Wow - A 400-foot sluiceway!

When the foliage cleared away late fall, I noticed--when driving by on Keeney Road--what appeared to be a long carved path. It turns out it was an ancient 400-foot sluiceway/spillway that was part of an old Carting Mill.

Google Map location >

What's a Carding Mill?

Carding mills prepared wool for spinning by brushing the fibers to evenly align them. Farm families sheared, sorted, picked, and scoured wool before bringing it to the mill. The “carding engines” then brushed the wool into rolls for spinning or into batting for quilts.

Being naturally curious for old ruins I checked it out...

The Spillway

The Earthen Dam

Looking back to the spillway from the dam...

Sunset (heading home)

Further Info

• Buckingham Carding Mill Dam (Lost Glastonbury)
• Carding Mill Photo (Old Sturbridge Village)

Mystery Dam

This is west of Buckingham Park (north of Hebron Road)

Further on (up on the ridge) I paused for a selfie

Other Info

Middle Buckingham Dam (Lost Glastonbury)

It was a dark and misty day....

 A day for Edgar Allen Poe - damp and dreary but since I was on my way back from a rehearsal in Stamford, I couldn't resist stopping at one of my all time favorite spots - no matter how dismal the weather. I wisely didn't bring my bike cuz it was very soggy...

Buckingham Park Trails

Off Keeney...

Buckingham Park Trails

Keeney "Tour"

Nov. 18th

Chillin'...

Ridge Trail - ready!

Nov. 23rd

My hiking pal Kevin was up in the area so he stopped by late afternoon for a hike. It was freakin' cold and windy but at least the sun was out!

Oh the green! ....  <wink>

We gingerly hiked down a really steep incline to get to the stream but it was pretty nice!

Last rays of sun...

Still Curious - North of Howe

I knew there were a lot more trails north of Howe I hadn't yet explored so since the weather was great today I returned to check them out. Once again I parked on Keeney and hiked up on the main artery to get to Howe. On the way, I GPS'd  a couple more trails off to the east...

and snapped a couple of autumn shots as well.

North of Howe

Once I was north of Howe, I went straight instead of turning at the first intersection. This interesting remnant was on the way there...

I started the GPS going at the point where I went straight instead of turning and had quite a hike this time! The weather was really pleasant although the leaves were still wet and somewhat slippery from the rain last night.

Much of this seldom used trail are trenches on really steep fall lines which obviously encourages erosion. Methinks they may have been created by dirt bikers ages ago who have since moved away.

This goes straight up the hill..

 ... and the trail went on and on forever!

Interesting remnant here - maybe it was the floor of a kid's log hut?

Hey - who's that? :-)

Further on,  this section appeared to be maintained at some point - notice the sawed deadfall.

It went on and on and up and down for seemingly forever...

I finally bailed here near Howe Street and bushwhacked up to the road.

Trail Summation

 Curiosity was satisfied (at least for a while!)