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The Seventh Annual Blackberry River Walk was held SATURDAY, AUGUST 23,
2003
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Registration, at the North Canaan Congregational Church (located in East Canaan). (Some history: For many years North Canaan had two Congregational churches which merged a few years ago, with this as the surviving entity. Many people still (incorrectly) refer to this one the "East Canaan church". (Elsewhere on this website you can find indexes to two "Manuals" of the other North Canaan Congregational church (correctly, the "Pilgrim Church")). |
Some of the principals in discussion beforehand ("people-mover" in background) |
Fred Hall, North Canaan Town Historian, warmly welcomed everyone
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Ron Jones speaking |
Dr. William Adam speaking |
The walk starts -- from the church to the "new" education building |
In the main room of the former office -- where workers would have waited for the paymaster's window to open |
Viewing the exhibits in the former vault |
Part of the exhibition: Leonard Richardson, one of the founders of the Barnum Richardson Company |
More of the exhibition: Beckley Furnace in 1880 |
Plenty of industrial archaeology still to be done -- in the basement of the education building |
More industrial archaeology to be done |
Wonder how many years ago these were canned? |
It was hard to be TOO serious on such a beautiful day! The paymaster's office is the building in the background.
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We all moved down to the Beckley Furnace itself, where we heard from Ed Kirby, Walt Landgraf, and other experts |
Definitely an interested audience. Many walk participants had ancestors who lived in the area or were involved in the historic iron industry |
We learned lots about the charcoal industry that supported the iron industry |
A scale model of a charcoal pit |
A surviving collier's basket -- used in the charcoal making process |
Plenty of time to pass pictures around and ask questions of the experts
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The Waterbury Republican covered the day |
...but there was plenty of amateur photography going on, too! |
Soon we proceeded on down Lower Road to see some of the other sites |
There are foundations still visible of buildings for which we don't know the original use (but we do know that a blacksmith was the last occupant of this one). |
The lower dam provided water power for the furnaces below Beckley. After the flood in the 1950s it became unstable and was dynamited. The feed pipe is still visible in the center of the ruin, however. |
We didn't disturb a fisherman taking advantage of a pool below where the dam used to be |
We know that this structure was involved in converting water power to furnace blast -- but it's still under discussion exactly how it worked. |
The experts were present, so some enthusiastic (and productive) discussions ensued. |
Here's a salamander recently discovered near East Canaan #3 |
Here are some of the day's expert speakers. |
We heard from Walt Michaels, a descendant of the last tenders of Beckley furnace (his depictions of the iron making process are on exhibit in the educational center). |
After a short delay due to a flat tire, the people-mover arrived on the scene |
Walt showed us what may be the last (perhaps only) surviving photo of East Canaan #4 -- the furnace that never went into blast. |
The Michaels family treated us to a picnic lunch at Bill Adam's Land of Nod Winery |
...and after all that walking and talking, the food surely was good |
...and enjoyed by all! |
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The day was both fun and informative, both for those who had walked before and for
newcomers
who wanted to start learning why they live on Old Forge Road, Puddlers’ Lane,
Hammertown Road, or Ore Hill
Road -- as well as those whose ancestors helped name them!
Join us next year!! |
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Between the Lakes Group is located at 372 Between the Lakes Road, in Salisbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut. More specifically, we're in Taconic -- a hamlet in the Twin Lakes area of the Town of Salisbury. Questions about us or about our products? Go to our Frequently Asked Questions page.
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