On a recent April Saturday afternoon I set out in the company of my brother Kirt, my cousin Dean, and Dean’s wife Jean, to climb the mountain ridge that we call the “Three Notches.” We wanted to follow the paths our ancestors used long ago, and we also hoped to find some marks left on a rock at the highest point of the ridge.
In a 1944 letter to his future wife Betty, my mother’s cousin, Austin Norton wrote:
“When I was a kid I used to be crazy to go out to Mother’s home [his mother was my great-aunt Ellen, my grandfather Ellsworth’s sister] and help them hay and milk. I would ride my bicycle out there every Saturday just to get in the way and watch. That must be a satisfying way of life, farming I mean…There is a range of hills beyond the farm which we love to climb for a picnic lunch…Our favorite spot on the range is called “Three Notches,” and on the highest notch, Mother’s dad [my great-grandfather William E. Hall] has his name chipped into the rock. That’s the highest point of land in Wallingford and you can see for miles around, Long Island Sound on one side and Hartford, the capital on the other.” – Austin Hart Norton
Since last March, when we first heard about the carving, my brother and I were, as Austin put it, “crazy” to go search for it. These mountains (which in Alaska would be called hills) are part of the trap-rock Metacomet Ridge that stretches from New Haven, Connecticut to the Vermont-Massachusetts border. We decided to start our hike at the south end of Fowler Mountain, just east of Whirlwind Hill, and follow the Mettabesett trail to the base of the first of the three peaks. When I asked my brother how far a walk this would be he said “Not that far.”
“Not that far!” – A view of the Three Notches and Fowler Mountain.
My brother had never climbed the “Three Notches.” He’d ridden a horse on Fowler Mountain back in the 1970’s when the old cabin used to be there. Dean had gone more recently, and agreed to guide us on this sunny, windy afternoon.
Determined to go on this hike despite a bad cold and a worse fear of ticks, I sprayed myself with a ridiculous amount of “Deep Woods Off” and hoped for the best. The trail, although steep and treacherous in places with loose rocks and branches hidden under deep layers of leaves, was wide and sun-dappled and easy to follow.
Starting up the trail
I was thrilled to come upon patch after patch of wildflowers.
First were the adder’s tongues –
Adder’s tongue (or trout lily)
Then rue anemone and bloodroot –
Rue anemone
And just as I was telling Jean about hepaticas and how hard they were to find these days, I looked down and saw a small army of the bright little flowers popping out from under brown leaves. Joy!
Hepatica
A cabin used to stand somewhere on the ridge of Fowler Mountain. My brother and Dean looked for signs of this former refuge, but there wasn’t enough time for a thorough search. This was proving to be a much longer walk than I had planned on, and “not that far” had begun to seem like wishful thinking. I could see on my phone map we were still a long way from the Three Notches.
But at the end of Fowler Mountain we came across an old marker for the George Washington Trail. Although the plaque itself was gone (most of the metal plaques on these markers have long ago been spirited away by vandals), the post was enough to show us the place where our first president and our early Hall ancestors crossed the Metacomet Ridge on their way from Wallingford to Durham. It ran perpendicular to our trail up the ridge, and someday we’d like to explore it more thoroughly.
George Washington Trail marker post
Ahead of us was another steep incline, which I hoped was the ascent to the first notch, but in a “Bear Goes over the Mountain” scenario, we found yet an even steeper climb on the other side. I was ready to quit, but Dean prodded, “Come on Carol – It’s worth it.”
Getting closer
It WAS worth it. The view was spectacular. To our left we could see Whirlwind Hill and the view beyond to New Haven and Long Island Sound. To the right we looked at Meriden, Hartford, and on toward Massachusetts.
The view from the notch – looking toward Whirlwind Hill and beyond to Long Island Sound.
And then my brother said, “Here’s the name!” He found our treasure. On an outcropping of rock overlooking the Ulbrich Reservoir, were letters and numbers carved into the rock’s surface.
Kirt with the carved rock
My great-grandfather’s name, W. E Hall, was still there – a one-hundred and thirty-year-old memento of his wish to be immortalized on this spot. The carved date of 1874 indicates he was probably thirty-seven years old when he chipped away at the hard rock.
Set in stone
Happy and satisfied with our findings, we took photos of each other before beginning the long trek back to our car.
Kirt and Carol
It was so quiet up there – a peaceful solitude that’s hard to find these days. We could understand why this spot was a favorite for our relatives, and we plan to go back whenever we can. It cheers me now to have a focus for those mountains beyond Whirlwind Hill. The distant view is more meaningful because of knowing where to look – at a spot on that high windy rock where part of my family history is set in stone.
“The Three Notches,” Carol Crump Bryner, gouache, 2014
Hooray!! Hooray!! YOU DID IT!! I really really want to go sometime. I grew up hearing about this — and I’m pretty sure that Henry – and maybe Dave, too — made that climb and saw Great Grandpa’s name and date … but I never have. Early spring looks like a great time for the hike, too, (seeing the wild flowers and esp the hepatica!!! Janet was watching you! 🙂 with how open and “sun dappled” the woods are right now.
Kudos to Dean for offering guidance and encouragement, and to Kirt for finding the carving! It looks like it could be easily missed.
What a view!! I guess I didn’t really believe it when I read that description in Dad’s letter to Mom: seeing all the way to the Sound. Thank you for the photo. It is so beautiful.
So next spring let’s coordinate our trips and you can be my Guide. I want to do this very much.
Thank you for this post. It is a wonderful one. Hits me at Home, somehow. Thanks, Carol. Love you.
Thank you too Margy. I’m so grateful to you for sharing your dad’s letter that spurred me on to do this search. We’ll definitely coordinate next year.
Congratulations! I remembering thinking when you first wrote about the inscribed rock that it would be a thrill to find it. So glad it’s still there and even happier that you found it. Well done!
Thanks, Janet. It was a thrill to find it.
Fantastic! I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to go, but it is fitting that you three Halls were together to find those initials. It is truly an amazing view from up there and makes it easy to envision all manner of visitors stretching back through the ages. Well done!
The view is breathtaking. So sorry you couldn’t join us. It was great, though, to have Kirt and Dean along.
What a satisfying addendum post. A great hike ending with fantastic view and success in finding the rock carved by your relatives! So glad you did this and brought Whirlwind Hill readers along – and I specially liked all the wildflowers spotted with your four-leaf clover eagle eye!
Thanks, Katy. The wildflowers were such a wonderful surprise to me. I just hadn’t expected them on the mountainside, somehow, although my mom always told me she found hepatica on the side of the “mountain” near our house.
This is so exciting and what a treasure to find!! Beautiful pictures and thanks for such a wonderful post this morning……I, too, would love to hike up there some warm spring day!
You would love this walk, Ellen. I’m sure your dad did it many times also.
Many times I’ve admired those three hills, but never visited. I’ll check it out, maybe this summer. I’ve hiked good portions of the Blue Trail in those parts. I was interested to hear of the GW marker. My neighbor’s house in Northford was reputedly one that George Washington slept in, I presume on that same journey. When was that trip, and what was its purpose, I wonder.
There were two trips – 1775 and 1789. I think that during the first one he recruited people to be in the army on his way, and we think maybe that’s how our ancestor, Aaron Hall, Esq. became involved in the war. Not sure about the second. I have the information somewhere. If I find out, Andy, I’ll let you know. Enjoy the hills if you go visiting there this summer.
I Googled George Washington Connecticut travels and came up with a 2011 article in a local newspaper (the Woodbury-Middlebury Patch) that mentions both trips. It has a copy of a 1932 map showing the location of the 17 Washington Trail markers, showing passage just south of Tri-Mountain. That map also shows the Isaac Hall homestead and the Eliz. Hall tavern as bearing markers…
The area where Wallingford, Durham, North Branford and Guilford intersect is a nice little backwater, especially with Lake Gaillard cutting off development and through routes.
Gen. Washington traveled through my ancestral town of Scotland with Rochembau’s army, on another occasion.
I saw a copy of that map in the Wallingford Public library, except it was very hard to read. My brother says they have an original at the Durham Public Library or the Town Hall there. I found a marker still intact on the way to Durham off a side road. That was exciting! How neat to have an ancestral New England town called “Scotland.”
Such fun to be “taken along” on your hike through narrative and image, Carol. If you organize another expedition sometime in the next couple of years, let me know and I might be able to take the train up and join you? After a year of reading your blog and learning about your ancestors, it would be delightful to see the places mentioned with my own eyes. The thought of all that history unfolding in your neighborhood is quite moving, compared to the short and largely unwritten history of our home in Alaska. Thank you again for a wonderful journey.
I will definitely let you know. Whether we do another expedition or not, you have to come up to Wallingford when I’m there sometime.
I was delighted to read this wonderful story of your hike-it made such a wonderful ideal that will be etched in my mind-I’ll bet my Dad, F. Kirtland Hall,hiked this trail also…he mentioned so many times the flowers that you describe…so glad they still bloom!! I know you have done such a wonderful job in keeping our heritage alive. Thnak you Carol, Kirt and Dean
Thanks, Edie. So nice to hear from you. Yes, I’m sure your dad hike this trail. And I just loved seeing the wildflowers. They were especially cheerful because I hadn’t expected them.