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Students on a school field trip study biology,
geology and natural history at Devil's Den.
Upper Valley Land Trust photo
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Deep in a ravine alongside a mountain, Devil’s Den is a cave with a colorful past. For the community of Bradford, it’s also a resource with a secure future. In 2004 the Upper Valley Land Trust (UVLT) and the Bradford Conservation Commission employed a VHCB grant, together with substantial local funding, to buy and conserve the 60-acre parcel whose centerpiece is a deep, rocky ravine. At the ravine’s base is Devil’s Den, a two-chambered cave formed by great chunks of fallen rock. The conserved parcel has been added to Wright’s Mountain, an adjacent 218-acre parcel that Bradford bought and conserved with VHCB funds in 1994.
Local histories say that counterfeiters once secreted an illegal press in Devil’s Den, and that around the time of the Revolutionary War, a settler named Benoni Wright, a man of extreme religious fervor, once tried to spend 40 days and nights in the cave, meditating without food.
Today the cave is visited by hikers and citizens of all ages. Students from Oxbow Union High School have been especially active in installing trail markers, mapping the acquisition, and studying the ecology of the area. According to John Taylor, UVLT’s recreation coordinator, the project has resulted in a strong community interest in land conservation.
- adapted by Ethan Parke from an article written by Doug Wilhelm
Volunteers help with trail buildling on the property.
Upper Valley Land Trust photo
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