Leatherman Cave

A hike with my son yesterday took us to the Leatherman Cave on the Mattatuck Trail. In the 1800’s, the rock shelter was a campsite used by a vagabond who famously followed a 360 mile circuit in southeastern Connecticut and Dutchess County, New York. The handmade leather suit he wore has lived on in memory.

Yesterday, we encountered no one at the rocks and I took a few pictures with a view wide enough for both of us.

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12 thoughts on “Leatherman Cave”

  4. Caves really have a lot to tell. In my youth, a few of us explored different caves around my hometown. We often visited a cave called Anna-Lotta’s Chamber, after a woman who lived in it during the Finnish War of 1808-1809, even in winter. She was said to have taken care of wounded soldiers in the cave, according to legend. She is also said to have had a cow there. The entrance was narrow but opened up into a low room further in.

    Otherwise, I like that you chose a low, wide-angle perspective and captured the interesting foregrounds, but also the leathery autumn leaves as a reminder of the leatherman.

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    1. I’d love to see you post something about your cave adventures and more about Anna-Lotta’s Chamber. She and the Leatherman definitely seem to have been cut from the same cloth. I have a cave history as well– having gotten disoriented in one in Colorado forty years ago (along with a friend). That will have to be a story for another time…

      The Leatherman Cave is only a cave by name. It would be more accurate to describe it as a rock shelter big enough to result in a “room.” There’s actually quite a few similar spots around this part of the state.

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