New England ExplorersExploration & Adventurers in New England

An arrow showing the way to the Dragon’s Hole

New England has many Wildlife Management Areas. Though they highlight great sights, often there are long forgotten landmarks and geological curios hidden in their dark recesses. Over time the trails to them and mention on the maps fades away, and they are lost into history.

This past weekend we visited one of these landmarks hidden in the forests of Connecticut. We had first heard of this cave in a book about places to visit that was published in the 1930s by the state planning board. Since the 1700s it was referred to as Dragon’s Hole but eventually was also referred to as Devil’s Den. Though it was a popular feature in the 1800s, now it was once again absorbed back into the wild.

Devil’s Den was a common name used by colonial settlers concerning caves that gave the reason to suspect activity of a dark force. Dragon’s hole was said to be one of those cave. It was said that strange noise and lights would be seen coming from the grotto it lives within. Some believed that these tales were just folklore created by mothers trying to protect their children from the hazards of this wild terrain.

The walls were a deep red due to the iron in the schist.

Dragon’s Hole is made of several small passages and chambers totaling about 40 feet. It is the largest of many caves that can be found in the talus. It is located about half way up a ravine created by a brook. I appeared that the cave was formed due to at 300 foot wide and one mile long unit of quartzite. As the water carved its way through the schist, the 300 feet of its path with a concentration of the much less soluble quartzite collapsed into the ravine to create the talus.

Our climb to Dragon’s Hole was steep yet short. As we got close to the cave we found remnants of the old red markers from the old trail to it. At the bottom of the grotto we could hear the brook running underneath the talus, but still hidden from sight. When we entered the cave the first thing we noticed was the distinct red coloring covering some of its wall. It was obvious to us that this was dues to the high iron content in the schist, but to people of the past this might have been the first hint to the mark of the devil. The next thing we noticed was how the architecture of the cave and grotto magnified our voice. If the cave had been a den to a wolf or other predatory animal, its growl would have been a frighteningly devilish sound to those approaching. Though we saw reasons locals might be frightened by Dragon’s Hole, in its back chamber we found dates as early as 1812 carved into it walls. Curiosity is often the elixir of the brave, or foolish who trespass into the dark chambers of the unknown. Like those reckless explorers of the past, at the end of the day we were able to retreat from the Dragon’s Hole unscathed.

A thanks to my friend Jim for digging into his files and sharing documentation on Dragon’s Hole from 1967, previous to our visiting it.

~Michael

editor@neexplorers.org

Overcast and cold, a perfect sort of day to pay a visit to Dragon’s Hole!

A carving we couldn’t read

The resurgence of the brook and the beginning of the Talus.

An arrow showing the way to the Dragon’s Hole

At the bottom of the grotto we saw the dark Dragon’s Hole.

The first chamber was about 8′ tall and 10′ wide.

The walls were a deep red due to the iron in the schist.

The crawl to the back chamber was narrow.

We could see thick layers of iron oxide in the layers of schist.

Names and dates as early as the 1800s carved into the wall.

We decided to follow the ravine to the top to see if there we more caves. to be found.

Along the way we found many remnants of potholes.

We found the insurgence of the brook .

A map from the 1800s with the location of Dragon’s Hole plotted.

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