Nov 19 Quechee Gorge

 

At 165 feet deep, Quechee Gorge is the deepest gorge in Vermont. The Ottauquechee River flows through it. The name is derived from a Natick word meaning "swift mountain stream". It was formed by retreating ice sheets during the last glaciation. 

View from the Rt 4 bridge

The A.G. Dewey Company owned the property from the mid 1800s until 1952. Dewey manufactured wool products. The mill is located at the head of the gorge. Ruins of the building can still be seen. The company operated from1869 until 1952. It employed as many as 500 workers. Products included wool material for Yankee and Red Sox uniforms and US Army blankets. 

When the company relocated in 1952, the Corps of Army Engineers took over the property to build a dam upriver for flood control purposes. In 1965 the state of Vermont leased the property from the Army Corps. and opened a state park. 

The Rt 4 bridge is Vermont's only surviving steel arch bridge. It was built in 1911 as a railroad bridge and converted to a two lane highway bridge in 1933. At 165 feet high and 285 feet wide, it looks quite impressive from river level.

There is a dam upriver which has scheduled releases. If you happen to be down in the gorge by the water and you see the water rising, you need to move quickly uphill. It is easy to see in the photo above how high the dam release water will rise. 

A chain link fence was installed to prevent folks from trying to make there way down to water level. From what I saw, that would be a foolish and quite dangerous endeavor. 

The park has a trail which eventually gets to water level but beyond the steep gorge portion seen here. 

Nov 17 Dog Chapel

 

Having just lost Scout, a visit to the Dog Chapel on Dog Mountain was appropriate. 

Here is the story of the Dog Chapel

2020 marked the 20th Anniversary of the Dog Chapel, Stephen Huneck's greatest and most personal artistic contribution.

In 2000, the Dog Chapel was introduced to the world as a symbol of peace, love, and remembrance. In the more than 20 years since, it has been transformed into a living piece of communal art and history, ever-evolving with each new note and photo pinned to the overflowing walls. The Chapel has become a unique and moving physical embodiment of the unending love people have to give.

The story of the inception of the Dog Chapel is one of adversity, perseverance, and hope. Stephen Huneck's own words, from the Introduction to his book, Even Bad Dogs Go to Heaven - More From the Dog Chapel, 2010:

"It is hard to believe that it has been ten years since I finished building the Dog Chapel and almost that long since I first wrote about my mission in The Dog Chapel: Welcome, All Creeds, All Breeds, No Dogmas Allowed. Looking back on these years, I realize more and more that my life has been filled with miracles. Let me tell you about a few...

"Fifteen years ago I became gravely ill. I was in a coma for two months. The doctors had little hope for my recovery, but recover I did. I had to learn to walk, write, and carve all over again. You've heard the expression, 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.' My illness did make me stronger, and it also made me more sensitive, and more appreciative of life. ...

"During the time following my recovery, I thought a lot about life and death. I pondered the rituals we perform when a person dies, such as throwing a handful of dirt on the lowered casket to symbolize that the person has passed on, which helps bring closure for the living. Since dogs are family members, too, I thought it would be wonderful if we could create a ritual space to help achieve closure and lessen the pain when we lose a beloved dog.

"I remember a particular evening early in my recovery very clearly. I was using a walker because my muscles had atrophied, moving with difficulty from one room into another so I could speak with Gwen. As I placed the walker over the threshold of the room a thought flooded my head: Build a dog chapel. My first reaction was excitement. And then I started thinking, 'Geez, with what I owe in medical bills I'd be lucky to build a little dog house.'

"But for months I couldn't get the idea of the Dog Chapel out of my mind. I wanted to build a chapel in the style of an 1820s Vermont church on Dog Mountain, our mountaintop farm. I wanted it to fit into the landscape, as if it had always been there.

2020 marked the 20th Anniversary of the Dog Chapel, Stephen Huneck's greatest and most personal artistic contribution.

In 2000, the Dog Chapel was introduced to the world as a symbol of peace, love, and remembrance. In the more than 20 years since, it has been transformed into a living piece of communal art and history, ever-evolving with each new note and photo pinned to the overflowing walls. The Chapel has become a unique and moving physical embodiment of the unending love people have to give.

The story of the inception of the Dog Chapel is one of adversity, perseverance, and hope. Stephen Huneck's own words, from the Introduction to his book, Even Bad Dogs Go to Heaven - More From the Dog Chapel, 2010:

"It is hard to believe that it has been ten years since I finished building the Dog Chapel and almost that long since I first wrote about my mission in The Dog Chapel: Welcome, All Creeds, All Breeds, No Dogmas Allowed. Looking back on these years, I realize more and more that my life has been filled with miracles. Let me tell you about a few...

"Fifteen years ago I became gravely ill. I was in a coma for two months. The doctors had little hope for my recovery, but recover I did. I had to learn to walk, write, and carve all over again. You've heard the expression, 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.' My illness did make me stronger, and it also made me more sensitive, and more appreciative of life. ...

"During the time following my recovery, I thought a lot about life and death. I pondered the rituals we perform when a person dies, such as throwing a handful of dirt on the lowered casket to symbolize that the person has passed on, which helps bring closure for the living. Since dogs are family members, too, I thought it would be wonderful if we could create a ritual space to help achieve closure and lessen the pain when we lose a beloved dog.

"I remember a particular evening early in my recovery very clearly. I was using a walker because my muscles had atrophied, moving with difficulty from one room into another so I could speak with Gwen. As I placed the walker over the threshold of the room a thought flooded my head: Build a dog chapel. My first reaction was excitement. And then I started thinking, 'Geez, with what I owe in medical bills I'd be lucky to build a little dog house.'

"But for months I couldn't get the idea of the Dog Chapel out of my mind. I wanted to build a chapel in the style of an 1820s Vermont church on Dog Mountain, our mountaintop farm. I wanted it to fit into the landscape, as if it had always been there.

"Although I had no money, I didn't let that stop me. I put the word out to some people I knew who tear down antique buildings. I told them I was looking for stained-glass windows for my Dog Chapel.

"One day when I was at our gallery in Vermont, I got a call from a fellow who had just torn down an old church in upstate New York. He was sure the windows would be perfect. I asked him how much the stained-glass windows would cost and he told me six thousand dollars. This was a lot more money that I could come up with, but I knew I had to go and take a look, and worry about that later.

"There was an elderly couple in the gallery while I was on the phone, and they asked me what the conversation was all about.

"I explained my vision of building a Dog Chapel. They did not say to me, 'You're crazy,' which was the typical response. Being dog lovers themselves, they thought my idea of a Dog Chapel made perfect sense. They said, 'Listen, tell you what. You agree to make us a six-foot harvest table out of tiger maple and we'll give you the six thousand dollars right now, so you can go over and buy those stained-glass windows.' Of course I told them we had a deal!

"I went straight over to look at the windows and the fellow was right, they were perfect. I just had to add my dog motifs to their circular panels.

“With that purchase, the Dog Chapel started to seem like a reality. Three years and a lot of work later I completed the Dog Chapel. I spared no expense or labor to make it just as beautiful as I possibly could. "As soon as the Dog Chapel was open to the public, I invited everyone who came to visit to put up a photo of their departed dog and to write a few sentences about what their dog meant to them.

“I set aside a wall in the foyer of the Dog Chapel, which I called the Remembrance Wall, for this purpose.

“I had envisioned maybe someday having the foyer filled top to bottom with dog pictures. I never anticipated the whole building - every single space - covered with photos and words of remembrance, as the chapel is today.

"When you visit the Dog Chapel you are totally enveloped with messages of love. It is a very moving experience - sad, certainly, but also uplifting - to see how much everyone cherishes his or her dog. Grieving for a lost dog is one aspect of the Dog Chapel, but equally important is celebrating the joy of living and the bond between dogs and their owners. I wanted people and dogs to have the most fun they possibly could. To this end, I have put in hiking trails, ponds for dogs to swim in, and an agility course for them to play on. In the winter folks come and snowshoe with their dogs, enjoying the pristine surroundings and the spectacular views. ...

"Dogs bring us closer to nature, and they help us live in the moment and feel unconditionally loved. They give us so much and ask for so little in return."

 

Nov 17 Chickering Bog

 

The Chickering Bog is located just 10 miles from Vermont's tiny capital, Montpelier. It has been there a long time. As the glaciers receded 10,000 to 15,000 years ago, a huge chunk of ice was left in a depression carved by the glacier, creating a pond. Vegetation grew in the pond, died and decomposed slowly into peat providing a base for other plants to survive. 

Chickering Bog is a misnomer. It's a fen. The difference being the source of the water. Bogs rely solely on rainwater whereas fens, in addition to rainwater, get groundwater which picks up nutrients as it passes over bedrock. This allows fens to be more nutrient rich and more alkaline that acidic bogs. This fen has an inlet, outlet and a small pond visible from the boardwalk.

Pitcher plants grow here and I was surprised to see small Pitcher plans popping through the Sphagnum moss beside the boardwalk. This fen is 10 acres and considered a Class 1 wetland. 

It looks like you could just walk out there. Your first step would involve sinking into the peat. How far? I don't car to find out. This fen has been measured at 24.5 feet deep beside the boardwalk and up to 30 feet in other areas. 

Bob Klein was a former director of The Nature Conservancy, the current land owner. In 1982, TNC approached one of the owners, Art and Jo Chickering. They sold 30 acres. Another local land owner sold 29 acres. In 1990 the Chickerings donated an additional 75 areas. By 2014, TNC had acquired 220 acres and public access was permitted. 

The trail to the fen is about 1 mile through a Spruce/Fir/Tamarack forest. Look for the stone staircase along the snowmobile trail to find the fen. 

Nov 12 Walkway Over the Hudson

 

It's a State (NY) Historic Site and on the National Register of Historic Places. My visit was on a windy and seasonally cool day. I needed to hold my hat on most of the walk. The bridge started out as a 2 track railroad bridge in 1889. It was known as the Poughkeepsie-Highland Bridge. At the time it was the only bridge over the Hudson between NYC and Albany. It provided a vital link as it was interconnected to a nationwide network of railroads during a time when trains moved virtually all freight. During WWII it accommodated a train an hour carrying wartime supplies. After the war, train traffic declined. In 1974 a fire damaged the Poughkeepsie side and by 1980 traffic had ceased. The state had the foresight to turn it into a wonderful walking bridge. 

The Hudson River was created during the last ice age about 16,000 years back when glaciers carved the waterway. It was carved so deep that the riverbed is lower than the Atlantic Ocean for 150 miles from NYC to Albany. So, it is tidal for 150 miles! That is impressive.

The bridge is very high, 212 feet above the river and 1.28 miles long making it the longest pedestrian bridge in the world. Due to the stinging temperature and wind we only walked to the midpoint of the bridge. There we watched a container ship pass underneath. 

Sojourner Truth

If you'd like to read about this amazing woman, please access this Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sojourner_Truth Her statue and memorial is on the approach to the Highland side (west).

The Empire State Trail passes through here. This caboose has been riddled with graffiti and paint to conceal it.  

Oct 28 Edwards-Franklin House

 

As it is today, thanks to the Surry County Historical Society and their 1973 restoration work.

As it was in 1973 after being vacant since 1969.

In 1799 Gideon Edwards built this house on a knoll near the Fisher River in the Low Gap area of Surry County. The property was referred to as "Skull Camp" at that time. Gideon farmed the 1300 acre tract. When he died in 1820 the house became the property of Meshack Franklin and his wife Milly (Gideon's daughter). Meshack's bother Jesse, the 8th governor of North Carolina, lived nearby. 

In 1847 the house was bought by Sinclare McMickle. During the McMickle/Blevin family ownership, the property was downsized by a series of land sales. The last Blevin to live in the house left in 1969. Vacant for a few years, the house was acquired by the Surry County Historical Society in 1972. An ambitious renovation ensued.  It was added to the National Register of Historic Places at that time as well. 

In 1820 when Meshack Franklin acquired the house, he wanted to update it in the Federalist style. Staircases, panels, mantles and doors were painted in popular decorative styles of that time. Note, the door has been painted in a decorative way.  

Why are there 2 front doors? One seems to be centered, so I wonder if the other was a later add on. And what could it have been for? It's interesting to note that McMickle operated a post office in the house. It was called Edwardsville. Maybe the door was added so one door could be the family entrance and the other for the public conducting business with the postal enterprise. 

Close up of door

During the renovation, the porch banisters were pegged to the support columns.  

Double shouldered chimneys grace both sides of the house. Both chimneys have "1799" etched into them. 

Cellar door with wood lockbox and wood pull above. 

Flemish bond

The house is open a few days during the year. Today was not one of those days, so we just walked around to admire it. A couple of Chinese chestnut trees have dropped their load of burrs on the lawn. 

There is no sign of the kitchen. It would have been a separate building. There were rocks in the middle of the field across the street which could have been associated with the home. We did not see the cemetery but one is somewhere on the property. 

Oct 23 Medoc Mountain

 

Here, near the fall line, a 325' hill can be called a mountain. The fall line is where the harder rocks of the piedmont give way to the softer rocks of the coastal plain. Way back during the Paleozoic Age, 350 million years ago, volcanic activity formed a mountain range here. The surrounding countryside all eroded away into what is now massive open fields and almost completely flat terrain. Medoc Mountain is part of a granite structure that didn't completely erode away. 

I thought the name Medoc had a Native American origin but it is named for a French grape area in the Bordeaux region. There has to be a story behind that. Sidney Weller owned the land during the first half of the 19th century. He developed the land into vineyards which supplied grapes for his wine making business - Weller's Halifax. By 1840 it was the leading American wine producer. Weller is credited with establishing the country's grape wine viticulture. He named the mountain for the French wine making area. In 1854 he sold the business to the Garrett brothers Charles and FM. Later by 1900, a descendent Paul Garrett produced the country's most popular wine, Virginia Dare. Eventually, the vineyards were replaced with other agriculture.

In 1970, local conservationists began an effort to establish a park on the property. Much of the land was to be logged by Union Camp. The locals were able to delay timbering and by 1973 the land had been purchased and the state created the state park. It just celebrated its 50th anniversary. 

I viewed two dams in the park, both on the same tributary of Fishing Creek. This concrete one, has a rectangular opening with a metal frame to hold rising boards. 

The second dam is just upcreek. It is stone and earthen. It appears there is a possible mill race next to this one.

This surprised me. Mountain laurel, lots of it. So much that this trail has a long Mountain laurel tunnel.

At the top of the hill there was an early Boy Scout Camp dating to 1920. BSA was formed in 1910. I saw no remnants of any structures here. The summit is a long ridge which an old road follows for some distance. The Vinson family has a cemetery here. I was not able to learn anything about that family. These stones dated from late 1800s to early 1900s. The park built a wood fence around the cemetery. A roll of old cemetery fence is seen nearby.

Bridge over Fishing Creek

A large salamander, the Neuse River Waterdog is found here. It is a large salamander which only is found in the Neuse, Tar/Pamlico river basins. There are other similar salamanders known as mudpuppies, mud dogs etc. They all live in water, breathing through gills, never developing lungs like terrestrial salamanders. 

This kids' adventure and educational trail is located right by the Visitors center. It is both quirky and educational. A ranger told me that staff from several other state parks has come to view it. So, we may see more of these at other parks. 

Zoom in to see the accompaniments.