Jerimoth Hill
Encyclopedia
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
, at 812 feet (247 m) above sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
. It was once one of the most controversial U.S. highpoints due to property complications, but it is now accessible to the public 7 days a week 8AM to 4PM. Jerimoth Hill is located in Providence County
Providence County, Rhode Island
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 621,602 people, 239,936 households, and 152,839 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,504 people per square mile . There were 253,214 housing units at an average density of 613 per square mile...
in the town of Foster
Foster, Rhode Island
Foster is a town in Providence County, Rhode Island, in the United States. The population was 4,606 at the 2010 census.- History :Foster was originally settled in the 17th century by British colonists as a farming community...
, near the Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
border.
For many years, hikers could not access Jerimoth Hill because a property owner, Henry Richardson, prevented them from accessing the highpoint. The highpoint itself, a small rock outcropping, is owned by Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, not Richardson, but his driveway was the only path that led to it.
The highpoint was donated to Brown University by Walter Raymond Turner, a Brown alumnus of the class of 1911. In 1938 he purchased the saltbox
Saltbox
A saltbox is a building with a long, pitched roof that slopes down to the back, generally a wooden frame house. A saltbox has just one story in the back and two stories in the front...
house to the west and the surrounding 360 acres (1.5 km²). Turner also provided a right of way, straight north from the highpoint to Route 101. Unfortunately for them, it has since been overgrown.
Brown University has used Jerimoth Hill as an astronomy observatory location for decades, and they utilize their ease of access to this land-locked parcel to view the heavens far from the lights of Providence, R.I. The actual high ground has been cleared of nearby pine trees for about a 200' square area. The actual highpoint itself is a rocky outcrop in the woods at the northwest edge of the clearing. A register is located in a mailbox for visitors to sign.
Richardson was once welcoming to highpoint visitors and let them cross his property without even asking permission, but this goodwill was ultimately abused to the point that he closed it off completely. Richardson became known for insulting, threatening or even using violence against visitors who tried to use his driveway. He also installed motion detector
Motion detector
A motion detector is a device for motion detection. That is, it is a device that contains a physical mechanism or electronic sensor that quantifies motion that can be either integrated with or connected to other devices that alert the user of the presence of a moving object within the field of view...
s around his property lines. Visitation increased from once a month to more than once a day in the decade of the 1990s, presumably due to the increasing popularity of highpointing
Highpointing
Highpointing is the sport of visiting the point with the highest elevation withinsome area , for example the highest points in each county within a state...
as an activity. Their musical instrument and music lesson business suffered from the constant visitation, as well as their privacy.
One man successfully got to the highpoint of Rhode Island, but in order to avoid harassment by Richardson, he went on a circuitous course and got to the top after two hours of bushwhacking
Hiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...
and walking through bogs. This pattern of stealth visiting persisted throughout the 1990s. The co-editor of the Highpointers Club Magazine, Dave Covill, tried for years to persuade Richardson to allow The Highpointers Club members to walk to the highpoint, and was ultimately successful in 1998. There was so much pressure on Richardson to let highpointers cross through his property that Richardson's partner Ed Bouchard finally gave permission to the hikers in 1998 by allowing hikers to get to the highpoint on five selected national holidays
Public holiday
A public holiday, national holiday or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year....
each year. The Highpointers Club provided "hosts" for these dates, and the Liaison to the Club passed from Dave Covill to Chuck Bickes to Stony Burk, who remains the official Highpointers Club Liaison to the Rhode Island state highpoint. The Club attempts to provide a liaison to each of the 50 state highpoints. These Open Access Dates continued through 2005, when Mr. Bouchard sold the property to new owners. Mr. Richardson died in 2001.
Highpointers once considered Jerimoth Hill less accessible than Mt. McKinley, as the Richardsons' driveway was heavily posted against trespassing. In June 2005, Jeff and Debbie Mosley bought the Richardsons' property, and soon created a path to the highpoint with the help of many volunteer Highpointers on Labor Day weekend 2005. As of August 2007, it is open every day, from 8:00 a.m. through 4:00 p.m. local (Eastern) time, whether visitors are Club members or not.