The Springs Historic District & Accabonac Harbor
by Nancy Kane
On March 25, 2004, the Town Board voted to establish The Springs Historic District. The district encompasses ten old farmhouses, four barns, the church, the early school (Ashawagh Hall) and the blacksmith shop. It is wonderful to look at these old buildings and consider how little has changed in over 100 years.
[photo]
Julius D. Parsons, passing the Springs chapel. From Springs/A Celebration
The area is centered on Pussy’s Pond and Accabonac Harbor. This is less obvious today than it was in the late 1800s. The early settlers owned portions of land adjacent to the harbor, where they harvested the salt hay to feed and bed their cattle and insulate the foundations of their homes. Early photos show open expanses with few if any trees.
In recent years, the APC has been advocating the restoration of saltwater meadows that once surrounded much of the harbor. The Guidelines Manual for the historic district supports the idea of open vistas. It promotes “open yards and clearings … and visual connections between historic buildings and vistas to Accabonac Harbor.”
The manual pays special attention to The Nature Conservancy preserves. It notes that one of those preserves “is at a critical location adjacent to the church, cemetery and creek to Pussy’s Pond and across the road from the intact farmhouse and fields at 803 Fireplace Road (the Julius D. Parsons house). Vistas from these properties to Accabonac Harbor are important to the setting of the historic district and maintain the historic connection between this settlement and Accabonac Harbor.” In 2005, The Nature Conservancy did do some clearing on this preserve. However, the vistas that Mary Louise Dodge remembers seeing from her front door at 803 Fireplace Road clearly do not exist as they did when she was a child.
A more impressive view is offered by the three-acre TNC preserve behind the Pollack-Krasner House where, as the manual indicates, “The open vista across salt meadows to the harbor is important to the setting of this National Historic Landmark.”
The Accabonac Protection Committee salutes the residents and board members who supported the designation of the historic district. It is exciting to think that many years from now, this section of over-crowded Springs shall, hopefully, still retain reminders of the early rural landscapes. The preservation and restoration of the meadows along Accabonac Harbor would play an important part in the preservation of this heritage.
