Excerpt from History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Vol. 2: Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, by Well-Known Writers; And a General History of the County From the Earliest to the Present Time

But the most celebrated elevation in town, and the one which affords the grandest prospect, is Hancock Height. It is situated some hundred and twenty rods from the railroad station. This general swell or elevation commences near the centre railroad station, and continues in an easterly direction, culminating in a rocky summit, which terminates in a precipitous descent of about one hundred and eighty feet, to the intervale of Vine Brook. Stand ing on the summit, you have almost the whole northern and eastern part of the town in full view. At the base, and almost under your feet, is spread out the valley of Vine Brook, showing its broad meadows, here in a high state of cultivation, and there covered with a growth of oak, birch, and maple while on the other hand is the village in its leafy beauty. Beyond, you have the plairis waving with grass or grain, hillsides adorned with orchards or crowned with forests, - the whole dotted over with farm-houses and barns, to show the presence of industry and thrift. Here, too, you behold the streamlets meandering through the meadows, the roads winding among the hills, to gether with the school-houses and churches, show ing that the mind and the heart, 110 less than the face of the earth, are designed for cultivation and improvement. Nor is the prospect confined to the township. 3the villages of Woburn and. Burling ton, _with the high lands beyond, bound your pros pect on the northeast. Ou the east you have the hills in Winchester, Mount Gilboa, and the other elevations in Arlington in view and between these a part of Somerville, the towering shaft on Bunker Hill, and a portion of the city of Boston may be seen, reflecting the rays of the rising and setting sun; To the southeast you behold the Blue Hills in Milton, the elevated land in Newton, Prospect Hill in Waltham, and the high grounds in Weston.

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