The organization raised tens of thousands of dollars and eventually bought the rights to land, ending quarrying there by 1933. In 1924, they formed the Sleeping Giant Park Association in order to acquire, preserve, and maintain the land around Sleeping Giant. Local residents objected to the continuous blasting and the damage that quarrying did to the area. Residents Rally to Protect Sleeping Giant Judge Willis Cook built one of these cottages on a part of the ridge known as the giant’s “head.” By 1911, however, vandals had become such a problem that Cook decided to lease the land to the Mount Carmel Traprock Company for quarrying. It opened as a park in 1888 and shortly afterwards was named “Sleeping Giant.”ĭuring the mid-1800s, as New Englanders took to the mountains searching for a respite from the era of industrialization, many cottages appeared on the ridges of Sleeping Giant. A good spirit named Keihtan is said to have cast a spell on Hobbomock that caused him to sleep forever, preventing any further damage to the area.Įuropean settlers set aside the area, which they initially called Blue Hills, as a permanent commons in 1721. In his rage, Hobbomock stamped his foot near the current location of Middletown, which caused the course of the Connecticut River to change. The giant rock formation embodied Hobbomock, an evil spirit who became angry at the neglect of his people.

Sleeping Giant received its name thanks to local Native American creation stories, which are part of a complex belief system about the beginnings of the cosmos and human beings. Geologists estimate that the trap rock ridges in Connecticut formed from volcanic eruptions more than 170 million years ago. The unique ridge that runs east-west just six miles north of New Haven is known as “Sleeping Giant” for its resemblance (from a distance) to a recumbent person.

While East Rock is well-known to local residents as the towering hills viewable to the south, Hamden’s most famous geological landmark lies to its north.

The town of Hamden lies between two trap rock formations that constitute its northern and southern borders.

Hobbomock by Ryan C. Thomas