7 Comments
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John P Aubin's avatar

I lived just up the road from the bridge for 40 years. I’ve only heard stories about the previous floods but we were there for Irene. Fortunately the 90’s interstate standard bridge held, not without some minor damage. It was quite a disaster.

The Curioustorian's avatar

You can see signs all along the river, even 15 years on.

You've see those grand-piano sized ice chunks in the spring. Imagine those roaring down the valley. Must have been something in 1869.

Clyde Watson's avatar

Don't you love the way "one thing leads to another" when you're writing a piece like this? All the threads & connections!

Patricia J. Dickens's avatar

love the photos and learning the history of Hartford. I got to know more about Hartford

about 15 yrs ago as a "meals on wheels" driver and a former RE person.

Pat

The Curioustorian's avatar

Thanks. I usually allow an hour and a half to do a puzzle post...this one took a lot longer than that!

Doug's avatar

Interesting stuff! I live pretty close to the bridge on the Pomfret Road side of the river. You may be interested in: https://oldroadsuppervalley.weebly.com/ . He doesn't post much anymore, but he's got a lot of interesting local stuff on there. I discovered a couple of old graveyards off Tiger town and Podunk roads through his site.

The Curioustorian's avatar

Thanks Doug...That's a great site...it's actually written by a friend of mine, Bob Totz. I'll have to explore it more, as he's done a lot of good work that I missed first time around.

I just recently "discovered" the White River Ledges that I've driven by many times

but was unaware. I'll take that hike one day soon.

A couple of details about that 1867 flood...another report mentioned ice piles up to the roof level, and another told of 2 horses that survived for 5 hours in their stall with only 4 inches of breathing space between the water and the ceiling.

Miss Williamson was found some days later when a farmer spotted something under 5 feet of ice chunks.