Lantern Hill


Lantern Hill, elevation 491 feet, is located in North Stonington, Connecticut.

Name

Lantern Hill
The hill's white quartz cliffs are said to shine in sunlight when viewed from the Atlantic Ocean.
Some consider the hill to be "Tar Barrel Hill," where barrels of tar were burned on August 11, 1814 to warn residents of the approach of the British during the War of 1812 ; however, "Tar Barrel Hill" may be what is now known as "Jeremy Hill" to the southeast.

Geology

The hill is composed mostly of high-purity milky quartz and it occupies the inactive Lantern Hill Fault, which runs south into the Atlantic Ocean. Analysis of the quartz reveals that it is 238 million years old—the mid-Triassic Period of the Mesozoic Era in geologic time, according to current theories. The formation of the fault and the quartz are associated with the early formation of the Atlantic Ocean.

Land use

David D. Mallory began commercial mining of the hill's silica in 1870 ; the quarry closed when the Mashantucket Pequots acquired the land in 1994. Lantern Hill is the southwestern terminus of the Narragansett Trail, a hiking path maintained in Connecticut by the Connecticut Forest and Park Association. The hilltop offers views of the Atlantic Ocean and the surrounding countryside, including the Mashantucket Pequots' Lantern Hill Reservation, the Mashantucket Museum and Research Center, and the Foxwoods Resort and Casino.

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