Then And Now: Caspar Hall To Bethany Airport. Ride, Walk A Journey

“Go around with your eyes like a camera. Don't lose it by talking. Go and listen. And work!” Jimmy Breslin

Murky, then clear. Time and change.

Wongunk, Wongum, Mattabesett, Pyquag, River Indians, Middletown Indians… walking near the Connecticut River. Following her lead.

Research to place now with then. All of life combines. Aviation, aerospace. Travel, TDYs to military moves. Exploration on horseback, piney woods, clear cold water. Snakes and racking gaits. Hunts and tracking. Full tilt gallop in a meadow, a feist alongside her tongue lolling. She could keep up. Business, hospitality, innovation. Science. Learning from the best. Chapters. Back to Connecticut, hit the ground running. Dreams realized. Doors opening. Fall down, get up. Learn. Rise.

But first.

Note the gutter slanted to drain water. Image is linked to source, Connecticut Digital Archive where viewers may zoom in on details. Note the incredible detail in this image. A chimney's been nibbled away over time. Inscribed on front “Caspar Hall Place Meriden, Conn. 175 yrs old.” Rev. Samuel Hall built the house in 1762 near Preston Avenue on Old Liberty Street as a wedding present for his son, Breton. Lyman Hall, signer of the Declaration of Independence and Col. Street Hall, revolutionary war hero were cousins of Rev. Hall. Date is 1890, Meriden (Conn.) Photographer Burton H. Hubbell via Connecticut Historical Society/Connecticut Digital Archive, linked to this image.

How was the house sited? Will guess looking at the magnificent view of two nearby traprock hills, plus the waters of Black Pond and what used to be an adjacent lively swamp backed up to the talus from the basalt cliffs above. Which is ideal habitat for copperheads that love the sun-warmed scree; many pockets beneath rock for denning. Ideal habitat near food sources as well.

Note the ell, outbuilding for livestock, wood? So unusual the height of the home. Windows. That roof.

Burton Hubbell. (Thank you for your work across time.) Photographer who sent images from the past forward in time to the keepers who preserve and present these treasures. Time travel. From the moment he captured an image to right now. Imagine scanning his image to make a three-dimensional object. Now site it on location as a holographic display. Then ground penetrating radar and an overlay of objects found. An archaeological exploration, dig under auspices of the state archaeologist.

The late Richard McBride, a living library when he lived in Meriden, Connecticut, told of Parker Road being Liberty Street–a comment that seemed incredible at the time, decades ago. Not anymore. Old maps show and tell; deep reading helps with understanding what has changed. The memory of reading and doing research for local history, a story then flickered through my mind. A book. This footnote, which applies to the structure pictured above.

4. This old house was torn down a year ago. If one rides to the end of the electric car line on East Meriden and then walks up the road running to the north, one is on Preston Avenue. At the top of the hill, about an eighth of a mile from the car tracks, one reaches this old highway running east and west. That part of the highway east of Preston Avenue is still in use and climbs a hill, at the top of which on the south side of the road stood the old Casper [sic] or Brenton Hall place. From this point the view is beautiful; in the south extends the range of Besett or Beseck Mountains with Black Pond at the foot mirroring the rugged cliffs in its sombre waters, while in the west a charming stretch of meadow, wood and vale ends with the grand range of the Hanging Hills. About a half a mile to the west on the same old highway stands the John Yeamans house with its old stone chimney still undisturbed (taken down since this was written). This house was build by Daniel Baldwin about 1730, Chimney Hill derives its name from the old stone chimneys of two or three old houses, left standing after the houses had disappeared. These houses also faced this road. Several old houses once stood on this street that have completely disappeared.”

—Source: via Google Books

Page 17 via Google Books, digital library. For a clear reading, image is linked to the book online.

Not far.

Walk, think. Write.

Bethany Airport is now a community recreation open space and field. Trails. Across the street from Lock, Stock & Barrel.

Connect disparate worlds.

Billy Beaumont (and helper), met because of vinca, in foreground. Just picked sweet corn. And will return to gather stories.

Silos, begone. Silos as in industries, but also thinking of those once common structures used to store ensilage, the scent and purpose of that architecture. (Why built round?) And a thermos long ago from a lunchbox that foretold a fascination with barns, livestock, soils, growing more than crops. Keep going. Learning botany and science, how to use a guide to identify plants. Then meeting a friendly Holstein at what was then the Hall farm; fenced pasture is now a business park/office complex. Curiosity fed by books, asking questions. Writing and drawing. A camera placed in hands, quest for capturing and adding words to images. Images and words. Context.

Mechanical dog bank. Linked to story.

Meantime, savor summer and time. Because both fly by.

“But it's daybreak, if you wanna believe
It can be daybreak, ain't no time to grieve
Said it's daybreak if you'll only believe…”

—Barry Manilow

A recent (spring and summer 2021) favorite played in the evening, by him for inspiration or comfort. Only he knows. The range of that nightly play list included Tchaikovsky, Glen Campbell, so many others.

Which brings up a book that is a gem for grief, told with powerful honesty. Will help with navigating a journey that each of us will experience. Multiple times.

Rooted in the earth. Farmhouse.

Touching Two Worlds: A Guide for Finding Hope in the Landscape of Loss by Sherry Walling.
“In November of 2018, I lost my dad to esophageal cancer and six months later, my brother was lost to suicide. Like the neurologist who gets brain cancer or the autism specialist who gives birth to a child on the spectrum, I was granted the unwanted opportunity to use my own expertise on myself. In Touching Two Worlds, I open the inner workings of my own grief and try to leave a navigational map for anyone trying to find their way in the aftermath of loss.” Published in July 2022; a sample chapter is available at the official website linked here.

A year in an eye blink. Renewed dedication to healing, helping. Community and business. Keep the excellence, let the rest go; ride on.



Editor's note: This story has been updated.

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