Highpointers Foundation Projects – Northeast Region
- Highpoints Films – The Northeast film is complete and ready for distribution
- Connecticut – Mount Frissell – Added summit signs and registers
- District of Columbia – Point Reno – Created new benchmark
- Maryland – Backbone Mountain – Added new signs, a bench, and a picnic table
- New Hampshire – Mount Washington – Added a register indoors
- New Jersey – High Point – Added a sponsored bench
- Pennsylvania – Mount Davis – Added a sponsored bench
- Rhode Island – Jerimoth Hill – Added new signs, register, and trailwork
- Maine – Mount Katahdin - Added Conservation Fellows in Baxter State Park
- Summary – The current HPF projects progress report
- Future Projects – CT, DC, DE, MA, MD, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT, and WV.
- Submit your project idea!
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Highpoints Films |
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2015 - Amount of financial assistance: $12,500 with a commitment of $40,000 for the remaining three regions in the coming year.
We are seeking major corporate and private foundation sponsorship. |
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The Highpointers Foundation is committed to funding films on state highpoints and Highpointing,
beginning with the Northeast Region, a film that was completed in 2016.
The films will be featured in the Golden, Colorado BWAMM film room,
and be made available at no cost to educational institutions for geography and other suitable classes.
The Foundation is also helping to raise money for a feature length film on Highpointing called American Highpoints by Every Step Productions.
It is the first film dedicated to the highpointing passion and strives to answer the question Why Highpointing? |
The Highpointers Foundation is funding a series of Highpointing films in the major US regions.
EveryStep Productions is producing four films.
The first film about the Northeast Region is complete, and you can view it on Vimeo.
To watch the movie, click the photo or link below.
Highpointing - A New Way to Discover America
The Northeast Region
To watch the movie, click the photo or link above.
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Connecticut – Mount Frissell
2012 - Amount of financial assistance: $1,300
The Highpointers Foundation provided funds for a register and sign on the summit of Mount Frissell
that provide directions to the Connecticut Highpoint on the southern slopes of Mount Frissell.
A register was also placed at the Highpoint. More recently, The HPF provided funds for a nice Kiosk at the trailhead.
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District of Columbia – Point Reno
2007 to 2019 - Amount of financial assistance: roughly $2,800
The Highpointers Foundation provided funds for a
benchmark placed by the Washington D.C. Surveyors Association
after the highest natural ground of the Federal District was properly surveyed and
established in 2007. There was a dedication ceremony in April 2008, and
the highpoint became officially known at that point. The National Park
Service is cited right on the benchmark as the owner, with an
acknowledgement to the Surveyors Association.
This was the first collaboration between the Highpointers Foundation
and another organization for the benefit of a highpoint and for
the benefit of the National Park Service.
The Highpointers Foundation worked with the
National Park Service to create an interpretive sign to alert visitors to the significance of Point Reno
as a state highpoint and to assist them with two signs that give directions to more easily locate the hard-to-find benchmark.
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| The National Park Service interpretive sign is now in place on the lawn. |
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Kym Elder and Raina Rusnak presenting at the dedication ceremony. |
Raina Rusnak presenting to a group of Highpointers at the dedication ceremony. |
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Maryland – Backbone Mountain
2011 and 2012 - Amount of financial assistance: roughly $4,000
The Highpointers Foundation provided funds for signs leading visitors to the highpoint from
the highway and along the summit ridge. These signs, developed by the Renaissance Signs firm of Gonic NH,
employ theft-resistant bolts to deter vandals. A register mailbox and bench was added in 2012.
We replaced the old wooden picnic table with a new one in 2017.
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Gene and Lillian Elliott and friend at the Maryland Highpoint |
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New Hampshire – Mount Washington
2020 - Amount of financial assistance: roughly $900
The Highpointers Foundation has provided funds for an indoor register.
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Norman Michaels, a long time supporter of the Highpointers Foundation, holds the sign announcing that there is a Highpointers Register inside the building on top of Mount Washington. |
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New Jersey – High Point
2015 - Amount of financial assistance: roughly $1,000
The Highpointers Foundation has provided funds for a bench.
The bench lies in a strategic spot halfway up the paved walkway to provide a rest for slower visitors.
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J.D. and Brooke Kalinowski
on the New Jersey Bench. |
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Pennsylvania – Mount Davis
2015 - Amount of financial assistance: roughly $1,050
The Highpointers Foundation has provided funds for a bench.
The bench lies at the edge of the summit clearing.
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Rhode Island – Jerimoth Hill
An ongoing project (1999 –> 2019) - Amount of financial assistance: roughly $800 to date
The Highpointers Foundation
has provided funds for signage at Jerimoth Hill from 1999 through 2019.
The original signs directed visitors to only come on Club-approved and owner-sanctioned Open Access Dates.
In 2005, the Good Guys and Gals Fund provided funds for materials for a trail to the highpoint,
signs, and a mailbox register. There was an improvement weekend immediately after the NH-05 convention
on Labor Day weekend, and close to 100 people helped over two days.
A replacement register and improved signs were added in 2012.
A new sign at the start of the trail was placed on the highway in 2019.
Chase Gibson drilling post for new sign on road. |
Chase and Wiley Gibson mixing concrete for sign. |
New sign in place on the highway by the start of the trail. |
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Rhode Island has a family friendly Highpoint! |
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Maine – Mount Katahdin
A new project 2023 - Added Conservation Fellows at Baxter State Park: Roughly $10,000 to date
At its June 2022 meeting, the Board of the Highpointers Foundation voted to approve support to two fellows participating in the Baxter Youth Conservation Corps in summer 2022. This service learning program serves youth from the Katahdin region of Maine. It has donated over 5,000 hours of trail work to Baxter State Park and directly invested over $100,000 in payroll to support youth in the area. When Friends of Baxter State Park conducted a survey several years ago, they became acutely aware of how few families in the area had a strong connection to Katahdin. Whereas highpointers travel across the country to climb this majestic peak, many local families had never been inside the Park.
The leadership of Friends of Baxter State Park selected two young people from the program as the 2022 Conservation Fellows to be sponsored by the Highpointers Foundation.
Emma McGraw, a native of Sherman, ME, has participated in the Baxter Youth Conservation Corps for the past four years. She set a personal goal of climbing every trail in Baxter State Park and achieved it in 2021 by the age of 18. For the past two years, Emma has studied photography and specialized in identifying invasive species in the Park. She exhibited her photography of the Park in a show that ran from August 4-28 at the Boreal Theatre Gallery in Millinocket, ME. Photos from this exhibit are available at: https://scarlet-ruby-994f.squarespace.com/news-announcements/emma-mcgraw-exhibition. She has also compiled an instructive guide to invasive plants in Baxter State Park, available at: https://scarlet-ruby-994f.squarespace.com/news-announcements/invasive-plants . Emma is now a sophomore at Grand Canyon University in Arizona.
Kyle McNally is from Stacyville, Maine, and is now a Senior at Katahdin High School. 2022 was his first year working as a Baxter Youth Conservation Fellow. His interests include the outdoors, hunting, hiking, and fishing. His summer project culminated in a comprehensive presentation on fishing in Baxter State Park, including the fish species that live there, their habits and behaviors, and, of course, the most popular fishing spots. He has compiled a listing of the different types of fish found in Baxter State Park with photos and additional information on the website: https://scarlet-ruby-994f.squarespace.com/news-announcements/fishing-in-baxter
The Highpointers Foundation is pleased to support these two fellows from the Baxter Youth Conservation Corps who bring further understanding to the public and to persons in their communities on what Baxter State Park has to offer. We plan to sponser one Youth Conservation Fellow in 2023, as well as one to two younger Trail Work youths, who will improve the trails on Katahdin.
Kyle McNally |
Emma McGraw |
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Summary
Amount of financial assistance to date in the Northeast Region: Over $21,000
The Highpointers Foundation has raised over $275,000, and has invested more than $170,000 at 32 US state highpoints,
the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum in Golden, Colorado, and for the USA-wide program of Highpoints movies.
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Future projects
Possible future projects to assist privately and publicly owned state highpoints in the Northeast Region are being considered at: CT, DC, DE, MA, MD, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT, and WV.
- Connecticut – Mount Frissell – A fully funded bench, and crushed rock at parking area
- District of Columbia – Fort Reno – We are working with the National Park Service
to provide an A.D.A. compliant bench.
- New Hampshire – Mount Washington – Observatory Museum assistance
- Pennsylvania – Mount Davis – Kiosk, signs, historical plaque, mounted telescope atop the tower
The Highpointers Foundation Board of Directors always welcomes ideas for other projects at state highpoints.
Submit your project idea!
List of the US State Summits
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