Bethany. Woodbridge, The Flats. Simon Donato, Keeper of the Stories
Believe while others are doubting. The moon and horses in winter.
Plan while others are playing.
Study while others are sleeping.
Decide while others are delaying.
Prepare while others are daydreaming.
Begin while others are procrastinating.
Work while others are wishing.
Save while others are wasting.
Listen while others are talking.
Smile while others are frowning.
Commend while others are criticizing.
Persist while others are quitting.
William Arthur Ward
Destination Bethany. Then Woodbridge.
Peter La Tronica, co-owner of Lock, Stock & Barrel Farm Supply Store in Bethany, CT, making things happen. His wife, Kathy, also a co-owner, is at work across the room. Note the Amish art framed and displayed on the wall.
Horses, many–something Bethany is known for. But also, The Flats. Who better to know the community–region–than Peter La Tronica, co-owner of Lock, Stock & Barrel Farm Store in Bethany, Connecticut. Peter and Kathy La Tronica are in the office; Theron Simons and his wife, Mary, co-owners, have a therapeutic riding center, farm and related business. (Story from 2015, linked here.) And Peter reels off places to visit, horse people, businesses less well known. Connections near and far. History. Then about Simon Donato and prehistory of the region, local knowledge steeped in deep time. He picks up the phone and soon I'm on my way, a drive down Amity Road with landmarks to watch for.
Sampling of artifacts with bold designs that have come to light.
Oh boy. A sunlit greenhouse, hello Simon. Books, shared passions for reading, knowledge, finding. The story of dramatic rock cliffs as a backdrop to a landscape, stories found and kept as told by people, of farms, and artifacts in great profusion made by indigenous people. Objects and images.
Simon Donato, whose crate of books nearby feature many beloved volumes. Subjects include New Haven pizza, archaeology, anthropology. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2015) by Yuval Noah Harari (a book Simon highly recommends). Taking photos to remember titles, here is a kindred soul. (Thank you, Peter–for acting as a catalyst, this introduction.)
Front cover of his book.
“Today, we can still see evidence of the glaciers passing. Tumbled blocks of basalt along the seven mile base of West Rock were mostly caused by ice advancement. Atop West Rock and Longhill (behind the present-day Amity Shopping Center), there are three boulders of granite larger than a dump truck. These boulders, called glacial erratics, were deposited where they stand today as the ice sheet melted, ending their ride from the north where they were picked up by the ice flow somewhere between Mt. Tom, Massachusetts, and Meriden.” — Simon Donato, The Flats: Some Memories of Woodbridge's West River Valley (2014). Available at Whitlock's Book Barn (lower barn) or from the author. (Soon to be for sale via Amazon.) Donato's draft of his next book sits on his desk. The drawings that will accompany it will alternate between pages of text.
Each artifact is carefully packed and stored. “The best ones are displayed at the library.”
Photographs include tunnels to be under the mountain, Merritt Parkway. Now known as The Heroes Tunnel, the results of that project carry approximately 77,300 vehicles daily according to the CT DOT site and “is the only highway tunnel to pass beneath a natural land feature in the State of Connecticut and is eligible for listing on both the National and State Registers of Historic Places. The Wilbur Cross Parkway is a vital connector between New York and Hartford, as well as an alternate expressway route to Interstate 95 and 91.” Below is a short video featuring Simon Donato speaking about the images found in a drawer, not discarded, but brought to his attention and shown here.
Completed tunnels as seen from the Merritt Parkway (as a passenger) on a January day, 2022.
Wilbur Cross Parkway, excavation of tunnels through the mountain. Now seen in a different light having viewed the process of making them.
Bethany barns, connected to Historic Barns of CT site for history, architecture, details on an interactive map. There will be horses.
“Think of the man hours necessary to pick these tomatoes.” Tomatoes, market bound. DeGennaro Farms mid-1940s. Courtesy of Simon Donato.
Travel and learn. Show and tell. Listen. Go and find out. Read, connect. Write it down. Share knowledge of people, places, business.
What will you do to help other people have a wild & precious life?
— Steve Edwards (@The_Big_Quiet) January 17, 2022
Two images, the left one features a dog; the right, a vehicle. The Flats book and these images courtesy of Simon Donato. The shadows are from the overhead structure.
A visit to Lock, Stock & Barrel on Amity Road sparked this story. For an interconnected community, this is a hub.
To be continued, part two. This story was updated 1/18/2022. Inside LSB, questions answered. Backroads following Simon to books. (Forgot to ask about blight-resistant butternut trees.) Later, “…trails are remnants of the Old Naugatuck Trail and The Derby Trail (historic Paugusset Indian Trail). Indians and later early settlers used these trails as their avenues from New Haven to Naugatuck or Derby and beyond. The fabled Leatherman traversed the trails in his journeys to peddle his wares.”