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| Heading out |
I
was up before dawn and anxious to get outside after a long, stressful week at work. With 6’ of light powder on the ground from yesterday’s storm a hike seemed to be in order. There was no Papa Joe Hike this weekend, so I was on my own. I decided to head over to Diamond Hill.
Diamond Hill is a massive outcropping of white quartz located about a mile from my house in Cumberland on the border with Wrentham and Plainville. It’s 350-feet from the parking lot up to the top of the hill, which is actually 481-feet above sea level. It is said that on a clear day you can see the Boston skyline and Mount Wachusett from the top. I can’t say that I have ever seen either, but the views are great. Diamond Hill is also the southern terminus of the 33-mile Warner Trail that runs from Diamond Hill to Sharon MA.
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| Snow covered trails |
Diamond Hill was named in colonial times for the sparkling flecks imbedded in the rock. In 1877 the Diamond Hill Granite Company established a quarry here, which can still be seen at the southern end of the hill. In the 1930's the Civilian Conservation Corps acquired the property and established the Diamond Hill Reservation. Eventually two ski areas would operate on opposite sides of the hill - Diamond Hill State Park on the west, and Ski Valley in the east. Ski Valley has now been turned into condos, and the Town of Cumberland now owns the 373-acre Diamond Hill Park with 3.8-miles of hiking trails.
I arrived at the park just after sunrise. Temperatures were in the mid 20’s, and there was 6’ of light powder on top of a frozen base. I took my usual route through the woods to the right of the bandstand. The trail leads to the base of a huge cliff that was once an old quarry.
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| Top of the quarry looking north |
At one time, you could climb the southern side of the quarry to access the ridge at the top of Diamond Hill. Today, a house sits at the top, so the trail cuts back along the bottom of the quarry and accesses the ridgeline a little further to the north. I climbed up the southern side of the quarry anyway to get some pictures, and then worked my way back down.
I then followed the trail below the quarry up to the rocky crest overlooking Diamond Hill Road. From here, the trail runs about a mile to the north. The views from the top are great – to the west is Tower Hill, to the east is the Diamond Hill Reservoir, and the north are the hill of Wrentham, MA.
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| Top of the quarry looking west |
I took a break on the concrete footing of an abandoned chair lift before continuing along the ridge. There is a trail down the north side of the hill along the road, but I took the quick route down the sledding hill instead.
The loop is only a couple of miles long, but it seems like it is uphill all the way until you come to the big drop at the end.
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| Diamond Hill Road and the Wrentham hills to the north |
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