A visit to Vroman’s Nose
Have you been to the top of Vroman’s Nose? That’s a hill just a little southwest of Middleburg. You head south, from Middleburg, on Rte. 30 and turn right onto Mill Creek Road. In about a mile there is a parking lot. From there you can climb the “nose.” It’s a town park so there are no trespassing problems. At the top there is the famous “dance floor” which is a glacially scoured surface (see photo below). It has been polished and striated by the passing ice. That was about 14,000 years ago. The cliff just beyond, was plucked by the ice as it passed across the top of the nose.
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The nose is a very fine example of what we call “ramp and pluck topography. Take a look at our second photo. The ramp side is to the left. The right-moving Schoharie Creek glacier advanced up this slope and scoured that side into a gentle incline. As the glacier passed across the top of the nose, it formed a bond with the underlying bedrock and yanked (or plucked) large amounts of rock loose. That left the right side “plucked” slope. You can stop along Rte. 145, just east of town, and see this profile.
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