(Click above to see our 2010 poster)
Blackberry River Walk 2008:
We met as is our custom at the East Canaan Congregational Church, where the Friends of Beckley Furnace greeted arriving guests (click on any of the thumbnails to see a larger image).
At 9:30 AM sharp we all moved inside for welcoming remarks by President Ed Kirby.
Ed briefly summarized our year at Beckley Furnace, and introduced our Vice President (and Lakeville Journal historical reporter) Dick Paddock. During 2008, the Friends received on loan from the Falls Village/Canaan Historical Society the so-called "Wallace Papers". These consist of several notebooks of recollections by the last general manager of the East Canaan works, William Wallace.
Dick had taken these papers in hand, scanned them, and transcribed them during 2008. They were, as Dick reminded us, a huge contribution to our understanding of the actual operation of Beckley Furnace (and the other East Canaan furnaces) and made us all pause and reconsider some of the accepted wisdom about the demise of the Barnum Richardson Company and the iron industry in the Salisbury Iron District.
Following Dick's talk, the group began the "walk" portion of the day -- traversing the half mile from the church to the Barnum and Richardson Study Building -- also known as the office building. Here are the walkers en route to the office building:
Once at the office building, Dick continued his narrative. He pointed out some of the features of the building, including the public room and the paymaster's window:
The Friends have been working hard on restoring the interior of this building and making it useful as a year-round study center. The first room that will be completely restored will be the former executive office -- once occupied by William Wallace, whose papers were discussed earlier. The parquet floor has now been painstakingly restored, and at present the walls are open to permit modern electrical wiring and effective insulation -- and this provides us with a fleeting glimpse of the framing of that part of the building.
The group then moved along to the dam and the furnace itself.
The water level was reasonably high for August. By the way, we anticipate that the State of Connecticut will shortly undertake a project to build a new structure behind the existing dam to preserve it. We've been seeing deterioration for several years now, and this restoration, while temporarily disruptive, will ensure that we still have the dam present as a backdrop for the furnace, and as a reminder of its historical importance in powering the industries of the Beckley Furnace complex.
At the furnace itself, the chain link fence that had surrounded the structure for many years now has finally been removed, through the efforts of the Friends. We think you will agree that the difference having the fence out of there makes is remarkable. Here's a view of the blacksmith who visited us for the day to show us a bit about how iron is forged, and in the next picture are two of the actual skips once used to charge Beckley Furnace, drawn up on the lawn for observation.
While the furnace will eventually pose for a new set of formal portraits, here are a few views of the "fenceless furnace" only a week after the removal of the fence:
It was then time to get back on the road -- Lower Road -- and see more of what made this an important part of industrial Americana 150 years ago. After passing the remaining Barnum & Richardson company houses, Walt Michaels, grandson of the last ironmaster of Beckley, gave us a presentation near the site of the "Furnace in a field" -- namely East Canaan #3.
Finally, we adjourned to the ever-popular Land of Nod Winery where we enjoyed hot dogs (courtesy of the Michaels family) and a few of us stopped in the winery shop -- to purchase the Friends of Beckley Furnace tee-shirts they sell there, of course, not to mention the fine wines they make from grapes grown on what was once the site of a blast furnace.
We had a great day! Join us next year for the next edition of Blackberry River Walk!
