Mt. Helix

Easter sunrise services on Mt. Helix date to 1917, held on the open hillside for years before Mary Yawkey White commissioned a memorial to her mother in 1924. Architect Richard Requa built the 35-foot cross and the 1,600-seat amphitheater below it in time for Easter 1925, shaping the amphitheater into the hillside's natural bowl so sound carries across the seats. The Yawkey family gave the six-acre summit to the county in 1929, and a nonprofit foundation has run it since, on private donations rather than city funding. At 1,370 feet up, it ranks among East County's most recognizable nighttime landmarks once its cross is lit.