History
Benton Hill has been home to indigenous Mohicans, Euro-American agricultural settlers, and in the present day, homeowners.
Mohicans
The southern Berkshires were the home of the Mohican people. The BHWPA acknowledges that our land was once the land of the people led by sachem (chiefs) such as Konkapot and Umpachene. The Benton Hill Wilderness must have provided a rich source of game to hunt for these indigenous inhabitants. The arrival from the east of European (American) settlers turned the Mohicans’ world upside down, inflicting disease, violence, theft, and ultimately genocide on those who lived in harmony with the forest and its inhabitants. We pursue our preservation efforts with them in our hearts and minds.
Loggers and Colliers
Numerous flattened areas along the main road are evidence of extensive charcoal making activities on Benton Hill, where the plateau’s timber was cut and then methodically burned by a fire tender known as a collier in arranged piles to produce high quality charcoal. Much of that charcoal was likely used in Industrial Revolution furnaces to smelt iron, steel, and other metals. This process completely eradicated Benton Hill’s forest, leaving it open for clearing Ice Age rock debris, construction of stone walls for pens, and open meadow for livestock grazing. Benton Hill, in a matter of decades, had been completely transformed from a forested plateau full of wild game, to a grassy plateau full of domesticated livestock.
Rhoades Family
Members of the Rhoades family established several settlements along the road that would bear their name. The stone foundations of those dwellings are still visible along the road, including to the left at the southern (second) entrance to the BHWPA. We assume that the Rhoades made their living on Benton Hill by grazing cattle and sheep, timbering, and charcoaling. The many stone walls still standing in the forest were likely built by this family in the 19th century to both clear the land for grazing and create livestock pens. We are grateful to these hardy people for their backbreaking labor to clear this land of rock, and establish roads and trails. Their handiwork is visible throughout.
Present Day
After Benton Hill’s old growth timber was cut, and after farming and grazing in the Berkshires migrated west to the more spacious and fertile Midwest, the land was left to those who would seek to escape city life and find peace and quiet in nature, either permanently or during leisure periods. The 20th century also saw the beginning of the re-growth of Benton Hill’s forests.
The 21st century now brings formal conservation efforts to ensure that the forest and its native natural inhabitants remain forever protected.