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47-475: About 87% of Berkshire's 430 students are boarders, while 13% are day students whose families live nearby. The U.S. students hail from 30 states. The 77 international students (18% of the student body) have primary passports from 39 countries. 23% of the students are considered students of color. As is true of many American boarding schools, Berkshire began as a single sex school, but it has been coeducational since 1969. In addition to grades 9-12, Berkshire offers

94-574: A 150-mile-long sub-range of the Appalachian Mountains lying on the eastern border of New York State and adjacent New England. The range, which played a role in the history of geological science, is separated from the Berkshires and Green Mountains to the east by a series of valleys, principally those of the Housatonic River , Battenkill River and Otter Creek . The Taconics' highest point

141-510: A half-dozen locales, mostly within the immediate region. As written English, the term appears in a 1685 petition for the right to purchase land in western Massachusetts. Timothy Dwight IV used the name "Taughkannuc Mountain" in an account of his 1781 ascent of the summit later named Mount Everett . Dwight's account was deemed the "first recorded ascent" of that peak in a 1989 text on regional hiking history. The term first entered geological literature in 1819 with Chester Dewey 's "Sketch of

188-466: A local rock structure which traveled to its current position from about 25 miles to the east through low-angle thrusting. Rocks of this allochthon are older than the strata lying beneath, and consist of slate , phyllite , and schist , "plus some minor lenses of limestone ." The Taconic allochthon is larger than the current Taconic Mountains, extending westward toward the Hudson River . It formed during

235-469: A pixieish manner." Berkshire's approximately 425 students participate in a total of 17 team sports. Split into three seasons, the teams are divided evenly between girls' teams and boys' teams, with two teams (mountain biking and freestyle skiing) being coed. In addition to the 32 varsity teams, Berkshire offers 15 junior varsity teams and seven "3rds," which are often teams for students who are new (or relatively new) to that sport. The sports teams compete in

282-405: A post-graduate year. The ninth grade class (the 3rd form) has about 100 students. Berkshire reportedly accepts about 20% of its 1500 applicants, leading to about 150 new students each year. 71% of the 101 faculty live on campus. 68% have advanced academic degrees. The school maintains a student-to-teacher ratio of 4:1. Pieter Mulder has been Head of School since 2013. As of 2024, the 34 members of

329-505: A prolific poet, daily newspaper publisher and founder of Good Housekeeping magazine, died by suicide in 1899. Books concerning the region published subsequently in 1899, 1907 and 1939 continued to reference "Dome of the Taconics," but also preferred the official term "Mount Everett." A 1987 USGS map (republished until 1997) labeled the entire mountain "Mount Everett" and its immediate summit area "Bald Peak." Earlier and later USGS maps for

376-457: A valley occupied by the township of Mount Washington, where elevations average about 1,700 feet. A seasonal auto road approaching from the west climbs past Guilder Pond and continues nearly to Everett's summit, but its upper reaches have been long closed to automobiles. The summit area features an open forest of stunted pitch pine and scrub oak . A 40-foot fire tower was on the summit from 1970 until 2003 named "Mt. Washington Fire Tower" after

423-510: A variety of rare and endangered species; and Mount Philo 968 feet (295 m), home of Mount Philo State Park with its mountaintop campground. Natural resource extraction has been an important industry in the Taconic Mountains; extraction industries have included marble , limestone , slate , and iron mining as well as logging and charcoaling . Along with various state properties, some mentioned elsewhere in this article,

470-580: Is Mount Equinox in Vermont at 3,840 feet (1,170 m); among many other summits are Dorset Mountain , Mount Greylock and Mount Everett . Forests are predominately maple-beech-birch with some spruce-fir at higher elevations, "and oak and hickory common to the south and at lower elevations." Parts of the Taconics are in the New England-Acadian forests ecoregion . Although mostly private property,

517-552: Is part of the much larger Taconic Allochthon, a rock structure that migrated from about 25 miles to the east and arriving at its present location via low-angle thrust faulting . More narrowly, rocks of the upper mountain are within the "Everett Formation," a term first used by geologist E-An Zen in mapping and studying the allochthon during the 1960s. Zen modified the term "Everett Schist" (coined in 1893 by William Herbert Hobbs ) "in order to include rocks of different metamorphic grades." The formation extends intermittently throughout

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564-610: The Berkshire Natural Resources Council and the Nature Conservancy have been active in the region. The U.S. Forest Service has designated several areas within the Taconics under its Forest Legacy Program , which affords subsidies for the acquisition of conservation easement, although practical effects have been limited. Minor fragments of the Green Mountain National Forest are located in

611-527: The Ordovician period in the collision of the North American Plate into a volcanic island arc . Geologist E-An Zen proved this allochthon's existence in 1966 via a study of the region's faulting, although it had been proposed around 1906 by Rudolf Ruedemann and separately by Arthur Keith , each using concepts associated with French geologist Marcel Alexandre Bertrand . Their proposals regarding

658-728: The Taconic Skyline Trail )s. North of the Massachusetts border, the profile of the Taconic Range is cut by the Hoosic River in the vicinity of Bennington, Vermont . Mount Anthony 2,320 feet (710 m), notable for its caves and as the location of the former Southern Vermont College , stands as a satellite peak above the surrounding eroded terrain. North of Bennington, the range gradually rises to its highest prominence with peaks such as Mount Equinox 3,850 feet (1,170 m),

705-443: The 19th century. This area includes a locally significant and expansive area of undisturbed forest, although only a fraction is assured protection from development. Mount Washington State Forest and Taconic State Park are among the larger public properties within the immediate region. The highest summit here is Mount Everett 2,624 feet (800 m), home of a pitch pine and scrub oak biome . Others include Mount Frissell ,

752-622: The Berkshires. Bryan, with offices in Great Barrington, asserted that "the united public sentiment of the region" favored "Dome of the Taconics." Yet in 1897, the United States Board on Geographic Names which determines federal usage, accepted "Mount Everett," citing published sources. It listed a half-dozen alternate names as of 1897: Bald Dome, Bald Peak, Dome Peak, Mount Washington, Takonnack Mountain and Taughanuk Mountain. Bryan,

799-584: The Board of Trustees were all either parents or alumni of the school. Berkshire’s academic year is divided into trimesters. The average class size is 12, and the typical course load is 5 classes per trimester. Each student’s course of study is planned in conjunction with his or her advisor and overseen by two academic deans and/or a college counselor. Advanced courses are offered in all academic subjects. As of 2023, Berkshire had designated 17 classes as “advanced placement,” with an expectation that students would then take

846-617: The Housatonic Valley. Mount Everett helps divide the watersheds of the Hudson and Housatonic rivers. Its eastern slopes share a larger escarpment with Mount Race and Bear Mountain plus several related summits. This escarpment rises from an elevation around 700 feet in Sheffield's Housatonic Valley at a mean angle of about 20 degrees (a 36% grade ), although its higher reaches are markedly steeper. Everett's more gentle, western slopes begin in

893-589: The Mineralogy and Geology of the Vicinity of Williams' College". It gained prominence in the field when Dewey's protégé Emmons proposed the existence of a "Taconic System" in 1839 (see above). In the 20th century, it became attached to the theory of an Ordovician mountain-building event involving much of what is now eastern North America named the " Taconic Orogeny ". The range is part of the Taconic Allochthon ,

940-608: The New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC), generally against similarly-sized boarding schools in the northeast and New England. Berkshire has a variety of multi-purpose courts, fields, and pitches, including the Tom Young Field (baseball and softball), Schappert Field (football), Stewart Pitch (soccer) and Beattie Fields (field hockey, lacrosse, soccer). The school has two primary sports buildings. The Stewart Athletic Center

987-529: The Taconic Mountains are the foothills of the Lake Bomoseen region west of Birdseye and Grandpa's Knob, notable for their extensive slate quarrying operations. North of Grandpa's Knob, the Taconic Range soon diminishes into scattered hills which extend north into the Burlington, Vermont region. Isolated summits in this area include Snake Mountain 1,281 feet (390 m), a Nature Conservancy preserve featuring

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1034-461: The Taconics contain a half-dozen sizable state forests and parks, as well as many preserves of lesser acreage protected by land trusts. Several hundred miles of trails are within these mountains, including parts of the Appalachian Trail . Taconic is likely from a Delaware word meaning "in the trees". The spelling "Taghkanic", among several variant transliterations, is current for about

1081-665: The Taconics' central segment includes New York's Beebe Hill and Harvey Mt. State Forest, Berlin State Forest, Pittsfield State Forest and the contiguous Taconic Ridge State Forest and Taconic Trail State Park in New York and Massachusetts, respectively, as well as the Mount Greylock State Reservation . Within this segment are also three long-distance trails (the Appalachian Trail , the Taconic Crest Trail , and

1128-610: The Taconics, however, were viewed as unproven and controversial until Zen's work. An earlier and largely separate dispute over the age of the Taconic Mountains based on the region's sparse fossil record began in the 1830s and centered on the theory of Ebenezer Emmons of Williams College that the range was older than its surroundings with a distinct geology he named "the Taconic System." In opposing Emmons' theory, James Hall of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute initially gained prominent support from famed international scientists of

1175-415: The annual fund, which typically nets almost $ 3 million each year. As of 2023, the overall school endowment was $ 195 million, or $ 435,000 per student. Berkshire School (for boys) was established in 1907 at the foot of Mount Everett , one of the highest mountains in Massachusetts , by Seaver Burton Buck, who led the school until 1943. Buck was reportedly a "Victorian disciplinarian… sometimes subverted by

1222-421: The area don't reference "Bald Peak" on Mount Everett. A wholly separate "Bald Peak" at 588 meters' elevation is also labeled on USGS maps a few miles to the southwest of Everett. Henry David Thoreau visited Guilder Pond and "likely" the top of Everett in 1844, according to regional historian Bernard A. Drew. Thoreau was with his companion William Ellery Channing II (1817-1901) during their stay of several days to

1269-600: The broad NEPSAC League, many participate within a smaller subset of that large league. For example, the boys' basketball team participates in NEPSAC as well as smaller showcases, such as the NEPSAC Class A Winter Classic, Zero Gravity Scholar Roundball Classic, Zero Gravity Prep Classic, and the Hoop Hall Prep Showcase. In the 3 years between 2021 and 2023, 100 Berkshire graduating seniors have signed to play their sport at

1316-589: The city of Rutland; these include Herrick Mountain 2,726 feet (831 m); Grandpa's Knob 1,976 feet (602 m), the former site of the Smith–Putnam wind turbine , the first large-scale electricity-producing wind turbine ; and the butte -like Bird Mountain (also called Birdseye Mountain) 2,216 feet (675 m), home of the Bird Mountain Wildlife Management Area and notable as an important raptor migration path and nesting site. Also part of

1363-496: The collegiate level. Mount Everett Mount Everett is the highest peak in the south Taconic Mountains , rising about 2,000 feet above its eastern footings in Sheffield, Mass. Its summit area is notable for expansive vistas and an unusual dwarf forest of pitch pine and oak. The Appalachian Trail traverses Mount Everett, which prior to the 20th century was called "Dome of the Taconics." Reaching 2,602 feet (793 meters) above sea level, Everett dominates much local scenery of

1410-502: The crest shifts west once again to hills contained within Pittsfield State Forest and the contiguous Balance Rock Park and Bates Memorial State Park, where heights include Holy Mount 1,968 feet (600 m), (once the location of religious rituals practiced by a former Shaker community) and Berry Hill 2,200 feet (670 m), notable for its extensive stands of wild azalea . North of Jiminy Peak 2,392 feet (729 m),

1457-500: The day, including Louis Agassiz and Charles Lyell . Emmons died in 1863, yet as late as the 1880s two leading geologists of the era James Dwight Dana (Yale University) and Jules Marcou wrote of their continued and sometimes bitter disagreements over Emmons' theory. This early phase of ideas about the Taconic Mountains is compared with the Great Devonian Controversy that preoccupied British geologists for part of

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1504-543: The east, composed of schist and phyllite , is dominated by the 7-mile (11 km) escarpment of Tinmouth Mountain 2,835 feet (864 m), overlooking the Valley of Vermont to the east in the town of Tinmouth . A field of less descript ridges and peaks lies between these two summits. Near the end of the range, in the vicinity of Rutland, Vermont , the Taconic Mountains show several prominent peaks with dramatic, irregular cliff faces clearly visible from U.S. Route 4 west of

1551-526: The high point of the Taconic Mountains, and Dorset Mountain 3,770 feet (1,150 m), a New England 100 Highest list summit. Other notable summits include Grass Mountain 3,109 feet (948 m), a New England Fifty Finest list mountain; and Mount Aeolus 3,230 feet (980 m), the location of several defunct marble quarries and the site of Aeolus Cave an important bat hibernaculum . Designated hiking trails are located on Mount Equinox, Dorset Mountain, and Mount Aeolus, and several other peaks within

1598-481: The highlands of the southern Taconics, with metamorphic grades increasing to the west. Everett Formation rocks are principally olive-gray to green, blue-quartz pebble metagraywacke and quartzite of Ordovician and older age. Everett's lower slopes are part of the Stockbridge Formation, which is generally limestone. In 1777 the peak was labeled "Tacan Mountain" on a map by Claude J. Sauthier Separately,

1645-480: The ice hockey rinks can be converted into 4 indoor tennis courts. The Athletic Center also hosts campus events such as choral festivals and the school's commencement. The skating facilities are, at times, open to the public. The Soffer Athletic Center is the school's gymnasium. It features two basketball/volleyball courts, 10 squash courts, a 60-foot climbing wall, a dance studio, as well as exercise areas, locker rooms, and offices. While Berkshire's teams are part of

1692-485: The local township. Earlier towers stood there beginning in 1915. About halfway down the eastern slopes are Race Brook Falls with a source near the gap between Mount Everett and Mount Race . Much of the mountain is land administered by Mount Washington State Forest and the contiguous Mount Everett State Reservation , which had about 10,000 visitors annually as of a 2005 official estimate. Significant other portions of Everett's slopes are privately held. Mount Everett

1739-467: The mountain was "often confounded" with the local town of Mount Washington, Mass., where Hitchcock said it was known as Bald Mountain or Ball Mountain, "but in neighboring towns, I believe this name is rarely given." Hitchcock later became president of Amherst College. By the late 19th century, "there [had] long been a protest against adopting the name that Prof. Hitchcock gave to the summit," according to Clark W. Bryan 's 1886 tourist guide titled Book of

1786-410: The national AP exam. Dependent on student interest, additional AP classes can be offered in such subjects as economics, music theory, and psychology. Berkshire has Signature programs—such as Advanced Math/Science Research and Advanced Humanities Research—that lead to independent studies projects presented at a spring exhibition. All students are also offered a range of subjects that can be studied during

1833-523: The northeast of Harvey Mountain is West Stockbridge Mountain and the Lenox Mountain massif; taken together, modern conservationists have named these two separate areas Yokun Ridge , an 9-mile (14 km) zone extending from the Massachusetts Turnpike to the southerly neighborhoods of Pittsfield at elevations ranging between roughly 1,000 and 2,000 feet (300 and 610 m). At Pittsfield,

1880-580: The once-famed Yale College President Timothy Dwight IV wrote of his 1781 ascent of "Taughanuk Mountain" in a travel memoir (posthumously published, 1823). Henry David Thoreau visited mountain's western slopes briefly in 1844 and referred to it as "Bald Mountain." Despite this history, the name "Mount Everett" was proposed in 1841 by Edward Hitchcock in his role as chief of the state Geological Survey, after Edward Everett , governor of Massachusetts (1836-1840). Hitchcock didn't reference "Taconic Mountain" or any variant in his proposal; he wrote merely that

1927-620: The range; the 21.3-mile (34.3 km) South Taconic Trail traverses the western escarpment, passing near Bash Bish Falls , reputedly Massachusetts' highest waterfall. From Catamount Ski Area north to the Hoosic River Valley, a straight-line distance of about 50 miles, the crest initially shifts slightly west. Notable summits in the southern part of this segment are Bald Mountain, 1,768 feet (539 m), and Harvey Mountain, 2,057 feet (627 m), as well as Beebe Hill , 1,726 feet (526 m), with its summit fire tower. Several miles to

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1974-651: The region around Bash Bish Falls. Both Thoreau and Channing had read florid descriptions of the falls in Edward Hitchcock 's "Final Report" on his geological survey of Massachusetts (1841). Channing confirmed this itinerary in an annotation of his copy of A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers , "Thoreau also mentioned passing a 'silent gray tarn … high up the side of a mountain, Bald Mountain' — Guilder Pond, no doubt," Drew has offered. Taconic Mountains The Taconic Mountains ( / t ə ˈ k ɒ n ɪ k / ) are

2021-484: The region. Immediately north of Danby, Vermont , the Taconic Range broadens and becomes lower. It exhibits several parallel ridgelines, dominated to the west by mountains composed of slate and similar rock, most notably the ridgeline of Saint Catherine Mountain 1,200 feet (370 m), with its conspicuous 5-mile (8.0 km) long cliff face visible from Wells and Poultney . The area around Lake Saint Catherine contains extensive slate quarries. The ridgeline to

2068-513: The south slope of which contains the highest point in Connecticut at 2,379 feet (725 m); Bear Mountain 2,326 feet (709 m), the highest mountain peak in Connecticut; Alander Mountain 2,239 feet (682 m), Brace Mountain 2,311 feet (704 m),; and Mount Fray 1,893 feet (577 m), home of the Catamount Ski Area . The Appalachian Trail traverses the eastern escarpment of

2115-457: The valley of Kinderhook Creek cuts through the hills. Here the westernmost ridgeline is dominated by Misery Mountain and Berlin Mountain 2,818 feet (859 m) and extending into Pownal, Vermont . In this vicinity is Mount Greylock 3,491 feet (1,064 m), the highest point in Massachusetts and the long ridge of 2,621 feet (799 m) Brodie Mountain . Significant public property within

2162-624: The week-long Pro Vita Winter Session. More than 50 Pro Vita courses are offered. Most of these are on campus, but opportunities in 2024 included a week of studying environmental issues in the Bahamas and learning outdoor leadership skills on a dog sledding trip in northern Minnesota. Berkshire’s 2023-24 day student tuition was $ 55,400 with an additional $ 2,000 in fees. Boarding tuition was $ 73,200. One quarter of Berkshire’s students receive financial assistance, with an average award of $ 54,000. In addition to tuition, 2/3 of Berkshire parents also contribute to

2209-408: Was named after Jackman Stewart , a longtime Berkshire athletic director who also, at times, served as the school’s dean of students, dean of admissions, and director of development. The Stewart Center features two ice hockey rinks (one Olympic size and one NHL Regulation size), as well as 14 locker rooms, a full athletic training suite, a fitness center, and various conference rooms and offices. One of

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