Brattleboro Retreat Land in North Vernon; second part

Here's the thing, I really don't enjoy doing puzzles. Even so, every year for the last several years, Wayne has gifted one to me. The puzzles are quite beautiful, they are a thousand or more pieces and are nature themed. It's not what you think, I ask for the puzzles. The true gift of the puzzle is that I get to watch Wayne build them. This year the puzzle is vintage wildflowers, a theme chosen for me to be built by a content and focused Wayne, it's a perfect match. 

In part one we successfully hiked a small parcel belonging to the Roaring Brook Wildlife Management Area in north Vernon. We explored along the ridge looking for clues as to why the RBWMA chose to conserve this particular piece of land. 

We came upon rocks that looked as though they had been placed on the ridge and continued just beyond it. 

Wayne reminded me, that while exploring the bottom of this ridge last year, we encountered two erect stones placed in such a way that they formed a gate of sorts. We attempted to relocate the gate from on top of the ridge without success. To read about that hike and the gate in the pictures below, click here.

Sometimes the pieces of a puzzle fit together nicely, but most of the time I rotate and pound on them insisting they go together. Arranged rocks in the woods suggests boundaries created by clearing pasture.  Similarly, a gate creates a passage through a fence. This gate however, is at the bottom of the ridge while the fence seems to be on top. 

While I mulled over the pieces, Wayne led us to the southern boundary before heading to the northeastern corner which looked to be more promising for pasture, but lacked the expected clues.

The Boese property in the northeast corner is posted

The stones on the way to the Brattleboro Retreat land appeared to be as perplexed as I was.

I think that this house is in Guilford.

This growth is hard, raised and rough.

Branch stripped of its bark.

 

Deer scat

Something has been eating here too.

Some pieces just fall into place.

Rising and falling levels formed these ridges of ice in the water.

Just prior to entering the Retreat property on Cersosimo land was water that was frozen over. Because other water in the area was not completely frozen over I speculated that the frozen area covered deeper water. Being so warm, we decided to not test out that theory.

Wayne noticed them first, large piles of the same sort of rock that lined the top of the ridge.

We hiked a short distance more.

I thought that we should wave to the camera; but Wayne disagreed.

From here we entered the Retreat land. 

Don't get me wrong here, this is beautiful, flat, forested land. 

It's just that I was hoping that the answer as to why the Brattleboro Retreat owned this property would be obvious. 

We found a road where recent rains had washed out a path.

The path soon turned into running water.

The road led us out of the area without having to descend two of the steep slopes that we had climbed up earlier in the day.

Across the river in Hinsdale, Mount Wantastiquet can be seen from here. Wantastiquet was once mined for precious metal. 

 

Is this Fleabane ?

We could see now, that the road continued behind a business and on to Ox Cart road. Our car however was at the bottom of the hill at the setback. Down we went no wiser as to why the Retreat owns land in north Vernon. It was time to do some research.

I proceeded to search both historical and present information about the Retreat on the internet without finding any mention at all of their owning land in Vernon. I decided to email the Retreat and was told the following: 

The Retreat was provided the land by Mr. Wells Goodhue on November 29, 1864. Based on what I have learned today, there was no specific purpose as mentioned in your question. The land was gifted by Mr. Goodhue. Thanks for reaching out.

Having a name to associate with my search allowed me to find the following as viewed on Google Books from The Vermont Asylum for the Insane: Its Annals for Fifty years, Volumes 15-19:

At the close of this year forty-six acres of woodland were purchased in Vernon, of Mr. Wells Goodhue for the sum of $1,800.

I requested help from a friend who did further investigating Goodhue in the Annals and found:

 

In 1847 the purchase of 30 acres along the Newfane Road, about a mile from the campus, for $1000, stating that it "was purchased principally for the fuel growing thereon, of which the Asylum had had great need." Then it says, they put the patients to work cutting firewood! Then, in 1849, they purchased 25 acres over in Chesterfield, for $250, "valuable only for fuel" And in 1855, certain lands on the mountainside for the purposes of fuel" for 

$450.  (Probably the mountainside west of the Retreat.) More woodland "upon the mountain" in 1858 for $840.

With a plausible answer to the Retreat land ownership question, that leaves the RBWMA question to be uncovered. So far I have studied the maps on the town website and noted that on the existing land use by parcel map it shows the RBWMA land as: Parcel enrolled in Use Value Appraisal program, 2016. 

Does this bring us closer to solving the puzzle? Truthfully I just don't know.

Oh, and I now have another question, when was that quarry on the Cersosimo land in operation and for what was the stone to be used? - Norma Manning

History and Genealogy of the Goodhue, Wells Family

The North Vernon RBWMA Land

 

On this hike in North Vernon, Wayne and I encountered razor wire stretched low and across what appeared to be the entrance to an offshoot from a main trail. Wayne has become proficient in spotting abandoned agricultural fencing in the woods and for this I am grateful; but this razor wire might be serving a purpose other than reminding us that the land and its use has changed over the years. 

I have always found street names to be of interest for some of the same reasons I find barbed wire and stone fences deep in the woods to be interesting. For example; when the sign for Lily Pond Rd was placed, I discovered that Pond Rd wasn't named for Lily Pond but rather it is a sur name. Fort Bridgeman Rd when you stop to consider it, is the road to the former Fort Bridgman (1737)  named for Orlando Bridgman. Today, that road is more often than not referred to as 142. As time has passed, Depot streets are often lacking depots, Elm and Chestnut streets are absent of American Elm and Chestnut trees, deep in the woods, pastures are often missing from the confines of stone walls and barbed wire, yet like old dirt trails, all of these things serve to mark the history of the people and the land they inhabited. 

Just about a year ago, Wayne, Kayden and I hiked from the parking area above the falls and west of the Broad Brook bridge. We hiked behind the VT Welcome Center and down a very challenging ravine in an attempt to reach a patch of land owned by the Roaring Brook Wildlife Management Area.  The hike was almost entirely on Fort Dummer State Park land. As we neared the goal, we crossed the northern end of the Lesure property but we were stopped short of our goal at the base of a steep, icy cliff. 

We began our New Year's Day hike on 142, then crossed Cersosimo Industries' land to the RBWMA parcel. On our way back, we looped around and dropped in on land owned by the Brattleboro Retreat. Looking at the map below, the short blue spur on the upper part of the loop is where I gave Wayne bad advice. If we had continued on Wayne's path, our hike would have been a whole lot easier!

I hope at this point, that your mind is filled with the same sorts of questions that I have: For what reason does the Brattleboro Retreat own land in Vernon? And why does VT Fish & Wildlife own a small patch of rocky land that is exceptionally difficult to access?

We parked at the small pull off on the northwestern shore of the setback on 142 in Vernon.

Across the road are three narrow fingerlike ravines carved from the hill by water.

This first part of the hike is hard going as the hill is covered in thick organic material.

I recommend trekking poles, hiking boots and the occasional grape vine

Wayne decided that it would be best if we ascended along the "knuckles" instead of in the streambeds.

Looking towards 142 from the hill, Renaud Brothers is visible through the trees.

With no snow and leaf cover, anything with some color in it was easy to spot.

I couldn't resist taking another picture of Wayne from above as it is very seldom that I am ahead of him on the trail. Of course, I don't have a single picture of me crawling up on all fours after falling and sliding back down on my knees!

The area reminded me of both the terraced fields at Miller Farm and the finger like ravines along Governor Hunt Rd  above the dam next to the portage trail.

Vernon's terraces were created by four glaciers pressing down and scraping away rock and soil. The melting glaciers formed  Lake Hitchcock. The lake's changing water level eroded the soil away at its shores up until it drained when it's natural dam let go. The process continues to this day with erosion caused by the CT River.*

Though I'm not entirely certain that this particular hill is explained by the same phenomenon as what is at Miller Farm, but when we reached the first such area, we discovered numerous roads taking advantage of the narrow yet relatively flat surface. 

At this place, we had a choice of three paths. Wayne chose the middle path; but I wanted to continue up the hill. Remember that spur on the upper loop that I mentioned?  

I should have listened to Wayne; because my trail of choice was so much more challenging than necessary.

Being a good sport, Wayne conceded and we backtracked to my choice. This was the trail we found  razor wire installed where it branched off to another trail. This is also the trail where I fell (below picture) and proceeded to crawl back up the slick hill.

At the end of this trail, we found a second flat area,

more roads,

an old stump,

With coyote scat on top of it!

One way to tell coyote scat from domestic dog scat is seeing fur mixed in it. Then there is the fact that one would be hard pressed to find domestic dog scat on top of a stump. This Coyote must have been leaving a message for the others.

Someone used a hatchet or ax to blaze this tree and so we decided to head up their marked trail. 

Of course this "trail" ended at no place in particular and so we were back to bushwhacking. Not that I mind bushwhacking in Vernon; but marking your own trails with blazes and carons is confusing to others traveling across the land. I'm grateful that Seth introduced us to the OnX Hunt app to get us back on the right path.

Eastern Mountain Laurel made an appearance, 

as did the ledges. If you are a rock or Geology nerd, this third level is your hike. If you are a hunter, there is plenty of water, cover and scat in this area as well.

It's interesting to see the dramatic change between the lower levels and this one. Standing water, rock and a greater amount of felled hardwood.

 

A new flag is tied at the northeast corner of the Roaring Brook Wildlife Management Area parcel.

We noted several rounded boulders of varied sizes on this hike. Could these be erratics brought here by  glaciers? We located what might be another clue nearer to the Retreat parcel.

The pin was set in rock that is more representative of what is in the area.

Like in the Black Gum Swamps at the municipal forest, the upright position of ledge holds the groundwater. This scene reminded me more of a spring vernal area than a December day.

Gravel  deposits revealed by a felled tree from another hike on the western shore of Lily Pond. The Outwash Plain Pondshore of Lily Pond was formed by glaciers Lily Pond is at an elevation of approximately 380 ft.

Gravel deposits uncovered by a felled tree at an elevation of approximately 600 feet on this hike in North Vernon.

Wayne decided to walk the ridge to see if he could find the the exact location we were turned back on last winter's hike. 

It was while walking the ridge with it's sharp jutting rock that we came across what looked as though uniformly sized stone had been tossed on top of the ridge.  

Well within a small patch of land in north Vernon conserved as Roaring Brook Wildlife Management Area, we were no closer to understanding why this parcel, isolated from the the state's larger holdings between Lillis Pasture and the MA line is significant. 

It's true that we found a lot of surface water, deer, coyote, Piliated and porcupine signs in the area; but there seemed to be nothing extraordinary. Perhaps we arrived in the wrong season?

My speculation on the connection between the formation of valley and these hills, didn't seem to bring us closer to deciphering the mystery. Wayne reminded me that last winter we had found a road that led to a stone gate at the bottom of ledge. At the ridge, we found that the stone seemed somehow out of place. 

In the second part of this hike; Wayne and I head to the larger Brattleboro Retreat lot. On the way we find more clues to the history of this land. - Norma Manning

* Dealing With Change in the CT River Valley pp4, The Making of the Connecticut River Valley