Central Connecticut's
UNAUTHORIZED DISTRICT
Items of interest

These are not verified, are folklore or satire, and should not necessarily be taken as historical items.

A potentially scandalous news story was suppressed in 1999 when a local man, known only as Peter to a few local residents was taken in custody by Vernon police. Talcottville residents had noticed him in the area once in a while over the years, and assumed he was homeless. One said he was always friendly, tipped his strange leather hat to everyone he saw, and did not approach anyone to beg.

According to a local official, who is remaining anonymous, Peter Dobson, in his sixties, had been living independently and secretly in what can only be described as a cave house for years in the wooded area above the Talcottville ravine. He had found and adopted some old water supply structures, once used as relays and transfer pumping stations for drinking water system which had been abandoned for years. Above ground in the woods, the entrance appears only as a small low shed, made of reddish weathered wood. The underground tank had been cleverly shored up and converted to a living space with old hand-hewn beams and rocks.

Dobson reportedly is independently wealthy, and can trace his family back to the Dobsons who founded the first mills in Dobsonville in that very ravine back in the early 1800s. The man kept money and old coins with him in the cave, where he spent most of his time. He does have a relative or unknown contact in the town who protected him from discovery and handled his monetary and food matters from time to time. When he was finally discovered in 1999, he had a food packed away, rations, rice, wine and the like. Even though the cave was below the surface far enough to be a constant 59 degrees, it is hard to understand how he got along there without any heating or cooking device. There were many old woolen garments and coats found.

Local officials were insistent that he could not continue living there, and made a discrete deal with him to move on with the promise of no publicity. We know the cave was sealed but it is not known if it was filled in. However, as hikers and local residents know, some of the shed is still there and can be easily seen in the woods between the pond and Elm Hill Road access. Current status and location of Mr. Dobson is not known.

Marquis de Lafayette's cat has grave in Vernon cemetery.

One of the interesting chapters in Vernon's history was Lafayette's triumphant return trip through the town in 1824, long after the end of the Revolutionary War. He had returned to France after Yorktown, then made this trip to see the America he had helped to liberate.

Vernon was just a stop on the road to Boston, but like most Americans at the time, especially New Englanders, local Vernon residents held him in great regard in respect for the role he had played in shoring up the colonists' efforts against the British.

I was amazing that Lafayette, in 1777, a wealthy French aristocrat, living comfortably in France, had come to the colonies in the first place. He became a general and fought by George Washington's side in the war. Lafayette and Rochambeau both had been great French heroes of that era, but LaFayette made a more personal connection. He had even given thousands of dollars of his own money in silver to make sure that the American soldiers were paid at the end of the war.

Yes the people of Connecticut had an uncanny affection for him. When he was making his triumphant journey, we know that he stayed in Vernon at Kings Tavern, along the road to Boston. Much public attention was given to his needs. A touching part of the story was when his cat fell deathly ill while in town.

The cat's name was Chat Selendia (that name varies a little in the stories). It was a female of the Chartreux breed. It was described in his letters as having gray-blue thick fur,and powerfully built. He spoiled this cat as if it was royalty, always letting it ride in the coach with him, and sleep on his bed at night. On the day of his Vernon stop, the cat seemed droopy, hardly able to walk. Local residents convinced a local Doctor to treat it, and took turns watching round the clock. Since the cat was too weak to travel, volunteers convinced Lafayette to leave her behind with the promise that they would deliver her on recovery to Boston within the two weeks before his ship sailed from the port. Sadly, that never took place because the cat sadly passed away.

This story would have been lost to the papers of the time if the cat's gravestone had not been discovered recently right along side human stones in a churchyard mainly known for the family plots of early residents of Vernon Center and Talcottville. Seen here is the gravestone, the inscription almost worn away by time. It is a remembrance that a man's pet can be dear to his heart.

Creature spotted in Talcottville Pond tentatively identified.

A large reptile does live in the Tankerhoosen river, in the pond behind the Talcottville Dam. We know that is a fact now, since scientists from UCONN have studied it for a research paper, and have photos and possible classification, but were not able to actually capture it. The paper is being published this year in the Smithsonian Journal of Biological Information (SJBI)

For many years the Talcotts and town residents dismissed and ridiculed the possibility of its existence, since no one wanted to be seen as a believer in a Connecticut version of Loch Ness. In the 1940's and 50's the pond was regularly used as a swimming hole, with kids jumping from the iron bridge, or swinging from the heavy rope from a tree on the bank. The youngsters regularly sighted the strange green thing peeking out of the upper pond, and reported it to doubting parents. Apparently since it was a vegetarian, and made no threats to anyone, it was ignored for generations. We have no way of knowing the age of this animal, about 8 feet long, and indeed the UCONN document claims that it is unlikely to be the same one spotted 60 years ago, but is the second or third generation. It is still in the pond, seen as recently as August 2002, startling and disrupting the local swans.

If you want more biological information on this animal, tentatively categorized as Platahalmenthia vogarica, check the link to the SJBI study: www.papers.smithsonian.us.gov/uconnstudies/tctvl-055.htm

Early invention of mechanical accelerator discovered:

Although the industrial revolution made some inventors famous in the 1800's, thousands of practical people made devices to solve their daily needs and problems in industrial situations without fanfare. They built gadgets and machines not for fame, but to produce, manufacture, or solve agricultural or commercial problems. Apple presses for cider mills, looms for the mills, lifts and rigs for carriage repair all are examples. The mills of Rockville, Vernon and Talcottville were not unlike the factories all over New England in this regard. The cleverest handyman, the guy who could fix or make anything, was often a key in the success or failure of small and large companies. The owner was himself that kind of man. Sadly, however, most of these are lost and go the path of buggy whips. One such invention, made in a shop in Vernon around 1800 serves as a great example. It was designed as a sort of accelerator or complex centrifuge to sequentially untangle snarls in woolen yarn, and wind it on spools for the mills. The secret to keeping the planetary gears moving and free baffles engineers since. The problem that it solved is hard to recreate because the processes and fabrics in demand changed shortly thereafter, making the need for the process go away. But at the time it was constructed, it saved the operation of a secondary mill below the races in what was then Kellogville, now Talcottville. There is a crude stamp of a date 1801 on the main gear ring, but the inventor's name stamped there is so rusted as to be unreadable. See below for a picture of the accelerated separator.

If you know more about these unverified stories, or have questions as to learning more, send an e-mail to rgb.

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