical Park	Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park
National Wildlife Refuges	Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge
National Forest	Green Mountain National Forest
National Wilderness Areas	Big Branch Wilderness Breadloaf Wilderness Bristol Cliffs Wilderness George D. Aiken Wilderness Glastenbury Wilderness Joseph Battell Wilderness Lye Brook Wilderness Peru Peak Wilderness
National Recreation Areas	Moosalamoo National Recreation Area Robert T. Stafford White Rocks National Recreation Area
National Trails	Appalachian Trail North Country Trail
National Wild and Scenic Rivers	Missisquoi River Trout River

State

State Parks	Alburgh Dunes Allis Big Deer Bomoseen Boulder Beach Branbury Brighton Burton Island Button Bay Camel's Hump Camp Plymouth Coolidge Crystal Lake D.A.R. D & H Rail Trail Elmore Emerald Lake Fort Dummer Gifford Woods Grand Isle Green River Reservoir Half Moon Pond Hazen's Notch Jamaica Kamp Kill Kare Kettle Pond Kingsland Bay Knight Island Knight Point Lake Carmi Lake Shaftsbury Lake St. Catherine Litte River Lowell Lake Maidstone Molly Stark Molly's Falls Pond Mount Ascutney Mount Philo Muckross New Discovery Niquette Bay North Hero Quechee Ricker Pond Sand Bar Sentinel Rock Seyon Lodge Silver Lake Smugglers' Notch Stillwater Sweet Pond Taconic Mountains Ramble Thetford Hill Townshend Underhill Waterbury Center Wilgus Woodford Woods Island
State Forests	Aitken Arlington Black Turn Brook Boyer Calvin Coolidge Cambridge Camel's Hump Dorand Downer Granville Gulf Reservation Groton Hapgood Jay Jim Jeffords Jones Long Trail Lord Lower Clarendon Gorge Lyndon Mathewson Mollie Beattie Mount Carmel Mount Cushman Mount Mansfield Okemo Proctor-Piper Putnam Roxbury Rupert Thetford Hill Townshend Victory Washington West Rutland William C. Putnam Williams River Willoughby
Natural Areas	Amity Pond Big Falls of the Missisquoi Button Point Cambridge Camel's Hump Campmeeting Point Cascade Falls Daniel's Notch Emerald Lake Fisher-Scott Memorial Pines Gifford Woods Granville Gulf Hamilton Falls Hazen's Notch Highgate Cliffs Kingsland Bay Lake Carmi Bog Lords Hill Lucy Mallary Bugbee Marl Pond and Swamp Mendon Peak Morristown Bog Moss Glen Falls (Granville) Moss Glen Falls (Stowe) Mount Mansfield Peacham Bog Shrewsbury Peak Spectacle Pond Tabletop Mountain Terrible Mountain Tinker Brook Weybridge Cave Willoughby Cliffs Worcester Range

Private