Jacob's Ladder Trail - 100 Years - Becket, MA
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 42° 15.519 W 073° 05.157
18T E 657876 N 4680268
The Jacob's Ladder trail is present day Route 20 through the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts.
Waymark Code: WMD2AF
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 11/09/2011
Views: 5
A monument to the building of a paved highway across what is known as the Jacob's Ladder Trail is located on Route 20 in Becket. The Jacob's Ladder Trail is a 33 mile long path through the rolling terrain of the Berkshire Hills in Massachusetts. Before the building of the highway the trail was a steep, treacherous, unpaved, often muddy and icy, road especially as it passed over Jacob's Ladder Hill, which gave the trail its name. In 1910, a by-pass of this hill was constructed and travelers has an easier passage between the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts and the Hudson Valley of New York.
To commemorate the opening of the by-pass a cairn was constructed by collecting stones from many towns and automobile clubs from around the northeast. The original dry-laid structure was moved from across the street in 1930. In 1946, it was moved, once again, to its present site and set with mortar. The cairn is called A Monument to the Automobile Age.
On September 25, 2010 an new stone was place commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the opening of the Jacob's Ladder Trail. The stone is inscribed:
25 SEPTEMBER 2010
IN COMMEMORATION OF THE 100th
ANNIVERSARY OF THE OPENING OF
JACOBS LADDER TRAIL