Friday, June 27, 2014

Pictures of Robert Jackson Connell's chimney!

Ever since Granddad told me that his grandfather Robert Jackson Connell and grandmother Matilda Bowers lived near the corner of Canada Drive and Rowe Street, I have been itching to walk through the woods around there and see what I could find. My recent stay in Camden offered me the golden opportunity!

My husband and my brother were kind enough to accompany me on the walk through the woods. We walked around for a while before finally finding some ruins of what I'm guessing was a chimney. I felt kind of silly for walking around so long because I think you might even be able to see some of the bricks from the road! (I'll have to go back to double check) The bricks and mortar were almost literally at the corner of the two roads. It was hard to get a good picture because of the dappled sunlight and shadow in the area; I'm hoping to come by at a time better for taking pictures so you all can get a better idea of what it looks like.












The bricks and mortar had fallen into a wide (about 7 or 8 feet) trench and blackberries and wild cherry trees were growing nearby. It was truly picturesque.



I asked Granddad about the trench and if it was man-made or not. He said no, it wasn't man-made and that it was where the water went when it rained; the trench was made completely by erosion. Hearing that reminded me of how all that land used to be cleared of trees and was all farm land, with corn, cotton, or oats growing as far as you could see. I imagine that wasn't as good for preventing erosion as trees and the leaves and pine straw that come from them. Granddad told me that the runoff trench was close to the house, but not right next to it. He also reminded me that all the wood that made up the house had been taken for firewood, so there wouldn't be much to see. He had forgotten about the chimney and told us to look for the old pump that was connected to a well there but was a short distance from the house (that's why we didn't find the old chimney right away). We couldn't locate the pump but we're thinking about going again sometime when the leaves have fallen off of the trees because it might be easier to spot it then.

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