Friday, April 22, 2022

Mt. Tom from Bronson Field Trail

View Over Davies Hollow
The view is from the trail up to Bronson Field in the Steep Rock Preserve, across Davies Hollow and the old Bronson Farm to the back of the picture where the tower on Mt. Tom, the highest peak, stands out against the sky. Just below the tower and to the left is a rock clearing through which the Mt. Tom trail passes. Beyond the mountains route 202, connecting New Milford and Litchfield, passes Mt. Tom Lake.

In the middle ground, just beyond the farm, at the base of the dark hill the Bantam River flows from right to left for a half mile through Davies Hollow before merging into the Shepaug. The Davies family were the first to settle the Hollow and helped establish St. John's Episcopal Church there before Davies land was confiscated during the Revolution.

In 1871 Shepaug Railroad would begin running along a roadbed that still follows the river. There was a stop just beyond the farm at a platform they named "Romford" for the gentleman who lived there, Romulus Ford. He was an investor on the board of the Shepaug Railroad and merited a stop made from his name.