Purgatory Chasm State Reservation is a state park in Sutton, Massachusetts. The park, managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, is notable for its .25-mile (0.40 km) long, 70-foot (21 m) deep chasm of granite bedrock featuring abrupt precipices and boulder caves in which ice lingers into the early summer. The reservation is open to picnicking and hiking; rock climbing is allowed by special permit only. Purgatory Chasm was declared a state park in 1919.
According to the most recent research, the chasm was created when glacial meltwater from a burst ice dam ripped out blocks of bedrock at the end of the last Ice Age (14,000 years ago).
The reservation is located off Route 146 on Purgatory Road.
Read more about Purgatory Chasm State Reservation: Recreation, In Art, Gallery
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“All know that all the dead in the world about that place are stuck
And that should mother seek her son she’d have but little luck
Because the fires of Purgatory have ate their shapes away;
I swear to God I questioned them and all they had to say
Was fol de rol de rolly O.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“There is a chasm between knowledge and ignorance which the arches of science can never span.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Realizing that his time was nearly spent, he gave full oral instructions about his burial and the manner in which he wished to be remembered.... A few minutes later, feeling very tired, he left the room, remarking, ‘I have no disposition to leave this precious circle. I love to be here surrounded by my family and friends.’ Then he gave them his blessing and said, ‘I am ready to go and I wish you goodnight.’”
—For the State of New Hampshire, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Music is so much a part of their daily lives that if an Indian visits another reservation one of the first questions asked on his return is: “What new songs did you learn?””
—Federal Writers’ Project Of The Wor, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)