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LIBRARY uf uuNu«L56. 
 
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 UNITED STATES Of AMERICA 
 
E/isT j^oeK Park 
 
 New H/iver 
 
 4i INDELIBLE PHOTOGHAPHS i% 
 
 Copyri.ant. 1891, by A. Wittemann, 67 &. 69 Spring Street, New York. 
 
 The ALnFRTVPE Co., N. Y. 
 
1898 
 
EAST ROeK PARK. 
 
 ^-J7 BOUT one mile and a half northeast from City Hall rises East Rock, the terminus of a spur (as 
 Si-^^\ West Rock is of anotlier) of the Green Mountain range. The southwest face is a precipitous 
 cliff one-half a mile in length and rising four hundred feet above the level of the sea. This cliff 
 gives the park its name; but there are included within the park boundaries, Whitney Peak, which is 
 north of East Rock and 325 feet high; Indian Head, 340 feet high; and Snake Rock, 230 feet high; both 
 to the southeast. The whole park covers an area two miles long and over a half mile wide. 
 
 In the winter of 1823 the. dead body of Elias Turner was found on the summit of the Rock, in a rude 
 hut he had himself built, and which had afforded him shelter through many previous winter storms. 
 Tradition says he had been crossed in love, and becoming a misanthropic, secluded himself from his kind, 
 led a wild and precarious life on the Rock, and was scarcely ever known to speak to a human creature. 
 
 ■ He was succeeded as monarch of the Rock by a squatter named Hubbell, who is still remembered by 
 many old residents of New Haven as an eccentric character, making a meagre living by the sale of wood, 
 which he hauled from the Rock and through the streets of the city by a goat team. 
 
 Next we learn of a Mr. Smith and his wife, who lived in a small house, on the site afterwards occupied 
 by the old Stewart House. They were well and favorably known to all visitors to the Rock, to whom they 
 sold refreshments. In 1848 their mutilated corpses were found outside their dwelling, while within was a 
 scene of destruction, the floor having been torn up, evidently in a search for hidden treasure. The 
 murderer was discovered, and in 1850 expiated his crime on the scaffold. 
 
 Not long afterward Milton J. Stewart come into . possession by purchase and built the old Stewart 
 House, with its outbuildings. He also commenced the building of a tower on the edge of the cliff, as an 
 observatory. This has been converted by the Park Comrnissioners into the present refreshment pavillion. 
 
 Some years since it was first suggested that East. Rock should form the nucleus of a City Park ; but 
 it was not until 1879 that about $8,000 were subscribed and several pieces of land donated. In 1880 a 
 charter was granted and six commissioners appointed. These gentlemen, after considerable negotiation, 
 purchased from Mr. Stewart the whole of his East Rock property (which comprises the greater portion of 
 the Park as at present laid out) for the sum of about $17,000. Since then, by purchase and donation, 
 the Park boundaries have been somewhat extended. 
 
 In 1882 the t:ommissioners consulted Donald G. Mitchell, Esq., (better known as "Ike Marvel"), 
 with the object of securing such a layout of the Park as would conserve its natural features and beauties, 
 and at the same time make them more accessible and more enjoyable — art, wherever necessary, to be used 
 as an aid to nature ; but nature to be ever the teacher of art. How well this principle has been carried 
 
<l who k- ill tcrtjfx with cnUiutustic 
 
 was the oofiMntction of Indian Head Drive, froni BUhop Gale 
 
 t Hrid^'c. followi ihr i<>ur*c of the old road at the fout of 
 
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 i ^e at I^lte Wliitncy. and 
 Uut, by whatever route the Mimmil 
 
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View of New Haven and the Harbor, from East Rock. 
 
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 East Rock and Horseshoe. 
 
Farnam Drive. 
 
A Glimpse of the Monument, from English Drive. 
 
Hemlock Grove from Farnam Drive. 
 English Bridge. 
 
 Rock Steps, krom English Drivk 
 Footpath to top of East Rock, from English Drive. 
 
View from Orange Street Bridge. 
 
Pavilion and Restaurant. 
 
Indian Head and Quinnipiac. from above the Stone Steps. 
 
View froivi foot of Indian Head. 
 
East Rock and New Haven. FR0^4 South View Ridge. 
 
East Rock and Rock Lane Bridge, from Footpath Bridge.