RURAL LIFE IN LITCHFIELD COUNTY 



other near-by points which come close to the two-thou- 

 sand mark. While it was at first supposed that Norfolk 

 contained the highest point of land in the county, the 

 topographical surveys made at the instigation of Rob- 

 bins Battell gave the palm to Bear Mountain. Later 

 Mr. Battell caused to be erected a monument to mark 

 the spot, thus permanently designating the highest point 

 of land in the State. 



Some of the cultivated lands of the county lie at an 

 elevation of 1200 to 1500 feet, while much of the best 

 agricultural lands are at a considerable elevation, 

 notably in the towns of Goshen, Litchfield, Morris, 

 Bridgewater and Washington. The fact that a settle- 

 ment was begun on a hilltop made very little difference 

 to the settlers, for they could produce only about enough 

 to supply the home demands and there was little travel 

 from town to town. But now the question of marketing 

 crops has become a more serious one to many of the 

 hilltop farmers, for they are sometimes at loss to know 

 what can be grown that will market to the best advan- 

 tage. Improved highways, however, are slowly solving 

 this problem, and this, together with the automobile, 

 will soon make a distance of five to eight miles, for the 

 hauling of crops to market, seem but a slight drawback. 



The mountains on the western border of the county 

 are often spoken of as the foothills of the Berkshires 

 and are of the same general type, being thickly wooded 



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