Connecticut western news., 1879-07-02
THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY.
SOME OF THE POINTS OF INTEREST IN THIS
 BEAUTIFUL sPoT-HIGH ROCK GROVE.

BEAUTIFUL sPoT-HIGH ROCK GROVE.
 The Valley of the Naugatuck has long
 been famed for the variety and beauty of its scenery. Not only has it attracted the attention and enlisted the pens of
 writers who have been fam uiar with it from childhood but those who have come as strangers from remote parts of the country-f1om the South and West have taken pleasure in describing it's
 picturesqueness and grandeur. From Wolcottville, where the two main branch es of the Naugatuck unite, to Derby and Birmingham, where it empties into the
 Housatonic, the River flows between
 wooded hill-sides, verdant meadows, and precipituous ridges of rock. All these, with busy manufacturing villages inter-
 spersed, present themselves in rapid
 attenuation to the traveller on the Nau-
 gatuck Railroad, as he is borne north
 ward or southward along it's winding
 track. Of this romantic region, the
 most impressive section is that which
 lies between the mouth of Beacon Hill
 Brook and the village of Beacon Falls.
 A few rods below the stream just men,
 tioned, the traveller going southward on
 UhO OdoU LIuuh o1 UhO NhuRhOuCh 0uU0IS
 the well-known "dug road"-so called
 because it is cut into the sides of the
 steep hills which here overhang the river. The railroad winds around the
 base of the granite crags on the opposite
 bank and from either narrow pathway the traveller may look down upon the rushing waters and upward to the beet- ling rocks high overhead. Further south ward, the valley widens; but such scenery as this is what greets the eye, all the way to the village of Seymour where Castle Rock looks sternly down upon the Falls of the Naugatuck as it did in the ancient days when the Red Man of the Valley made that his chief fishing place.
 In the heart of the rugged regions just described, there is a narrow, wooded glen, opening upon the river on it's vest ern bank, which in former years was favorite resort for small picnic parties, and was known to such parties as "Sher- mans Gorge" Through this beautiful mountain stream comes plunging down, winding around the huge boulders which lie in it's path. and leaping over rocky lodges, thus forming series of charm ing little cascades, some of them hidden under the dense shadows of the woods. Southward and northward from this glen extend range of hills, or rather crags, the southern division of which is known in history as Toby's Rocks. They derive their name from an indian who, in the Colonial times, was the slave of one of the chief men of the region, and who along with his freedom received gift of this rocky piece of land. To the highest of these great crags the name of "High Rock" has been given, and the Gorge atit, base has been named "High Rock Glen. J ust below the mouth of the Glen, be- tween the railroad and the river, lies strip of level land, originally covered with thick growth of trees. which con- stitutes the famous HIGH ROCK GRovE It is sheltered on the west by the tower ing ledge already spoken of, whose sum- init command view of distant woods and hill-sides while on east the river, deep and dark, flows quietly by; and beyond it rises the eastern bank, high and steep, covered with evergreens and other trees, their foliage hiding from view the highway which runs close by. Taken altogether, 1t is one of the cosiest and most retired hooks to be found in any district into which railroads have penetrated and yet it is SO convenient that single step transfers the excursion ist from the noise and hurry of the train to the seclusion and coolness of the for est.
 MT. Geo w. Beach, we'll known gen. tleman of Waterbury, Conn, the owner, a public spirited gentleman, has decorat- ed the grove in an elaborate manner and provided the two large pavilions and the grounds with every convenience for ex- cursionists, pianos, tables for thousand persons, boats on the river, croquet field, swings, cosy seats in forks of trees, etc., all of which are donated free of all expense to all religious and charitable institutions. For that reason HIGH ROCK GROVE has become the most pop ular resort for excursion parties from all southern New England and parts of New York. Not day passes but from one to dozen societies are gathered there from different parts of the country.