The One Minute Geographer: Massachusetts (11): Physical Geography and Vacationland

This map of elevation shows from east to west the coastal plain of eastern Massachusetts, the hillier land in the center of the state near Worcester, the Connecticut River Valley where Springfield is located, and the Berkshire Mountains. Map from msp.umb.edu. Yellow dot showing Mt. Greylock added by the author.

We’ll take a quick overview of the physical geography of Massachusetts and talk about Cape Cod in this post. In doing that, we’ll see how the state’s physical geography ties in with the state’s tourist appeal. That will lead up to our last post in this series on Massachusetts, where we will look at tourism.

So take a look at the map of elevation at the top of this post. Metropolitan Boston lies on the coastal plain which includes Cape Cod and the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. This flat land becomes hillier west toward metropolitan Worcester. Those hills drop down into the Connecticut River Valley where metropolitan Springfield lies. The Connecticut River forms the Vermont — New Hampshire boundary and continues flowing south through Springfield and Hartford CT. To the west of the Connecticut River valley rise the low mountains of the Berkshires and the Appalachian Trail. The tallest peak is Mount Greylock, a shade under 3,500 feet, located in the northwest corner of the state.

The small state does not present many possibilities for big agriculture, and expensive land deters farming. It’s been said that “The story of agriculture in New England is the story of retreat from farmland that should have never been farmed in the first place.” Rocks left by glaciers covered…