The 60.1 square miles that comprise the town of Salisbury contain terrain that is as varied as it is beautiful. In it, you can read the history of millennia of geological time, as well as the more recent history of European settlement. Salisbury is the northwestern-most town in the State of Connecticut. It is bound on the east by the Housatonic River, and on the north it shares a border with Massachusetts through the Taconic Range and the valley east of the mountains. On the west Salisbury stops at the Connecticut/New York state border, which runs through the Taconics and just west of Indian Mountain. The town of Sharon is on Salisbury’s southern border. There are six large lakes within the Town’s boundaries.

Colliding proto-continents, massive pressure and heat, crumpled, folded and uplifted crust, volcano chains, continents ripping apart, rifts, erosion that turned 20,000 foot peaks to hills, long-gone oceans. Mixed repeatedly over a billion years, these are the ingredients that formed the landscape we see around us. The process also formed the “basement” bedrock that underlies the northwest corner.

Generally unseen well below the ground we walk on, in some regions this metamorphosed rock was thrust to the surface in the geological mixing process. Visible in outcroppings of Hudson Highlands, Berkshires, and Taconic Range are the remnants of the ancient Grenville and Taconic mountain chains. Formed of tough and weather resistant schist, gneiss, or granite these rocks have resisted eons of erosion. More specifically, schist predominates as the bedrock in the higher elevations of Salisbury.

Geological mixing also created another form of bedrock underlying Salisbury: marble. This is the basement rock in the area from the Twin Lakes stretching southwest to the Sharon border and is also found in the Housatonic River valley. Known as Stockbridge Marble, it is the remains of a shallow sea; the carbonate mud (comprised of skeletons of microscopic sea creatures) metamorphosed into limestone and eventually into marble. Because of its limestone heritage, marble is not as resistant to weathering as schist or gneiss. It has been subject to the erosive effects of our naturally slightly acidic rainfall and the rush of streams over millions of years. The result are the lowlands carved out by the Housatonic and the depressions that allowed the formation of Salisbury’s lakes. Marble deposits were quarried beginning in the 1700’s for the lime used to remove impurities in the iron making process.

Salisbury did not escape the Ice Age. Glaciation began almost 2 million years ago. During the most recent ice advance (the Wisconsin Ice Age, beginning about 75,000 years ago), it is estimated that the ice in the area was one mile thick. The continual polishing of the ice as it advanced and the tremendous flow of meltwater as it retreated transformed previously V-shaped river valleys into U-shaped valleys, smoothed and rounded hills, and scoured out lake basins such as that of Lake Wonoscopomuc.

In addition, as the ice retreated about 12,000 years ago, it left glacial till and melt water deposits on the surface of the bedrock, hundreds of feet deep in some spots. Glacial till is comprised of gravel, sand, silt, clay, rocks, and boulders and is termed “unsorted” since it is impermeable and inhibits water drainage. Meltwater deposits, while they also include gravel, sand, silt, and clay, are “sorted” and form well-draining, fertile soil. The sand, gravel, and clay left by the glaciers on the surface of the land can be easily mined and is used in construction and to manufacture concrete, bricks, and pottery.

The geological history of the Northwest Corner set the stage for the early history of the town of Salisbury. The iron ore, marble (which was mined for the lime it could yield), streams, and forests created over millennia were all essential to produce the iron that was the foundation of Salisbury’s growth and prosperity in the 1700’s to the early 20th century.

The name Taconic is translated from Algonquian as meaning “in the trees. The geologic origin of these mountains is described above. Part of the Appalachian mountain chain, their length is variously reported as 150 or 200 miles. Wikipedia reports that since the southern end of the range “fade[s]” into the geologically related eastern arm of the Hudson Highlands, it is difficult to ascertain the southern beginning of the range. On its northern terminus the mountains “dwindle into scattered hills and isolated peaks” near Rutland, VT. Wikipedia further reports that it is incorrect to group the Taconic Mountains with the Berkshire Mountains or the Green Mountains, which are east of and geologically distinct from the Taconics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taconic_Mountains

While the exact extent of the Taconics is open to debate, it is certain that the highest point in Connecticut can be found in Salisbury, at the 2,379 foot mark on the southern slope of Mt.Frissell (whose peak is actually in Massachusetts). The honor of highest peak in the state can also be found within Salisbury’s borders: Bear Mountain at 2,326 feet.

Iron

The most abundant element within Earth as a whole, iron is the fourth most common element in the earth’s crust. A sedimentary rock, iron ore is believed to have been formed at least two billion years ago as iron in the earth’s oceans combined with the oxygen then being released by the first creatures capable of photosynthesis. Over time the geological forces noted above also folded and lifted the ocean floor and its iron-rich rock into the mountains around Salisbury. In 1731 iron ore was discovered at Ore Hill in Lakeville, and the Iron Rush was on. Iron was produced in Salisbury until the early 20th century.

Housatonic River

The river rises from four sources in the Berkshires near Pittsfield, MA and travels 149 miles to empty into the Long Island Sound between Stratford and Milford. It drains a watershed of 1,948 miles. The name Housatonic is derived from Algonquian, meaning “beyond-the-mountain-place.” Approximately 15 miles of the Housatonic flows through Salisbury. Over the centuries the river has been a source of power for paper, iron, textiles, and electricity industries. Ames Iron Works, established in 1833 in the Amesville section of Salisbury, made use of river power in its production of iron wheels and axles, cannons, and cannonballs. Today FirstLight Power operates a hydroelectric plant on the Housatonic across from the Amesville section of Salisbury. Salisbury’s section of the river is popular for swimming, canoeing, kayaking, and fishing.