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In 1873 a wooden tower was erected at the top of Greenfield's Rocky Mountain, a 500' volcanic ridge, the stump of a volcano that erupted during the Mesozoic Era. Just below the tower is a natural armchair that is the true "Poets Seat." The wooden tower was burned to the ground on July 4, 1903, deemed too unsafe for use. In 1912 the sandstone tower pictured here was erected. There is some debate over the inspiration for the site's name. A plaque at the tower's base names the site for poet Frederick Goddard Tuckerman (1821-1873), "a gifted solitary poet much admired by Emerson, Hawthorne and Tennyson. Seeking solace in nature, he wrote verse and studied nature in Greenfield." Whatever the source, poets and non-poets have been drawn to its solitude and spectacular views for decades.

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