It is located off Frank Perkins Road, within the Camp Edwards portion of the Massachusetts Military Reservation. Access to it is restricted, not only because it is on a military facility but because it lies at the rear of an artillery range.
The hill was noted as a prominent feature of the Cape Cod landscape as early as 1874, when it was still part of the town of Sandwich (Bourne would not be created for another ten years).[8] Military use of the surrounding area began in 1911; in 1935 the state created and began building the Massachusetts Military Reservation complex after the Massachusetts National Guard outgrew Fort Devens.[9] Other than the road near it, the Pine Hill area has remained mostly undeveloped. Then-governor Paul Cellucci wanted to convert the area into a state conservation area in 1999, but dropped the plan after the Guard objected.
Approach
Members of the public may visit Pine Hill, but must arrange advance permission through the base's Public Affairs Office (PAO) and show identification when visiting the base. These requirements were in place prior to the September 11 attacks, but have been more rigorously enforced since then.
A PAO escort leads visitors over several miles of roads to a range station on a rise near the hill. From there it is a short walk down Frank Perkins to a narrow road leading up a gentle slope an even shorter distance to the summit of Pine Hill, a small clearing with a USGSbenchmark set in a small concrete monument at the middle marking the 306-foot (93 m) elevation. It is necessary to stay on the road and path because of the possibility of unexploded ordnance in the woods. Surveying and meteorological research equipment is sometimes located at the summit. Any view is obscured by surrounding trees.
^Rockhopper, CC (2008-05-28). "Learning to love History & Rhubarb Custard Pie". Cape Cod Today. eCape, Inc. Retrieved 2008-07-10. Next, I remember going to Scargo Tower the highest point of land on Cape Cod.
^"Browsing Cape Cod". homeandabroad.com. Retrieved 2008-07-10. Located on top of the 160-foot (49 m) Scargo Hill in Dennis (the highest point on the Cape)
^"Town of Dennis MA Overview & Map". capelinks.com. Retrieved 2008-07-10. Scargo hill is also the highest point of land on the Cape and is surmounted by the Scargo Tower observatory.
^Nason, Elias (1874). A Gazetteer of the State of Massachusetts. Boston: B.B . Russell. Retrieved 2008-07-10. Pine Hill in the central, and Bourne's Hill in the north-eastern part of the town, are the most noted elevations