The Things You See in the Woods!

My friend Al gave me a tour of a small part of the Meshomasic Park in East Glastonbury that I hadn't yet explored. It was ridiculously cold to start but as we hiked, the wind and the cold improved a bit.

What's so usual about this bush?
It's Holly - very rare throughout most of Connecticut...

Gotta love it! :-)

Here's where we hiked - Off Goodale Hill Road....

Phillips Indian Rock Shelter

Over 400 artifacts were found in this area when it was excavated in the 1950s.

Meeting True Rockhounds...

There was a short window of nice sunny weather so I returned to the South Glastonbury/Portland quarries with my friend Mike who was anxious to visit them.

Behind Raymond Road

That's an old carriage road behind me

Mike by one of the many quarries in the area

Wiarda/Simpson Quarries

After I gave Mike a tour of the large quarry remnants east of Raymond Road, I took him down to the Wiarda/Simpson Quarries where we encountered a few true rockhounds digging for interesting mineral specimens. They were gracious enough to allow me to take a few photos of some of their findings...

Yep that's Beryll!

Mica 

A good example of Feldspar 
(both beige/pink and white)

We had a great conversation with them re all the minerals present in this quarry as well as a bit about the local history. Truth be told... they had so much info to offer my mind was blown!! It was amazing how much they knew and how easy-going they were when I kept pummeling them with questions!

The Hale House Ruins

Finally when my brain couldn't handle anymore fascinating rock hound info, I showed Mike the ruins of the old Hale House which I had explored before.

This tree burl caught my eye - it looks just like a wizened face doesn't it?

Manchester "Railroad Ramble"

Although I had biked the Cheney Rail Trail back in April 2021, it was nice to take a MeetUp hike with the Manchester Historian as an official guide. There was quite a large turnout!

Cheney Hall

The Hall was built as a theatre and cultural community facility for Manchester. The architecture is that of the French Second Empire Style with medieval and renaissance characteristics. In 1866, an E. & G. G. Hook tracker organ was built into the rear stage wall. Dedicated in 1867, Cheney Hall opened its doors to local theatrical/musical events and gala parties and balls. History of Cheney Hall

Clock Mill

Velvet Factory

Various other Mills - all part of the complex

Most are now apartments..

The former Machine Shop

The Silk Vaults

The start of the Rail Tail...

The colorful patterns on the pillars are actually blow ups of the patterns used in Cheney silk!

Nice artwork! :-)

Railroad bridge (now a foot bridge)

A narrow section of the rail trail

Rails!

Historic Map

Further Info

• The Cheney Silk Mills
• Cheney Brothers Historic District (Wikipedia)
• Cheney Brothers Historic District 

More Quarry Findings

Back in October 2021 I tried to retrace the abandoned portion Old Dayton Road. Crazy Wandering! I returned today with my friend Al to try to locate the abandoned feldspar mine off to the west of the road remnants. Research said there were "orange ribbon trail markers on tree limbs marking a rough path to the Simpson quarry. Even with the trail markers it is rough bushwhacking, along a general bearing of 280º, to get to the overgrown quarry dumps." Well fortunately being wintertime, a barely discernible trail leading to the old quarry was located and we found it!

Simpson Quarry (Wiarda Quarry)

It was more extensive then I thought and the dumps (tailings) were huge.

Dump Area

Rock Close-ups
There were quite a few spots where mica and/or quartz were glistening in the sun

Mica shines!

Quartz

Typical pegmatite rock samples
(note mix of feldspar, mica, quartz, etc.)

-Short Video-

Other Nearby Quarries

I took Al to the pipeline trail off Dayton Road and showed him some of the quarries I had visited previously I'm not a rock hound but.... The weather was sunny and warm - a great. day for a hike!

Off to the left on the descent

Ah yes - the main set of quarries along the carriage road

Al Tinti in front of Quarry #!