Rockrimmon Rock Shelter

When I lived in North Stamford I had heard of the Rockrimmon Rock. Supposedly a giant boulder, a glacial erratic somewhere in the woods of North Stamford, and all I vaguely knew that it was near Saddle Hill Road. Actually, it is reported to be the second largest glacial erratic east of the Mississippi.

So when my 6th grade daughter came home with a earth science/geology project, I got an idea.
A little background on her project. It was about Connecticut natural attractions and how they were formed by various factors like erosion, continental drift, glaciation etc. She was given a list of “attractions” like Long Island Sound, Kent Falls, etc.. And that’s when I went looking for the Rockrimmon rock.

I’m always looking for something different for a school assignment, maybe a chance to impress the teacher. (or the true geek just came out in me)

I went scouting one day on my own, and as I drove down winding Rockrimmon road, approaching Saddle Hill Road, I peered through the bare trees trying to spot the giant rock I had heard about years before. I drove up the road to the end and didn’t see it, then turned around and slowly came back, and there in a backyard, is a boulder bigger than a house. I mustered up the courage to knock on the door of the house where the rock is. The lady couldnt have been any nicer, she showed me articles and clippings they had about Rockrimmon, including the certificate that it had been named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. Its name is the Rockrimmon Rockshelter, as it was used by native peoples as a shelter and the tools of those native Americans were found near the rock when an excavation was conducted in 1976 and 1980 by Ernest Wiegand.

There is an article online in the Historic Neighborhood News, where the author had a similar experience to mine.

I brought the kids back the next day, along with my brother and my nephew. We figured we might not get another chance to see this rock up close… so we all went. We were amazed by the size of the rock, mostly because it is a free-standing boulder, and it really looks out of place. We spent about 15 minutes, the kids imagined themselves native people living under the rock, my daughter inspected it for moss, weathering and other things related to her project. We took some pictures and were gone. But I know this treasure is always here almost in my backyard.