Date: Fri 26-Dec-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

snow-Glen-Sandy-Hook

Full Text:

Stopping Along Glen Road On A Snowy Morning

BY DOROTHY EVANS

Today the snow falls just as quietly as it always has into the Glen Road gorge

of the Pootatuck River of Sandy Hook.

Undisturbed, it might settle down and stay awhile, untouched by sunlight in

the cool shadows of that deep, wooded ravine.

Around the upper Rubber Factory mill pond, all is silent as a thickening

whiteness weighs upon pine boughs and bare branches.

To a passerby exploring the glen on a snowy day in December, it seems hard to

imagine that this picturesque spot was once a very busy place, a focus for

local industry and, in the middle of the last century, a daily destination for

hundreds of factory workers.

Ever since the early 1700s, water from the Pootatuck has provided power for

gristmills, sawmills and brick factories. In this way, the river served first

the early settlers, then Newtown's growing agricultural community. Centuries

before that, it supported the Pootatuck Indian tribe whose name it bears.

But by the end of the last century, as Newtown became more of a vacation and

residential community and as the farming way of life declined, the wheels of

industry in Sandy Hook stopped turning.

Both Goodyear rubber factories were closed in the early 1900s and the two

large factory buildings were converted to quieter uses, becoming warehouses,

offices, galleries, gift shops and a restaurant.

As the trees have grown, the view from the road is obscured. The upper mill

pond and its dam are seldom seen by travelers speeding by.

Heading down Glen Road toward the Silver Bridge and Southbury or up it to

Sandy Hook center, they are intent upon the next curve, preoccupied with other

things.

Glancing out the car window, they might note the familiar profile of the lower

rubber factory building now known as the Fabric Fire Hose Company, which has

become a Sandy Hook landmark.

But they don't think about what history has taken place down in that rocky

ravine, what secrets might be hidden along the shores of the Pootatuck River,

around the mill pond and its dam, under the snow.