The Tankerhoosen

In Eighteenth Century Church Was Serious Business

Doing family research this week brought home how unique Connecticut was in its relationship with religion, and the influence it had on the congregation's daily life.

I grew up in a small rural town in northern New Jersey and was reading the history of the town and how it evolved. My ancestors moved to the area before 1800 and acquired large parcels of land which they farmed, and later divided between sons and grandsons. People of many nationalities, although primarily Northern European, came for the rich farmland, water power and minerals. The Dutch Reformed came from the north, the English Presbyterian and Methodists from the east and the German Lutherans from the southeast - a variety of cultures, religions and trades. Indeed the first church building in my town was a "Free Church" and shared by several congregations.

Contrast that to Connecticut settled in the 1600's by English Puritan congregations moving together from the Boston area or from England, each to create their own town around their church. Thomas Hooker is the best known example of a religious leader who brought his congregation first from England to Cambridge and then to the wilderness to settle Hartford. Most of the early towns in mid state and along the shoreline were similarly settled. The church was first, the government grew around that core and the state came together out of necessity from concern about the Indians and later the French.

Valley Falls Rail-Trail Fire

It was after midnight last Tuesday, November 15, when I saw the fire truck's going past my house on Valley Falls Road. Listened but couldn't tell where they were headed. Later in the day we learned there was a fire along the Rail Trail above Valley Falls Park.

Fire crews from four towns responded and fought the fire until 6 a.m. and monitored pockets for another four hours. There was fire above, below and on the cliff face making access a challenge, particularly at night.

Hiking Webster-Knapp in October.

Above the cliffs is the Northern Connecticut Land Trust's Webster- Knapp property. Property steward Karl Hasel led a hike there in October. The cliffs are the main attraction, but the rock ledges and vernal pools beyond them make the landscape a delight to walk.

Karl visited the property after the fire and reported insignificant damage. No trees had major damage - mostly leaves, underbrush and some blackened Mountain Laurel. The hiking trails at the top seemed to contain the fire to the overlook area and where it did hop the trail it was quickly contained by the firefighters.

Tunnel Road In 1965

We moved to Vernon in 1963 buying a house in a new development off Tunnel Road. At the time, BC (before children) my wife and I both worked at Pratt in East Hartford.

A co-worker of my wife's was a pilot sharing a small plane out of Brainard Field in Hartford. We went on a flight with him in January 1965 that included a pass over our home. I recently ran across one of the photos I'd forgotten. The pictures show just how much has changed in 50 years as we moved from an agricultural to a bedroom community.

In the first photo (click on it for larger size) we are heading east and approaching today's Exit 66. At bottom left is Sacred Heart Church before the pyramid building. Then the exit to Tunnel Road. Notice all the fields stretching on both sides of the Tankerhoosen River all the way to Bread and Milk. It's January so there is a light snow cover. Beyond the Tunnel and railroad (yes, the tracks were still there) is a Driggs farm field, now a housing development.

Reviving The Tankerhoosen Blog

I've been playing with the Tankerhoosen website since 2010. Although I’ve lived in the Tankerhoosen Valley for over 50 years it was at that time that I began to recognize the watershed as its own entity and became curious about its unique geography and history. The website is my way of organizing what I’ve learned and easily updated as new information is found. As long as its online I may as well share it with the community.

For the first two years I published a fairly regular and lengthy e-newsletter highlighting various sections of the website as they were completed. As I tend to be a perfectionist I didn’t want to show a page until I felt it was complete and as accurate as I could make it at the time. Since this is a hobby and not a business I also worked on whatever grabbed my interest at the time. This led to page after page that were 75% complete, many online but hidden. I would start a newsletter, then be off on some tangent and never seem to get back to it.

I recently read a book called “Show Your Work” by Austin Kleon that advocates letting people know what you are working on and excited about. This blog will, hopefully, get people interested and bring in other viewpoints, knowledge and experience. Many of your families have been here for generations and know far more than I do.

So I’ll back burner my need to be perfect and aim to share something weekly. I could do this on the Tankerhoosen Facebook Page but this is a project not everyone will be interested in so will try using the blog I started and abandoned long ago.     

I encourage you to jump in and straighten me out when I’m wrong and add your and your family’s experience.