Samson Rock is a boulder precariously placed on a large outcropping of glacial deposit in Madison, Connecticut, and local legend long sought to explain its presence. Native Americans there in the 17th Century told of a giant, Odziozo, who followed a flock of geese down the glacier covering New England long ago. After creating Lake Champlain, also called Petoubouque, he came to the center of Madison and created Tuxis Pond, Tuxis Island, and Samson Rock. Early settlers from Europe later fashioned their own explanation for the boulder, using the biblical strongman Samson as the giant who scooped up earth, threw it into the Sound, and stepped on the rock, leaving behind a footprint.