Dartmouth's Historic Round Hill Tower Resembled a Martini Glass

Many area folks will remember standing at the southern or western end of the peninsula in the South End of New Bedford and peering out at what appeared to be a giant martini glass at Round Hill in South Dartmouth.

That martini glass was an antenna developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the 1940s and was used for military research until 1964.

The antenna stood as a local marine and navigational landmark until Round Hill's current owners removed it in 2007.

Get our free mobile app

Edward Howland Robinson Green, known to some as "Ned" and to many others as Colonel Green, was born August 22, 1868. He was a businessman and the only son of Hetty Green, the notorious "Witch of Wall Street."

Courtesy Spinner Publications

When Hetty Green died in 1916, Col. Green and his sister Sylvia inherited their mother's money, some $100 to $200 million. Col. Green used some of his inheritance to build a mansion at Round Hill in South Dartmouth.

Green was fascinated with radio technology and in September 1922 founded the Round Hills Radio Corporation and began broadcasting as WMAF with a call sign of 1XV. Green worked with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to develop an antenna and radio telescope.

MIT also conducted electromagnetic experiments at Round Hill as well, building the giant Van de Graaff generator that now powers the lightning show at Boston's Museum of Science.

Col. Green died on June 8, 1936. Twelve years later, in 1948, his sister Sylvia donated the property to MIT for research purposes.

Townsquare Media Photo

A developer acquired the Round Hill property in 2007 and converted it to housing. The martini glass was removed.

The Charles W. Morgan, New Bedford's last whaling ship, was partly owned by Col. Green who docked it at Round Hill. The Morgan is now on display at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut.

13 New Bedford Ghost Real-Life Stories

New Bedford was recently named the No. 2 city in Massachusetts for ghost encounters. These are some of the real-life ghost stories of the Whaling (or is it Wailing?) City, as submitted to GhostsofAmerica.com.

Gallery Credit: Tim Weisberg

Paranormal Activity Reported in Massachusetts' Bridgewater Triangle

In his 1983 book Mysterious America, cryptozoologist Loren Coleman introduced a term he originally coined in the late 1970s – the Bridgewater Triangle – to describe an area with an abnormal level of paranormal activity and high strangeness in Southeastern Massachusetts. Over the years, the concept of the Triangle has expanded to include ghostly reports, UFO sightings, cryptid encounters, alien abductions and more across a wider swath of Southern New England.

Gallery Credit: Tim Weisberg

Source: Dartmouth’s Historic Round Hill Tower Resembled a Martini Glass