The Summit House is a restored 19th-century mountain hotel perched on the ridge of Mount Holyoke in J. A. Skinner State Park, 843 acres straddling Hadley and South Hadley, at 935 feet above sea level. The original hotel opened in 1851, was expanded twice, and after hurricane damage and decades of disuse was restored and reopened for tours in 2014.
From the porch, the view south over the oxbow of the Connecticut River is the same one Thomas Cole painted in View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm — The Oxbow (1836).
Getting there
In season, a paved auto road climbs to the summit. Per Mass DCR’s 2026 schedule, the road opens May 3 and the Summit House itself opens for the season on May 23. The Summit House is normally open seasonally on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, 9 AM-4 PM. Seasonal summit parking is $5 for Massachusetts-plated vehicles and $20 for out-of-state vehicles; DCR lists the 2026 parking-fee season as May 23 through October 26, or until the road closes.
Off-season the road is gated but the summit remains reachable on foot. The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail runs for eleven miles through the park and passes directly over the ridge.
Sources
- Skinner State Park — Mass.gov
- J. A. Skinner State Park — Wikipedia (history and acreage)