At 165 feet deep, Quechee Gorge is the deepest gorge in Vermont. The Ottauquechee River flows through it. The name is derived from a Natick word meaning "swift mountain stream". It was formed by retreating ice sheets during the last glaciation.
View from the Rt 4 bridge
The A.G. Dewey Company owned the property from the mid 1800s until 1952. Dewey manufactured wool products. The mill is located at the head of the gorge. Ruins of the building can still be seen. The company operated from1869 until 1952. It employed as many as 500 workers. Products included wool material for Yankee and Red Sox uniforms and US Army blankets.
When the company relocated in 1952, the Corps of Army Engineers took over the property to build a dam upriver for flood control purposes. In 1965 the state of Vermont leased the property from the Army Corps. and opened a state park.
The Rt 4 bridge is Vermont's only surviving steel arch bridge. It was built in 1911 as a railroad bridge and converted to a two lane highway bridge in 1933. At 165 feet high and 285 feet wide, it looks quite impressive from river level.
There is a dam upriver which has scheduled releases. If you happen to be down in the gorge by the water and you see the water rising, you need to move quickly uphill. It is easy to see in the photo above how high the dam release water will rise.
A chain link fence was installed to prevent folks from trying to make there way down to water level. From what I saw, that would be a foolish and quite dangerous endeavor.
The park has a trail which eventually gets to water level but beyond the steep gorge portion seen here.
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