The Story Behind This Unique Cave In Connecticut Is Fascinating And You Can Hike Right To It
Connecticut as one of the thirteen original colonies is overflowing with history. Much of it we learn in history class, but there are other stories that are more obscure. Today’s feature centers around Judges Cave, a once-notorious hideout for fugitives running from a British king.
The story begins during the year 1659 in England when 59 British judges sentenced King Charles I to death. With this act, the monarchy was dissolved and Oliver Cromwell was placed into power. Years later in 1660, when the son of the beheaded king was restored to power, he wanted to take revenge on those judges. An order was issued that each regicide must be put to death. Three of the judges, Edward Whalley, William Goffe, and John Dixwell fled to North America to escape this fate.
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All three judges eventually ended up in New Haven. When warrants for their arrests were issued, two of the judges, Whalley and Goffe, were hidden in the woods of what is now West Rock Ridge State Park by local Puritans.
They took shelter in a very small cave, no more than a crack in a huge rock formation. They stayed there for weeks eating scraps that were brought to them by locals. After an encounter with a panther, the judges fled to Massachusetts under the cover of darkness and remained there for the rest of their lives.
The rock formation was named Judges Cave and the trail leading to it is known as Regicides Trail. Each of the three judges, Dixwell, Whalley, and Goffe have streets named after them in the city of New Haven.
You can find Judges Cave still standing in the park. The trail leading to it is paved but a journey upwards as the cave sits high up on the trap rock ledges.
Marked with a plaque, the historic hideout is easy to find. The plaque reads, reads, "Here May Fifteenth 1661 and for some weeks thereafter Edward Whalley and his son-in-law William Goffe, members of the Parliament-General, officers in the army of the Commonwealth and signers of the death warrant of King Charles First, found shelter and concealment from the officers of the Crown after the Restoration. ‘Opposition to tyrants is obedience to God,’ 1896."
West Rock Ridge State Park and the Judges Cave is open from 8 a.m. - sunset daily. Learn more by visiting the Connecticut DEEP website.
Have you ever taken the hike up to Judges Cave? If you love combining a great hike with places of history, head over to this coastal area to explore another ancient cave where Connecticut’s first residents took shelter long ago.
