Massachusetts From the Lowest to the Highest Elevation

Massachusetts is a small state. At 10,555 square miles, 25.7 percent of which is water, Massachusetts is the seventh-smallest state in the nation. Massachusetts can fit into Alaska, the largest state, 62 times.

As little as it is, Massachusetts seems to have it all. There are oceans, forests, lakes, rivers, islands, mountains and at least two inactive volcanoes that date back hundreds of millions of years.

The Bay State's highest and lowest elevations are at opposite corners.

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The lowest elevation anywhere is sea level. That would be us, here in New Bedford and much of southeastern Massachusetts. New Bedford's shoreline is the lowest elevation in Massachusetts.

So what about the highest elevation in Massachusetts? That would be Mount Greylock in the northwest corner of the state.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Parks and Recreation's Mount Greylock State Reservation website, "At 3,491 feet, Mount Greylock is the highest point in Massachusetts."

The site says, "On a clear day, you can see as far as 90 miles away."

Mount Greylock is open from dawn to dusk every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas. There is an auto road from the base to the summit, however "vehicles greater than 22 feet in length are prohibited from traveling on the Mount Greylock Auto Roads and to the summit."

The distance from New Bedford, the lowest elevation in Massachusetts, and Mount Greylock, the highest, is 134 miles as the crow flies. According to Waze, the drive from New Bedford to Mount Greylock is 188.9 miles and will take about three hours and 12 minutes.