Neponset River with the former home of the Baker Chocolate Factory in the back (mid-March 2021)
The rock of Milton Hill and the remnant outcrop we find here formed
approximately 600 million years ago when the North American plate
was still connected to the African plate. Deposited as horizontal
layers of sand and gravel, the sedimentary sand and gravel, the
sedimentary sandstones and shales and the metamorphic conglomerates
were later tilted to the south.
Like many of the Boston area landscape features, the river gorge
you see from the bridge formed during the last
Ice Age.
In the words of the trailside post:
The current shape of the Neponset River Valley is the result of
the last great Ice Age, the Wisconsin Glacier which ended 10,000
years ago. Ice covered New England in a sheet one mile thick and
the ocean was 400 feet lower than today. When the glacier melted,
the ocean level rose creating the present coastline.
As you walk or bicycle the Neponset River Trail eastward from the
bridge, you will enter the Neponet estauary landscape
in less than a mile.
References and further reading
[1] James Russell Lowell. Neponset River Gorge - Boston-Milton, MA. Waymarking.com. URL: https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMY0XV_Neponset_River_Gorge_Boston_Milton_MA (accessed: March 23, 2021).[2] Neponset River Greenway Map. URL: http://www.neponsetgreenway.org/nepmap.pdf (accessed: February 13, 2021).
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