As of this writing in 2022 Stone Hill is at once a pasture and a park. It has always been a popular place in town for recreation.
It offers a high reward hike with views into Williamstown and beyond the mountains; to the south Greylock, ahead lies East Mountain, to the north the Dome and Green Mountains of Vermont.
The crest of Stone Hill is a popular, though unsanctioned campsite. In winter it is a magnet for skiers. For the brave, a death defying toboggan run, a long fast ride with an unavoidable line of trees and fence at the base.
In the 1970s rosa multiflora took hold. The grazing cows were repulsed by the prickles. Fertilized by the cows manure the bushes flourished eventually becoming as substantial as a Monet haystack.
The brush was eventually beaten back and the pasture reclaimed. This was the state of the hill at the turn of the 20th century. As The Clark envisioned its award winning Tadao Ando designed additions, Stone Hill was reimagined as well. It would remain a working pasture, but with upgraded paths, mowing and eventually the addition of outdoor sculpture.
In the year 2000, a time of transition, I was commissioned to photograph Stone Hill as a record of where it stood and to illustrate its potential for the future.
