What a wonderful tradition that brings back great memories, even our attempts to guess when Mountain Day would be. Perfect day too. Class of '77

Thank you so much for letting us know that this is the day! My first Mountain Day was 51 years ago! As a resident of Martha Wilson, I rang the bell the following years. All four of my Mountain Days remain treasured memories as friendships were bonded, some of which remain strong to this day.

Yeah!! - Thank you so much for sending this e-mail. I received it early enough so I think I am going to take my own "personal" Mountain Day - Oh glorious day!

My best mountain day memory was when my housemates and I went rowing on the pond and picnicked on the island. I also remember the girls from Wilson house storming the president's house in plastic bags demanding mountain day. Wish it were mountain day here in New Haven!

The Smithies of Austin, TX are going to get together for our second annual Mountain Day Lunch! We may not be able to take off the whole day, but we can still celebrate!

Mountain Day is absolutely one of the very, very best memories of Smith - we need a national mountain day -- What crisp, fun, memories of freedom !!! carol weiner wilner - 1970

i loved mountain day!!
thanks for letting me know.
it brings back wonderful memories and if you have as good a day in northampton as we have in chicago...it will be spectacular this year as well....1983

How nice to be reminded of it! Long walks or cycle rides, hot cider with cinammon, a day when the pressure is let off.

Here (Cambridge), the pressure is just on, tomorrow is the first day of term and I am bracing myself for eight fierce weeks!

Yay! I loved Mountain Day! I was just explaining it to my daughter and she thinks it's odd albeit fun idea. I will be in MA in spirit (as always)...AC/1990

Thank you for letting me know! What great memories this brings back. I agree with Carol weiner Wilner-- a National Mountain Day is in order! I wish I could take a stroll down to the Haymarket for a smoothie right now :) Malu Tungol, 2001

In honor of this wonderful Smith tradition, I think I'll take my own Mountain Day today.

What a great way to bring a smile to my face on Monday morning!!!! I can only imagine the excitement in the houses when the bell rang!!!!
Now if I can just find someone who will understand my urgent need for a picnic!
Allison Wolin Luckman 1987

Only yesterday I was reminiscing about Mountain Days and the fun we had. How is it possible that 50 years have zipped by, but we can return to it whenever we want...in our minds !!

What a perfect day for it! I hope much fall frolicking ensues!

Soooooooo jealous. Enjoy these days you have at Smith. Real life is not as much fun.

I'm so excited that it's Mountain Day! I feel great just thinking about it although I'm hundreds of miles away from Smith and sitting at my desk avoiding getting any work done. :)
'03

Wishing it was Mountain Day here!

Mountain Day was the very first thing I learned about Smith, from my mother (class of '46)who told me about bag lunches and long bike rides with some of the other girls from Sessions. I thought it was wonderful and years later it was one of the things I looked forward to most about going to Smith. I remember going apple picking under brilliant blue skies and brilliant fall color, and one year making a painting of Paradise Pond. And this morning I got a call around 7am from my daughter, a first year Smithie, happy to deliver the news that today is the day!
So I'm taking my Mom out to lunch.

It is a beautiful day. Enjoy! I have fond memories of Mountain Day. I am there in spirit.

Sophomore year a group of us went to the Berkshires on MD. What a great afternoon of apple-picking and wandering through yellow-leafed maples. Sigh...wishing it were Mt. Day in Austin, too!

I love this and all the special Smith traditions we share. Thank you for letting us know and giving us the chance to celebrate with the students.

I was just telling a friend about Mountain Day at Smith. I have great memories of bicycling to a nearby park with a fire tower. The view from the top, of the fall colors, was spectacular. I still have the pictures. I loved Mountain Day. (class of 1963)

I saw your e-mail, this morning, and called a fellow Smithie. She was one of my 1st friends @ Smith, and I am delighted we have been back in touch for the last couple of years. If Professor Peter Rose, Annette Barns, Eve Crowley, or Abbasseh Kalhor should see this message, I would love to hear from you!
binaifer

Every year my daughter, Cathy Johnston Avery 1988 sends me this announcement. Why? Because at my alma mater, Hollins University, we, too have a Mountain Day to climb Tinker Mountain. It ALWAYS brings back fond memories. Thank you from a Smith mom.

After apple picking in the morning, Lawrence House always has an afternoon of baking "appley goodness." I graduated in May and am working at the Smith College Museum of Art now. This year I have to watch Mountain Day from my office window. However, I have a beautiful apple on my desk to celebrate. Have a great day, Smithies!

Seeing the Mountain Day email this morning made my day. What a profoundly wonderful tradition.

It was always a very special day... full of fun & adventure for us "Lamonters"
Hope it is a sunshine day this year.
Fall in New England is beautiful. For a change of venue here in Mammoth Lakes,
we had 5 to 12 inches of SNOW yesterday.Yes I said "snow". Today the sun is shining...so who knows what tomorrow will bring??? Enjoy today...

It's about a million degrees and raining in New Orleans, but I just showed my high school students this photo; what a great recruitment tool for Smith! There's nothing more wonderful than Mountain Day!!

Mountian Day is the best. We knew Mountain day was coming, and stayed up making everyone in Talbot House newspaper hats to celebrate. We went to Mt. Sugarloaf with four friends and we felt on top of the world, at least above all of Hadley.

It is a perfect day here in Simsbury, Ct. and Mountain Day brings back memories of riding our bikes to the Florence Diner. Do the students still do that? I am especially pleased to hear that the bell still rings, because at other schools they notify them with an email. Not very festive!!!!

I have no recollection as to what I did in subsequent years, but I clearly remember we went hiking my first year! It was my first hiking experience in the US and what fun it was. That will always be my memory of Mountain Day...

Thank you for bringing back such wonderful memories of Mountain Days past. My freshman year Mountain Day was memorialized in the Smith College calendar for that year, as someone took a photo of my roommate and me. We were seated back-to-back, each on opposite sides of a tree. Alas, only b/w photos in the calendars at that time so the beautiful foliage aspect was missing.

My senior year was also memorable. No cars allowed on campus in those days, so I had to bike to Amherst to pick up the car my fiance and I were sharing.

Ah memories.

Laura Goodman Jacobs '65

This makes my day. Under overcast skies with air that hangs like mud here in Houston, the thought of autumnal chill and fresh air revives! Cheers to Mountain Day and Smithies everywhere!

It truly is a beautiful October day... and the lovely surprise of your email came at the end of a four day visit with my Smith roommate from Class of 66! We both enjoyed reviving our memories when the email arrived! Thank you!

You picked a gorgeous day, made even better because it's a Monday. What a surprise! Here in Westchester County, NY, the leaves have just begun to turn, but there is perfect fall air.

How opportune! I just happened to be at Smith yesterday, and took my husband for a first look at Martha Wilson, my house; the delightful second-year, Mimi, who showed us around, was anxious about when Mountain Day would be. So I wake up here in California to discover it's today! I loved Mountain Day, even if I didn't go far. Also loved being one of the first to know, as the facilities guy would be there in the front hall first thing to ring the bell (alas, Virginia Rex Day, we students didn't get to ring it in our day).

Long may Mountain Day thrive! If today is anything like yesterday, it will be glorious!

What a surprise that first Mountain Day was! I was so overwhelmed with the demands of Smith that I spent it in a canoe on Paradise writing a paper! My sophomore year brought me the wisdom to go to a farm and pick apples. Coming from NYC I had never done that before. I think that Junior year I climbed Mt Tom. What a splendid tradition!

The Senior class of 1978 lost patience with our President Kerr-Conway and serenaded her one evening in a vain attempt to encourage her to ring the bell. The next day was utterly glorious, but alas, no bell. for the next three weeks it rained without cease. Finally, with a scant few days left before Thanksgiving Break and the Pioneer Valley crushed under a seemingly endless spell of bleak weather, the bell rang and we spent the day huddled over a pot of herbal tea in our Lanz nightgowns.

I've been making up for it at least once a year ever since---and on the very next lovely day I'm taking my 6th grade classes outside to hunt for leaf-printing supplies---"Pacing Guide" be banished! Jordan House, '81

We celebrated Mountain Day last week. I cherish the tradition. My favorite Mountain Day memory is a trip to Vermont. We somehow found our way to Coolidge and the Coolidge Cheese Factory located in a beautiful mountain valley. The cheese was wonderful and the scenery fantastic. Thank you Smith College for a great idea. Ziskind, Class of '66.

Linda Keary and I would attempt to make our own Mountain Day by ringing the Wilson bell. The bell tower was a wonderful place to view the tower and we were of a handful of students who knew how to ring the bell and get into the tower. One Halloween we hung a sheet painted as a pumpkin over the clock face. How we didn't end up killing ourselves doing that was beyond me because alcohol was also involved...Great fun! Great tradition. Keep it up Smith and I hope the students take full advantage of it and not study for the Art 100 exam! Cheers! CB, Class of 80 Martha Wilson House.

I do not want to stop having Mountain Day in my life. I may be on the North Shore of Massachusetts but I would love to go back and enjoy the fall in wonderful Northampton or here in Rockport. I loved the tradition and this is my first fall in a few years without it. Our tightly knit house, Sessions has disco breakfast followed by apple picking which was always so much fun! My friend who is a Sophmore told me today on Facebook how much fun it was dancing and wearing a dress from that era I willed her at our Senior Banquet. Even though I am not there I am so happy that this tradition will go on and take new forms for Sessionites in the future. Maybe if I have a daughter she will be able to enjoy this special, restful and appreciative day if she ends up going to Smith as well. I miss Smith College, its so strange not being there right now making apply pie in our kitchen, I was truly blessed to go to such a wonderful College that makes time for community and friends. Go Sessions! and Go Smith! ~Angelraven Tevan Class of 2009

What a wonderful way to wake up! It is spring (sort of!) here in New Zealand - One of the things I miss most about home is fall in New England. Thanks for giving me a moment of that! We're on school holidays at the moment, so I don't even have to call in sick to have a Mountain Day!

I'm sure to break the record of having the oldest memory of a Mountain Day:It was
1945...my friend Mary De Ganahl White, "Deag", and I biked over to Mt.Tom and shared thoughts and memories of Franklin Roosevelt.
He died that day.

Happy Mountain Day, world!!!

Ah yes, I remember it well......
What a spectacular day and what a beautiful tradition!
Marianne Glasel Koerner '54

Just enjoying the beautiful outdoors, the color changing leaves, and, in my second year there, how it was a mission to have mountain day since frost and rain was a constant in autumn- but we had it.
Hope everyone is enjoying it at Smith as my friends and I did.

I got the call at 7am; my daughter is a freshman, and they'd been speculating all weekend. Poor thing, she has to make up for being sick with flu all last week, but I hope she got outside at least.

I remember it well. I had just turned 50 and was newly divorced. I decided to explore the valley instead of the mountains and met a nice middle-aged librarian. It was a lovely Mountain Day.

I was deep into my important, and not so important, e-mails (and all those messages trying to sell stuff) when I opened up the Smith item. What a treat to see the words "Mountain Day" They never fail to bring a wmile to my face.

As the world continues to find war preferable to peace, I recall with great fondness the peacefulness of Mountain Days and I am grateful for the many women of Smith who work for peace around the world.

Seeing the email announcing Mountain Day was probably the best way to wake up this morning. To this day it's one of my favorite Smith traditions and it still serves to make oodles of people jealous that they weren't cool enough to have a day like that. Not quite climbing a mountain, but I got to celebrate by attempting to fly a kite in sub-windy conditions.

My Smith senior, Meredith, and I have been speculating as to when Mountain Day would take place this year, so I was not completely surprised by this being THE DAY! However, perhaps most fun of all is being able to relive that glorious day through her--with tales of apple picking, etc.--and being able to envision that beautiful drive through the MA countryside on bike or by car! I was there with her in spirit!

I read the Mountain Day notice yesterday bringing back wonderful memories of gorgeous fall days in the Northampton area with fall foliage in full spendor. Our weather was perfect here in Maryland so I took a couple hours in the afternoon and rode my bike into the nearby mountains. It should become a national tradition!

What a wonderful surprise to receive this email. Almost as exciting as hearing the bells 30 years ago! It had me smiling all day. Thank you!

Although my name creeps closer and closer to the front of the Quarterly, I still clearly remember the excitement of Mountain Day - the guessing and hoping that we could predict the day. The fun of it all! Elaine Slater '47.

In honor of Mountain Day, I closed the office and took the staff to climb the tallest spot on Nantucket over an extended lunch hour. Ordered box lunches from a local sandwich shop. Glorious day on our glorious island. Janet Schulte '80

I was so glad to know that it was Mountain day as I was able to wish my grandaughter, who is a first year student, a Happy day. I remember climbing Mt. Tom and another time a picnic in Look Park.

My favorite memory is sitting at the waterfall and eating lunch, then walking on trail beside paradise pond.

It's a lovely day here at UC Berkeley--I was thinking about the crushed acorn powder on Smith sidewalks just today. I am thankful for the connection and always look forward to hearing this exciting announcement.

Dear Smith Community, Happy Mountain Day to everyone ! I am enjoying my own mountain(ous) day not too far away from campus - at a week-long course at the Culinary Institute of America. The mountains we are mastering include the rolling hills of piped pommes dauphinoise, peaks of whipped chream for shortcakes, tiramisu, and gingerbread, and mountains of peeled, pared, diced, sliced, chopped, and julienned vegetables of every kind. Different mountains, same wonderful release from work-a-day obligations - I hope Smithies everywhere are having a grand day.

It is heart-warming to see so many Smithies' remembrances of Mountain Day. I'm not sure what I did, but I know it involved gazing at Paradise Pond, a place I take with me now that I am a mother of three and a new pastor as of one month (second career). So thanks, Smith, for preparing me for life---I can't wait to visit soon and have Mountain Moments, at least! (Dawes House and Franklin King)

One year while attending Smith, Mountain Day was called on my birthday, October 5th. I actually thought of that this year and then I had this email passed along to me from Lori Joslyn'76. As my kids say, "How cool is that!"

Well, I couldn't get my post to work last year, so I'll try again this year! My school's server was down, so I didn't see this on time. :( This time last year, I was in the hotel lobby, checking my e-mail, in beautiful Lexington, VA! I went to represent my family at our late Father's 65th Reunion at Washington and Lee University. I remember thinking in the airport limo that the drive up from Roanoke reminded me so much of the drive up from Hartford-all the beautiful mountains! It was a sunny, warm weekend then, much like it appears to be in the photo online this year. Alas, this year, it was a cold and windy day in Chicago, and I was on phone duty all day, so I had to enjoy the better fall weather today (10/7). I MISS THOSE BELLS! And, the anticipation, and the guessing about the date. . .

I remember going for a long bike ride my first year to Conway, MA with fellow Comstockers. And other housemates blaring "The hills are alive..." on their stereos. What a wonderful tradition - I am so glad that it continues!

For me, Mountain Day was picnics in Look Park, climbing Mt. Tom, biking everywhere, and in my senior year, 5 of us squeezing into my silver Corvair ("unsafe at any speed") to drive to Dartmouth to visit a former Jordan-ite who'd married the summer before. My old square photos still show the beautiful fall colors and happiness on all of our faces.

When I read the email announcing Mountain Day 2009, the opening lyrics from Paul Anka's "Times of Your Life" came to mind:
"Good morning yesterday You wake up and time has slipped away."
Throughout the song,we are reminded to live in the moment and to keep our dreams in our hearts so that we do not forget all of the wonderful times and seasons of our lives. And Mountain Day is surely a cherished Smith memory for me. Long live Mountain Day! Here are the ending lyrics to the Anka song so that current Smithies may be inspired to make memories on this wonderful Smith holiday:

The mem'ries are time that you borrow
To spend when you get to tomorrow

Here comes the setting sun (the setting sun)
The seasons are passing one by one
So gather moments while you may
Collect the dreams you dream today
Remember, will you remember
The times of your life?

As beloved as Mountain Day was "back when," I think I'm only now realizing what a momentous thing it was- its simplicity at the heart of its ingenuity. After years of teaching the Apollonian-Dionysian dichotomy to high school kids, today I gave a creative writing prompt to a class of seniors where I explained the Smith Mountain Day tradition and told them that "today was Mountain Day - where were they going to go?" We opened all the blinds and windows in our ugly block classroom building, I put "Sonnerie de Saint-Genevieve" on my iPod and asked them to write away. For a moment, I could have been back in the Berkshires - the mood lightened and the spirit was successfully channeled. So thank you Smith- twenty years out and several hundred miles away and I still remember that "the world is too much with us" and the need for days like this.

Mountain Day was simply wonderful. The photo this year, however, has special meaning to me. In 1963, I was walking down the road toward the boathouse for a rowing class when someone told me the President had been shot. I've never been able to think of Paradise Pond without remembering that moment. In the spring of 1967, my pals gave me a picnic wedding shower on the banks of the pond, a much fonder memory of course.