Orchard Hill Waterworks Entertain Walkers

By Dottie Evans

During Sunday’s “Walk For Fitness” at Orchard Hill Nature Center, those who showed up may have expected the worst so they came prepared wearing their oldest sneakers and swathed in rain gear.

Yet everyone seemed delighted with the afternoon event co-sponsored by the Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) and the Parks and Recreation Department and they were pleasantly surprised by the way water –– or the lack of it –– enhanced the overall experience.

From an obliging afternoon break in the day’s almost nonstop drizzle to a dramatic overabundance of water gushing and cascading over the old rock dam, both planners and participants could hardly have asked for better.

While the splashing waterfall was the happy byproduct of two days’ heavy downpour, the cessation in precipitation was just plain good luck according to event planner Margareta Kotch of the VNA.

“It was great. The rain stopped at 1 pm and it didn’t really start up again until 5 pm.

“The waterfall had been only a trickle for weeks due to the drought. They got to see just how much force the river has when it’s running full, and how that water might really have turned a waterwheel to run a saw mill or a grist mill,” Ms Kotch said.

The hikers, who numbered between 40 and 50, followed the trail through the park and noted points along the way that were highlighted by a questionnaire handed out ahead of time. Simple tree identifications and a boardwalk through a wetland provided easy discussion points, but Ms Kotch and Rose Ann Reggiano of Parks and Rec sprinkled in some ringers to test the older participants.

“The question When was Newtown incorporated? was a little tricky,” Ms Kotch said. “Most people think it’s 1705 because of the Tercentennial.”  The answer is 1711.

And Who donated Dickinson Park? Not 1955 First Selectman A. Finn Dickinson.

“It was actually the Bertram Stroock family,” Ms Kotch said.

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal and his wife Michelle were among the hikers, and it fell to Mr  Rosenthal to draw the winning questionnaire out of a hat at the end of the afternoon.

Whether or not participants answered correctly and knew this was the North Branch of the Pootatuck (not the Housatonic or the Mississippi) that was thundering through the Orchard Hill gorge, everyone had a good time.

“I think we’ll do it again next year,” said Ms Kotch, and she hopes for a bright, sunny day after three or more days of heavy rain.