My parents,Ruth and Clifton Phelps,siblings, Clifton, Nancy, Jean and I, grandparents,Eva and George Phelps, Marion and Fred Drake and their children,Margaret and Joe, (Marion took care of us children) lived at the Summit House(Souvenir Store and Restaurant), 2,300 feet above sea level (the sign said!) on Jacob's Ladder Trail, Route 20, Becket, Massachusetts. Grandfather George Henry Phelps built the Summit House, cabins, barn,shop, ice house,tower and other various buildings in 1926. Some of the family lived there at least part-time,until 1934:my grandfather George died then we all moved from North Adams to liveat the Summit permanently. We children attended the schools in Chester and Becket. My grandmother Eva died in 1945 and my parents sold the Summit and all the land. We moved back to North Adams in February 1946.

Pictures/ Snapshots Taken Over the Years at the Summit.

Early Pictures of the Summit Building
Large Picture of the Summit Building Before Porch Was Closed In
Dog in Snow at the Summit
Snow at the Summit 1930
Tractor and Sled at Summit about 1930
The Rockpile at Summit in the Ice and Snow
Early picture of the Summit House
Rock Across from the Summit House About 1940 This rock had a plaque on it, perhaps put there by the State after they finished building the new road in 1930.
Deerhunters at the Summit, 1930's/40's
Deerhunters Eating a Delicious Meal.
Deerhunters at the Summit after they have eaten a delicious meal!

Family Pictures at the Summit

My Parents and Grandparents Posing on the Porch of the Unfinished Summit House 1926/27!
Sonny at the Summit, about 1929.
We Pose Ouside In The Snow
My Brother's First Deer
Margaret and Joe Drake at the Summit
Sonny Graduation From 8th Grade 1939 , Chester Grammar School, Chester, Massachusetts
Marion and Shirley in Front of Igloo
Group at Summit Near Little Cottage
Nancy in Front of Rose Arbor,Winter 1944
Fun in the Snow
On Leave During World War Two