Mashamoquet Brook State Park

State Park · Pomfret, Connecticut

The park built around a hole in the rock where, in the winter of 1742, Israel Putnam is said to have crawled in on his belly with a torch and shot the last wolf in Connecticut. The WOLF DEN is still there, a narrow granite crevice on a wooded ridge that you can squeeze into if you are small and determined, and the story - whether or not it happened exactly like that - made Putnam famous long before he became a general at Bunker Hill. Around it are about a thousand acres of the Quiet Corner: a brook with a swimming area, two campgrounds, ledges and glacial boulders, and trails that are properly wooded rather than scenic. Nearby Pomfret is one of the prettiest villages in eastern Connecticut. It is a modest park that everyone in this part of the state visited as a child. The den itself is a tight dark crawl and not for anyone large or claustrophobic, and the real danger is not the hole but the ledges around it, which are steep, unfenced and lethal when iced. Whether Putnam actually did it is disputed, which does not seem to bother anybody.

147 Wolf Den Drive, Pomfret Center, Pomfret, Connecticut, 06259, United States

Open daily year round from around eight to sunset. Parking is charged in season, with a higher rate for out-of-state vehicles, and is generally free off season. The swimming area is supervised only in the summer season. The two campgrounds are seasonal and booked separately. Trails are not cleared in winter and the Wolf Den ledges are dangerous when icy.

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