Today it was freakin' hot and humid but a morning hike along the picturesque Hockanum river under a canopy of trees was refreshing! Note: “Hockanum” comes from the Native American word Hocquaun, meaning hook-shaped or crooked river.
History Tidbit
"In 1794, a group headed by Samuel Pitkin established a cotton mill along the Hockanum, just west of today’s Union Street. David Watkinson and his brothers took over in 1819, and renamed it the Union Manufacturing Company.In 1866, the company built the Union Dam, 20 feet thick at the base. It was the only dam in Manchester that survived the violent flood of October 1869. Union Manufacturing, as other employers of the time, built housing for workers – many of these houses still exist in the “Old North End.”Cheney Brothers bought the buildings and water rights, and built an electric generating plant in 1901 on North Main Street next to the river. Huge metal pipes brought water from Union Pond to the power-generating plant, and wires on electrical poles brought the power to the south end of town for the silk mills. Stones from the Union Mills were re-used in building Cheney Mills, but no buildings remain at the site of the former cotton mill. Union Village, however, was designated a National Historic District in 2002."
Excerpted from Hockanum River Central to Manchester's History
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| Union Pond |
Descent to the Dam
Graffiti galore...
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| The Union Pond Dam |
Hiking the Trail
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| Kiosk |
The Old Water Pipes
Fascinating!
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