Sunday, April 13, 2014

Nonnewaug Fishweir

The most recent photos of the Nonnewaug Fish Weir washing away:









April 2014

5 comments:

  1. Growing up our property was one corn field away from the falls. I spent a lot of time walking thinking fishing and camping there. To me it was the most heavenly place on earth. I have such great memories of the falls and an so glad it is being reserved.

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  2. I grew up in Woodbury and never saw the falls, but the whole area is very beautiful. I'm glad I grew up in such a historic and ancient land. Thank you for posting all this information Mr. NacSweeny

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  3. Tim, thank you for your wonderful work. I am working on my thesis for my MFA program, a novel place in Woodbury. Although my children both graduated from Nonnewaug High School, I have never been to Nonnewaug Falls. I will go as soon as I can.

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  4. This is very interesting to me as I, like Terry grew up exploring and playing in this place. We had a great swimming hole right across Nonnewaug Road and down the hill from Murtagh's and were there virtually every day. We climbed over every inch of the falls too. Where is the weir? I presume it is just before the terrain levels out to the fields where the brook has been straightened. I probably have seen it but thought it was just old stone walls from a previous settlement. We frequently followed the brook up or down.

    There used to be a ford in the Nonnewaug right where the brook from the Falls entered it, where the farmers would cross to access the fields on the east side. Could there have been another weir there? There was a series of S-bends right after that. I remember finding some wild(?) hops growing in that stretch.

    We fished the river and the tributaries extensively but never found or caught any fish besides dace and shiners in the falls brook. We regularly caught native brookies in the upper Nonnewaug and even the lower Attwood Brook before the dam was built by Biondi right below the big rock (another swiming hole) at the Route 61 bridge.They were black with bright spots, no more than 7-8" long. Always released.

    Great work documenting all this natural history!

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  5. Bruce: the weir was at the upper end of the swimming hole. You probably walked on it more than once! Before being damaged when a tree plowed through it in 1997, the big pool below it was a deep spot and probably looked much like you remember it...

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