Sculptured Rocks

In Plymouth, depart Interstate 93 onto Route 3A and head south toward Bristol. After about 8.8 miles, turn west onto North Shore Road in East Hebron. After 2.4 miles the road becomes Groton Road, and in another 1.6 miles in Groton it becomes Sculptured Rocks Road. The parking area for Sculptured Rocks is found on the left, about 1.1 miles past Groton, and a few hundred feet past the sign board and trail marking the gorge. The bridge spanning the gorge is encountered just a few dozen yards from the road.Sculptured Rocks is a narrow gorge located along the Cockermouth River within the town of Groton, which features a small waterfall at its head dropping 13 feet down a narrow pothole sluice. The falls are all of perhaps 5 feet wide at most, and the gorge at its apex is no more than 10-15 feet wide itself. The bridge spanning the gorge provides a modest view looking down on the falls, but due to the twisted shapes the bedrock has been carved into, a clear view of the waterfall itself does not present itself as easily as one might hope. Ultimately the gorge itself is much more interesting than the falls. The Cockermouth River drains from a fairly large area upstream of the gorge, with a basin covering an area of about 13 square miles. Given that the falls aren't very tall the larger volume of water helps to present it as a more noteworthy waterfall than it may otherwise have been. During periods of flooding the swollen river squeezing through the narrows of the gorge may be quite impressive (though the falls themselves may end up being submerged by the swollen river).