The Scantic is My Sacred Place

The Scantic is My Sacred Place :D

My sacred place is the Scantic right down my street in my home town where I was born and raised. This area is now formally  known as the Scantic State Park or Scantic Watershed. The park consists of 800 acres of land and 12+ miles of trails that fallow the winding stream of the Scantic River. Along the river there are many interesting things you can see. In the middle of the woods there are big damns and canals that used to be used  for transporting barges of supplies up and down the river by horses. In the 1930's however a flood put holes in them and parts collapsed bringing the river back to its natural stream. So the river that used to be 30ft deep is now only 3-4. The river also has old gun powder manufacturing areas, in the sub-town of Hazardville now joined with 3 other towns into Enfield, CT, along it where Colonial Hazard and his gun powder business supplied most of the gun powder for the Civil War. The only remnants of his gunpowder mills are a few that had blown up and remain in pieces of huge hand carved rocks. As my sacred place it was also the sacred place for the Scantic Indians that used to be part of where I live in Scitico, which is also an old sub-town that was joined into Enfield.

This area is sacred to me because I have gone to this area for my whole life for many different things. I also was one of the ones, when i was 12, who helped clean out all the trash and debris that people used to throw into the canals from cars, refrigerators, washers, dryers, trash, and snowmobiles. I now use the paths for running because from my house its 3 miles to the end of the park heading west, so in the summer I run down the river swim in the rapids then run back home. I also use the old damns for practicing rock climbing and for repelling off of (which it was the first place I repelled from). There are many pretty waterfalls and drops on the river too it is very scenic, along with an old train trestle that my buddies and I use for getting over our fear of heights and for working on balance. On most weekends year around I also go camping with my friends to our secret spot about 2 miles in where we wade across the river and have our own island for camping.



My sacred place is an all around good time where I have spent most of life exploring and know like the back of my hand. It's just a great area for adventuring all year.