Gone Fishing? Or Just Plain Gone––

Taunton Lake Cottage,

 The Last Of Its Kind, Slated For Demolition

By Dottie Evans

 When describing the dilapidated cottage at 63 Taunton Lake Road, Sam Capon who lives next door at #61 calls it the “Blair Witch house in the woods.”

Despite its neglected state, the one-acre lakeside property with its 1940s house, mini-pumphouse, separate outhouse, and wrecked wooden boat has a certain charm. The house has been abandoned for so long it truly seems haunted –– but in a nice way.

“It’s just so rustic over there you can almost breathe the history, but it’s not spooky,” said Lisa Robertson, who occasionally house-sits at #65 on the other side.

Sheltered by surrounding trees that are dropping leaves on a gray October day, the cottage and its foundations are partially obscured by soft, ferny undergrowth that has overwhelmed the property. A visitor bent on exploring the place must step over fallen tree branches and wade through pricker vines. If it is a perfect spot for ghosts to linger, they must be happy ones.

One such ghost might be the old lady who once sat in the wicker rocking chair on the screen porch. Another might be the old man who hauled his rowboat onto the shore, turned it over against the weather, and then hung up his fishing line for the last time.

“We’re glad there will at least be pictures to remember how it was,” said Mr Capon, whose daughter and son-in-law are planning to build a 3,000-square-foot house on the lakefront lot at #63.

He looks forward to having his family living next door. The new house is being designed by Academy Design and Construction, LLC of Newtown, and clearing and removal of trees was scheduled to begin on Thursday, October 27, as this issue of The Bee went to press. The old house and its outbuildings will be taken down as well.

According to Mr Capon, #63 was once owned by Robert Cooper of Bridgeport, who bought it from an old widow. That was a long time ago, perhaps before World War II. Other Taunton Lake neighbors think #63 may be the last intact cottage from a bygone era when their side of the lake was sprinkled with fishing shacks that sprang up in the 1920s and 1930s.

“Our house was built in 1955, but a lot of them are much older,” said Pat Barkman of #49, which has undergone several renovations.

The early Taunton Lake vacation cottages were mostly owned by out-of-towners from Monroe and Bridgeport who came to Newtown when this town was a growing resort destination. Many cottages have been converted to year-round residences and over time, their once-vacant adjoining lots have been developed.

Today, large two- and three-story colonials are beginning to obscure a traveler’s view of the lake. Like it or not, change is well underway along both sides of historic Taunton Lake Road.

Centuries-old trees are being cut down for safety concerns and because their roots are impinging on the right-of-way. A three-story home is being built on a two-lot lakeside parcel at #25 that borders the lake’s historic outlet stream, which is the source of Pond Brook. A realtor’s sign has been posted in front of the big red Allen family barn at the road’s Mt Pleasant entrance.

Nevertheless, residents, anglers, and passersby still treasure the quiet beauty of the lake and the sense of history they find there. From the Newtown Fish and Game Club boat launch established in the 1930s to Taunton Cemetery founded in 1787; from the old grist and saw mill along Pond Brook to the 20-acre Cullins Youth Association park and scout campground located opposite #63 –– these longtime landmarks will always be there.

Speaking of permanence, Taunton Lake itself (some old-timers prefer to call it Taunton Pond) has been a feature of the New England landscape since before Colonial or Native American occupation of its shores. Geologists say it was formed 15,000 years ago by the last retreating glacier when a large hunk of ice was caught between two ridges and melted in place, forming a permanent depression.

Early Newtown settlers were quick to claim the lake as a source of clean drinking water, and subsequent residents who fished or harvested ice there have always been conscious of preserving its pristine nature. Swimming is prohibited and only electric battery-powered motorboats, canoes, rowboats, or kayaks are allowed.

Wilbur “Skip” Luf, whose father Fred Luf was a longtime president of Newtown Fish And Game Club, has lived in Newtown all of his life. In 1962, he joined the club whose many members along with lakeside residents enjoy rights to fishing and boating activities on the lake.

“They’ve done a lot of improving down there,” Mr Luf said, referring to “all those cottages that people have gentrified.”

“Taunton Lake is a flat-bottomed pond,” he said, “and Pond Brook, which flows out of it and goes through Hawleyville [flowing into the Housatonic River] keeps right on rolling to the ocean. The lake is very fragile, and we’re concerned about preserving it. They [the club] put in an aeration system and pumps to protect water quality, and they are on the lookout for alien species and bottom scavengers like clams and snails.

“In the 1970s, we suggested that the 200 or so Taunton Lake area property owners not to use phosphorous fertilizers on their lawns because runoff flows into the lake and depletes the oxygen. It’s still a problem,” Mr Luf said.

“We’re only here for a short period of time. We need to think about the future.”

( Next Week: Taunton Lake Timeline, and Vista Del Lago.)