Old Furnace State Park

 Welcome back! That's more for me than for you. I finally have the time to write again as well as to pursue other interests. You see, I have finally retired. Okay, not all the way but I am only working three mornings a week which gives me time for things like this.

It's my plan to blog about the places I go. I explore state parks, historical sites, abandoned places, and just plain old interesting places. As part of that, I will be doing three things:

1. Writing blog posts
2. Taking lots of pictures
3. Cresting YouTube videos.

As a way to add to my retirement fund, I will place all my pictures for sale through an app called Fotomoto. I have a store there. Just click on the options below the pics. My intention is not to get rich but rather to supplement what is coming in from my retirement and pay for my forays.

Okay, now back to my hike at the Old Furnace State Park in Killingly, CT. If you have already watched my video, you will notice I didn't have a lot of information when I was hiking. I have a bad habit of just going somewhere knowing hardly anything about the place and then sounding foolish as I try to guess what I am seeing. It usually is not until I return to my Wayward Walker wigwam that I find the information. The good news is I usually guess correctly. 

When I first entered the trail section, immediately in front of me was Fall Brook. This brook was flowing rather strongly, going over and around bedrock. You could cross this brook either here or take the bridge to the right. 

The trail followed along the brook and at the bridge you could go over the bridge, or bear right and follow the brook. I could hear falls and I wanted to see them. Before I could get a good view of them I went right. I came to some walls along a dirt road. There were some stacked stones behind one of the walls forming two sides of a rectangle. I believe this was a foundation. For what? Let's look around some more.

On the other side of the road is a trail leading to the river. At the base of the falls is more stonework. Some of it has collapsed making it difficult to determine what might have been there. So what could have been here? I think the name of the park gives us a rather large clue. There was a furnace here used to make iron ore. There was also a forge at this location. Both of these were powered by water.

Buildings can be moved, demolished, burnt down or just rot away and fall down. But no matter what happens, there may be signs left. Signs like foundations, steps, bricks. In this case, the furnace was dismantled and the forge moved to a nearby town. These stone structures could be the foundation of the foundry and some of the workings used to power it. After the foundry was moved there was a grist mill put here.

I also crossed the stream and found more possible evidence of the mill. There was another small stream at the top of a small hill. There was a man-made dam creating a small pond. There was also a stone-lined ditch or mill race, again man-made. This flowed to the top of the falls. I believe there would have been a wood sluiceway connecting this to the mill. 

The stone walls along the old road are more of a mystery. They may have marked the entrance to the mill. There may have been a house and this could have been the driveway. The third possibility is in 1908 the land was donated to the town and made first into a town park, and then a state park. This wall could have served as the entrance to the park. I researched whether the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) may have done any work in this park but the results were negative. The CCC did a lot of similar stonework. Visit the CT CCC museum.

While working my way to the small dam and culvert, I came across a boulder with two small quartz stones placed on it. One of the things I look for in my explorations is possible evidence of a Native American presence. Native Americans would sometimes make offerings to various spirits or deceased relatives by leaving quartz rocks on a boulder, Although I don't think this is the case here as I found no other evidence, you never really know for sure.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better I made my way to some cliffs. There are two ways to get there. I followed the trail I was on, crossed a bridge then turned right. This was a long but not too steep climb. Reaching the top of the hill I took a side trail to some magnificent cliffs. On an autumn day, the view would be even more stunning than it already is.

If you took a left at the bridge, this would also take you to the cliffs but the climb would have been very steep. This was the way I came down. There is also another parking area at this trailhead. If you park here you can skip the long climb for the short steep one.

Trail Review

This is one of the nicer trails I have been on since I started seriously hiking a few years ago. It wasn't too strenuous on my old, overweight body. There were some spots where it was steep but well worth the climb. There were a few spots that were not well marked, or had confusing trail marks but as long as I took a left at every intersection I was good.

There are two kinds of hikes I like. I like scenic hikes that take me to beautiful places. I like hikes that take me to interesting places, places where I can find old foundations, rusted relics, historical artifacts, and the like. This hike had both. 

If you would like to watch the YouTube Video I took here is the link: Old Furnace Stae Park Remember to share, like, and subscribe.

You can also see my trip on AllTrails by linking here: Old Furnace State Park