Located near the Vilas Bridge on bedrock west of and above the Connecticut River, adjacent to Great Falls, they depict a rarely-seen assemblage of anthropomorphic figures that is believed to be unique in New England, and uncommon even in surrounding geographic areas.

[1] The petroglyph site is located on the east side of the Bellows Falls Island, south of the Vilas Bridge, which connects Bellows Falls and Walpole, New Hampshire, across the Connecticut River.

Each panel contains a series of figures interpreted as human heads, with mouths, eyes, and radiating projections.

The abstract features of these heads are consistent with the traditional corn husk masks of the Abenaki and Iroquois peoples, and a similar inscription was discovered in 2015 along the banks of the West River in Brattleboro.

Because of their rarity, they provide an unusual opportunity to establish prehistoric cultural connections between relatively disparate regions.