Not a lot of people know what Herman Melville’s great novel “Moby Dick” was inspired not by a whaling expedition to the South Seas, but by a whale-shaped mountain in Western Massachusetts. The window of Melville’s study looked out upon the whaleback peak and he used it to harpoon writer’s block by climbing to the summit with friends like Nathaniel Hawthorne. You can follow in the footsteps of giants (marine and literary) with a moderate hike to the top of Squaw Peak, a 1642-foot summit with views across the Housatonic Valley clear into Vermont.
Monument Mountain
Route 7, Great Barrington, 01230, MA
