Bradbury Mountain, Pownal

Figure 1. Bradbury Mountain State Park

Figure 2

Bradbury Mountain is actually a small, inconspicuous hill, less than 500 feet high (Figure 2). Despite its small size, its panoramic views and convenient location in the southern Maine town of Pownal make it one of the more popular state parks in Maine.

Figure 3

The trail map (Figure 3) shows three scenic views: the Summit, Northern Bluff, and South Ridge. Each of these spots has large areas of smooth, bare rock to look at. Geologically, the summit area is most interesting and varied.

Most of the mountain is underlain by igneous rock, namely white granite or its coarse-grained variant, pegmatite. In some places, smaller amounts of gray, layered metamorphic rock are interleaved with the granite and pegmatite.

Click for photos of the following features:

• Summit Lookout
• North Bluff Lookout
• South Ridge Lookout
• Feldspar Quarry
• Igneous Rocks (granite and pegmatite)
• Metamorphic Rocks

Related Links

Bradbury Mountain State Park (Maine Department of Conservation) - Official web site with trail maps, fee and reservation information.

Bradbury Mountain State Park - Events, information, and volunteer opportunities at the park.

On the Origin of Graphic Granite (pdf format) - Technical mineralogical journal article by Philip M. Fenn.

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Web text, design, and photos by Henry N. Berry IV, Maine Geological Survey

Originally published on the web as the August 2008 Site of the Month.

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Last updated on September 3, 2008

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