Health & Fitness
Water: Mansfield's Natural Resource
The redevelopment of Four Corners and the other proposed major real estate developments in Mansfield depends entirely upon the availability of "water."
Not so long ago (sometime in the 1930’s) Mansfield had a tract of virgin forest at Cedar Swamp (20 acres to be exact). That must have been a sight to behold!
Ever wonder whose bright idea it was to cut it down?
Mansfield had lots and lots of Birchwood, too. Gone, now. Oh! Except for those two on the side of the road next to the CVS at Four Corners. The rest of ‘em all went to the next town over to make wooden spools for thread. That’s all gone, too.
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Mansfield was progressive back then, just following the trend of pillaging natural resources to make a buck. It was progress.
What’s not to like about progress? Right?
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Also making the list of interesting places to visit then was Cod Fish Falls. (Must have been fish in there at one time, as “cod” was any white fish.) Then, you had the Pink Ravine (so named for the extraordinary color of the lichen on the rocks in that ravine); “Fifty Foot Lookout;" “Coney Rock;" and “Wolf Rock” (named in honor of the last wolf).
But, the one that intrigues me the most was “Singing Gate."
“Singing Gate” was a grove of pine trees through which the wind whispered in a weird soothing melody. There was a path wide enough through the trees to admit a car making it the perfect place for a picnic of egg and olive sandwiches and lemonade. (It was the thirties after all.)
Sadly, it is no longer.
But, I am happy to report - “Wailing Eyesore” - a haphazard series of vacant restaurants, gas stations, and empty storefronts, has risen to take its place at Four Corners (the corner of Routes 44 and 195).
While, admittedly, the Storrs Downtown Project has been the focus of much voter ire, the Four Corners in Mansfield bears close watching. Vague and fuzzy plans are afoot by the Town Planner and others to revitalize that end of town.
“All that stands in the way?” You ask.
Just sewers and a new source of water, that’s all.
And it’s the water, the other precious Mansfield natural resource that deserves close monitoring now.
Watch in the coming months as the University of Connecticut (the same UConn responsible for that major fish kill in the Fenton River a couple of summers ago) explains to us (in their paid-for study) how there’s actually plenty of water in our aquifer to support all of their planned development.
And, if you think, they wouldn’t lie to us, then read Steven Solomon’s book “Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power and Civilization," then let’s talk!
