The Vineyards of Hamden

In the 1860s, Jonathan Dickerman, the grandson of the man whose house you have visited or seen on Mount Carmel Avenue, planted a vineyard and built a winery on the slopes of Sleeping Giant. This startling fact, mostly unknown by town historians and certainly by the rest of us, was the trigger that led my wife and I to write A History of Connecticut Wine, in which we detail many other examples of successful vineyards throughout the state before Prohibition, as well as the modern rise of today’s booming industry.

In 1872 Dickerman gave an award-winning report to the Board of Agriculture, detailing his decade of wine production in Hamden and his hope for the future of the practice in Connecticut. His rocky land had not even produced peas, but grapes thrived there. He even brought in a winemaker from Germany to help him care for the vines. Turning the grapes into wine tripled his profits in a year, and his lecture to the Agriculture Board inspired the Hartford Courant to champion the cause, encouraging farmers on rocky hillsides to grow grapes.

By the early 1900s, immigrants from southern Europe were planting vineyards all over the state, especially in the Hartford area, and some had vineyards ten times the size of Dickerman’s. However, Prohibition put an end to this in the state, until 1978 when it became legal again to produce wine for sale to the public. Our methods and technologies now allow us to grow the coveted European grapes that make superior (or at least not so sweet and grapy) wine, something Dickerman struggled with in the 1800s.

Today, wineries and vineyards are again springing up all over the state. There are two vineyards just to the north of us in Wallingford, and one on the other side of West Rock in Woodbridge. Hamden has several spots today that are even better for growing grapes, including the excellent site of Dunbar Hill. Maybe it’s time Hamden brought Jonathan Dickerman’s long-ago dreams to fruition.

The Mount Carmel Pass

Driving up Whitney Avenue between Hamden and Cheshire today, we take for granted the easy passage, and most of us probably have no idea that three hundred years ago it would have been impossible. When the early settlers of the New Haven Colony explored the area, they found huge rocky cliffs barring the way. The eastern slopes of York Hill and the head of Sleeping Giant met at the Mill River just where the small dam is today, allowing no one to pass except on foot.

Called “The Steps,” the rock formation was a formidable barrier, known only to hunters, shepherds, and the remaining Quinnipiac Indians. However, shortly after Joel Munson built his mill at the spot, he carved a daunting cart path over the rocks, allowing the slow passage of horses and eventually carts. Throughout the 1700s, occasional gunpowder explosives were used to improve and widen this path. Bellamy’s Tavern was built in 1743 to provide sustenance and lodging for the Cheshire merchants who now used the road to reach New Haven.

When the Farmington Canal was built in the 1820s, the rock needed to be blasted further, down to level ground in some places. Then, when the railroad came through two decades later, more rock was carved away. In the 20^th century, the modernization of Whitney Avenue required more blasting, and more leveling, taking the still sizable hill on which sat Kimberly’s famous store stood and flattening it. All this took incredible efforts in the days before modern earth moving machines and nitroglycerine-based explosives.

Today, as the most modern construction finishes up at the intersection of West Woods, Mount Carmel, and Whitney Avenues, take a look around. Perhaps imagine yourself in a tunnel beneath the eastern arm of York Hill, because where the People’s Bank and Hair on Broadway are situated in space was deep underground until very recently. The difficult work done to widen the area and cut through the bedrock is only a fraction of the total done over the centuries.

Three hundred years ago, your car would have never made it, even with four wheel drive.

Kumo, Hamden

Kumo in Hamden is one of the most reliable traditional sushi restaurants around. Of course, if I want something new and crazy I will go to Miya's Sushi in New Haven. But for rolls and sushi of the 'traditional' or rather the 20th century variety, I will go to Kumo every time, despite having a dozen or more sushi options in Hamden alone. It is interesting that we have so much Japanese food here in Connecticut, and so little Chinese (relatively). Does anyone know the reason for this switch of the usual ratio?

Connecticut Coyote Encounter

Well, we were snowshoeing in West Rock State Park yesterday, and came upon this bone in the middle of the trail. What is not apparent from the picture is that it had literally just been dropped there. It was a warm day and the snow was melting, but it hadn't melted around this spine/hip/leg at all yet. There were fresh paw prints heading off the trail, across a stream, and up the other side. Coyote paw prints.

 

They had heard us coming and ran off, leaving this old carcass they were carrying on the trail. I'm not sure what it is - very narrow pelvis. The coyotes left a bit of scat further down the trail - they were obviously using it as an easy way to get from place to place. This is clearly not dog scat - unless someone is feeding their dog animals with hair.

At any rate, we moved off a bit and ate our lunch, and then snowshoed back to the car. We didn't get a glimpse of our furry friends, but they were there, probably waiting to come back and get the bones, possibly in the patch of reeds close by, possibly in a stand of pines on the other side. But they had just been there, a few minutes before we got there. I have actually seen coyotes before, of course, but this was a fun little mystery, here in the forests of Connecticut.