Interpreting the Rocks of New Haven, by William Zimmer

"The exhibit was organized by Linda Lindroth, a New Haven photographer and assistant professor at Quinnipiac College, who lives across the street from East Rock. 'This exhibition is the product of a search for new spaces and new relationships within the city to show artwork,' says Lindroth, noting that it is the first time that the historical society has hosted an exhibit by living photographers. In an essay in the exhibition catalogue, Amy L. Trout, curator at the New Haven Colony Historical Society, writes, 'More than geographical features, East and West Rocks are symbols of New Haven. As such, they carry meaning beyond what their physical presence implies.' The Rocks have served as a 'backdrop' in artworks documenting the changes in New Haven over the years, she notes."

The Connecticut Shore of the Sound, illustrated by William M. Gibson.

"Numerous converging and intersecting railways, extensive manufactures, and a considerable West-India commerce, contribute to the life and wealth of this beautiful city. Its suburbs are adorned with tasteful villas, and afford inviting drives and charming prospects. Of principal interest among its suburban attractions are the crags known as East and West Rocks — two bold and striking bluffs of trap-rock, lifting themselves, in magnificent array of opposition, about four hundred feet out of the plain which skirts the city. Their geological origin was probably some anomalous volcanic convulsion; and their grim heights may have sentinelled, in remote ages of our planet, the flow of the Connecticut River between their august feet to the Sound."