In the March 2012 issue of National Geographic magazine, the article titled “Rock and Roll” was not about music, but rather about large rocks left by glaciers during a succession of ice ages. Scientists call them glacial “erratics.”

In the March 2012 issue of National Geographic magazine, the article titled “Rock and Roll” was not about music, but rather about large rocks left by glaciers during a succession of ice ages. Scientists call them glacial “erratics.”

Boston resident Fritz Hoffman provided the photographs for the story showing one of those erratics in Mystic and another one in Stonington.

There is a flurry of interest in large stones that are “curiously balanced” and as such can actually be “rocked” by hand. One such stone sits on a former farm in Noank once owned by a man named Caleb Haley. It weighs approximately 25 tons.

Scientists tell us that the large boulders we see were once blocks of mountain face or bedrock carried by those remarkable ice floes some 21,000 years ago. When those floes reached a certain “stoppage” point, they began to melt, depositing their various debris. Much of that debris was carried within the ice, but some on top of it.



Not mentioned in the article is our own erratic, the famous one in Montville, called Cochegan Rock. That monster couldn’t have been unknown to Hoffman, who is an internationally respected photographer. Of course, the local boulder isn’t one that can be rocked by hand, and he certainly wanted to focus exclusively on those smaller stones for the purpose of his story.

As to Cochegan Rock, it is considered the largest single boulder in New England, with some authorities claiming it the largest in North America. That claim has been challenged over the years from fans of other massive rocks, especially from the folks in Madison, N.H., regarding their Madison Boulder.

In the late 1860s, the Norwich Bulletin published an article about the local geological giant, Cochegan Rock, and word spread rapidly throughout New England. The news reached New Hampshire, and the rivalry began.

Finally, geologists from Harvard University, in the 1870s, took careful measurements of both giant rocks in an effort to determine the larger of the two. The Montville whopper won the contest by a relatively small margin and was geologically crowned as the King of Rocks.

But the interest in the competition didn’t end there.



The 50-foot-tall Cochegan Rock received further recognition when a photo spread appeared in the November 1968 issue of Yankee magazine, titled “Now We Can See the Boulders Again.”

The article listed nine of the largest boulders in the entire country, with the Montville rock ranked as No. 1. Madison Boulder was No. 2 and third place went to Dagget Rock in Phillips, Maine.

Historically, and according to Indian legend, it was on the upper level of Cochegan Rock that Chief Uncas held court with his lieutenants, and the elevated rock was also used as a watch tower for possible enemies.



Cochegan’s total weight of 10,000 tons seems extraordinary to scientists who realize that an ice floe actually carried that immense load. Some researchers have surmised that the huge rock originated from beyond Labrador, based on its unusual carvings and markings.

Some decades ago, a Norwich Bulletin writer wrote in the paper that “The boulder is not a native and was here before the Colossus of Rhodes was built and is older than the Cardiff Giant. The sun may have been shining upon it before the pyramids of Egypt were built.”



Historically Speaking, which appears Sundays, presents short historical stories written by Richard Curland of the Norwich Historical Society in cooperation with society president Bill Champagne. Call the society at (860) 886-1776.