Remains Of the Abandoned Stone House

Every now and then I go for a hike at Spiderweed Preserve. It is a quiet and isolated location in Middletown Connecticut. There are a few evergreens near the beginning of the trail, a couple of vernal pools, and a trickle of a stream running though the middle but mostly it has a dry rocky feel to it. There is even a cave that I imagine the old leatherman stayed in many years ago.

The one thing that stand out the most when you visit Spiderweed is the remains of this old stone building. When I first saw it over 20 years ago it still had a roof and some room structure. Sadly, only a few crumbled bones remain now from a house that was born in the 1700's.

 Helen Lohman was the last owner who used it as a summer cottage. When she would return each summer her cottage was covered in Spiderweeds which is how they came up with the name. She donated the land including the building to the town in the late 60's.

I don't have much luck with birds there which is why I don't visit that often. it was the last place in Connecticut I saw a Ruffed Grouse. On this day I saw only a lonely Song Sparrow that seemed to me to be singing wistfully of the distant past.