Barkhamsted Walk back in time

Today we went on a walk at People's State Forest led by Paul Hart. He stopped at various spots on the way and described how things were 100's of years ago--or in one case, thousands. He had us imagine the road being filled with a drove of cows or pigs or even geese coming down the road. This was typical in the day. This was just one example of our guide's way of bringing us back to the past. Or imagine anchors, of all things, being transported through here.
When we crossed the street to Squire's Tavern, we were greeted by a memorial to Walt Landgraf, who will undoubtedly go down in
in history as the greatest tour guide of Barkhamsted. That being said, Paul did a wonderful job too.

We were unaware of these new informative posts put up by the Barkhamsted Historical Society which we glimpsed at while Paul spoke of the family that owned the tavern and the hundreds of acres they owned. We even got a quick tour of the inside.

From Squire's Tavern, we took a short cut through the back yard up to the Stone Museum. On the way, we saw this bear!

 

 

Next stop was the Stone Museum where he told us more about the area and the CC camps followed by a short visit inside.

Some of the displays inside:

I'm kind of a rock hound. These brought back memories of where I grew up and when a new housing development was being built. When they dug the foundation holes there were many garnets. My friend and I enjoyed gathering them.

 

Speaking of rocks, had to take a picture of these beautiful ones that make up part of the stone museum.

George found this little guy hanging around outside the museum.

From there Paul took us to a charcoal mound and described all the work that went into making charcoal. There were many mounds throughout the forest where charcoal was made and sold.

I normally would take notes when attending a talk, but when it is a walking talk, I could not take notes to get facts straight, so I am not giving hardly any details here. I suggest you take this very informative walk for yourself when it is offered again. There was a lot of info presented in an interesting way.

We were next led back down to the East River Road where Paul paused and spoke about fences. Fences had certain specifications required to protect crops and lands. They were plentiful and sturdy.
Back to People's State Forest Park, Paul talked about the glacier age, the flood and the use of the river.

Rock with dedication of People's Forest.




 

Again this blog is more about showing you where we went rather than to teach you the history. I encourage you to take this excellent tour next year when it is offered again.