I had heard of Wash-Tub Brook for years, and on July 5th started off to
explore the valley and the cliffs of Gregor Rocks above North Pownal.
A lime-rock ridge runs from the base of Mount Anthony southeasterly to
the Glebe in Witch Hollow region. The soil of the latter is principally
black slate, with outcropping boulders of marble and lime-rock. In 1899,
Mr. W. W. Eggleston of Rutland had visited this valley, and reported the
rare Rue-Wall Spleenwort and the Purple-stemmed Cliff-Brakes growing
abundantly on Gregor Rocks. I followed his path of cliff-climbing, as
nearly as possible. Now that the orchid season was practically ended, I
was giving my attention to hunting ferns, and I knew I should find them
among the lime-rock cliffs. I had recently collected the Walking Fern in
its native haunts. I proceeded up the valley of Wash-Tub Brook, passing
the limestone mills northward, toward Mount Anthony and Peckham’s Hollow.
Another stream, known as Hemlock Brook, flows down from the eastern
slopes of Perkins’ Hill, and joins the Wash-Tub stream near the lime
crushers. All the streams in this western corner of Pownal flow to the
Hoosac River, while the streams from the northern summits of the Dome and
Mount Œta flow northward to the Walloomsac.
[Illustration: =The Gregor Rocks, Hoosac Valley, from Pownal Centre,
Vermont.=]
For the greater part of the valley, Wash-Tub Brook flows through open
pasture lands. The bed is broad and shallow, strewn with numerous small
lime-rock boulders drifted down from the hills with the floods of spring.
The larger boulders wear scars and dimpled erosions of the glacial
period. I took time to explore the ledges above, where the depressions
reveal the terraces of an ancient lake. The prevailing evergreen trees
here appear to be hemlock and cedar—the American _Arbor Vitæ_—whose roots
cling to the cliffs, their green spires lending a touch of coloring to
the bare-faced walls.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account