Order of Visit: High Point #16
Date Visited: September 9, 2019
Route Taken: Trail from parking area on Highway 101 (0.3 miles round-trip)
Type of Terrain: Easy, flat dirt trail
Elevation: 812 feet
Ancestral Lands: Nahaganset, Narragansett, Nipmuc
What’s in a name?
Most of Rhode Island is flat, with some rolling hills amid the coastal lowlands. The state’s high point is located on the state’s western side, near the town of Foster and less than a mile from the Connecticut border.
In 1801, a doctor named Solomon Drowne moved to Foster on the encouragement of his former college classmate Theodore Foster. The two men purchased adjacent farms on the slope of the highest hill in the area, which they named Mount Hygeia in honor of the Greek goddess of health.
Unbeknownst to Drowne and Foster, though, the hill already had another official name. A decade earlier, the US government sent surveyors to the area to create topographic maps of Rhode Island. In 1891, these surveyors named the point Jerimoth Hill using the nearby tombstones of Jerimoth Brown (1783-1830) and his family members for inspiration.
Little is known about Jerimoth Brown’s life or achievements other than he was born in nearby Killingly, Connecticut, a mere six miles from his namesake. He was the sixth of eleven children born to Isaiah Brown and Margaret “Peggy” Hurley.
Considerably more information was recorded about the women in Jerimoth’s family, though. Locals referred to Jerimoth’s mother as “a witch from the wild bogs of Ireland,” and she was recognized for her herbal remedies, spells, and charms. Some historical sources claimed that all the women in the Brown family were witches, particularly Jerimoth’s oldest sister, Olive.
According to the book Strange New England, two of the Brown girls, Abby and Whaley Brown were known locally as “the witches of Jerimoth Hill,” and they had a reputation for scaring townspeople by making items fly off the walls and shelves in their home and making rocking chairs to sway frantically.
These two witches were likely Jerimoth Brown’s nieces though, given that his own daughters were named Matilda, Mary, and Hazael, and they were born about a decade after these purported paranormal events. Nonetheless, Jerimoth’s unusual name is inextricably tied the fabled witches of Rhode Island.
Trip Summary
As we traveled south from Maine just days after the end of my 2019 Appalachian Trail thru-hike, we opted to briefly detour into Rhode Island to cross one more highpoint off our list.
Tackling the highest summit in Rhode Island was extremely easy. Because of its meager elevation of 812 feet, it reminded us of our January 2019 visit to Florida’s High Point.
Despite its ease, I’m glad we had the GPS open when driving into the Rhode Island countryside. When we visited Jerimoth Hill, there was no formal parking lot at the trailhead. Instead, there was just a widened shoulder on Highway 101’s eastbound side for two to three cars to pull over. If I hadn’t plugged it into Google Maps, it would have been super easy to drive by and completely miss our spot.
Once safely parked near the trailhead, we saw a large white sign nailed to a wooden post welcoming us to Jermoth Hill and the flat path leading into the woods. Smaller signs were also nailed to the trees along the path about every 20 feet so we didn’t accidentally wander off into the neighbor’s private property.
The walk from the highway to the USGS survey marker took only 3-4 minutes. However, the signs for Jerimoth Hill continued beyond the survey marker another 50 feet toward a small rocky outcropping where some cairns and a high point register waited for us to add out name to the list of visitors.
In most cases, high points like Jerimoth Hill can be somewhat anti-climatic. This is especially true when you’re used to strenuous climbs or rocky trails that make you truly earn the badge of being a highpointer.
But, given that I was in full-fledged “recovery mode” after my 2,200-mile hike up the East Coast (read: binge-watching Netflix and eating pints of Ben & Jerry’s), this short side trip in Rhode Island was just about the perfect pace for me.
After a few quick photos to prove our presence at Jerimoth Hill, we swiftly returned to the car and headed toward our next stop in New York. The entire detour was so quick and easy that it almost felt as if we didn’t even go highpointing!
Details
When to Visit: Year-round. The access trail is open from dawn to dusk, and visitors are asked to follow the signs and stay on the designated path to respect the privacy of nearby private landowners.
Getting There: Jerimoth Hill is located off Highway 101, less than a mile from the Rhode Island-Connecticut border, and approximately 30 miles west of Providence, RI.
Entrance Fees: None.
Parking: Free parking for 2-3 cars is available on a shoulder pullout on Highway 101. There are no restrooms at the trailhead.
Accessibility: Easy for all ages and abilities. The summit is less than a 5-minute walk from the road and the trail is completely flat.
Bonus: This state high point used to be one of the most difficult to visit in the nation. Nearby property owners used some pretty extreme measures to scare off visitors trying to cross their land. However, in 2014, an access trail became a state-owned property, and Jerimoth Hill is now open to the public year-round.
Resources:
- Overview of Jerimoth Hill (Summit Post)
- The Highest Point in Rhode Island (WSHU Public Radio)
- Jerimoth Hill’s Wild and Weird Access History (LA Times)