Oh just a hike through the woods...NSH

[CarbonCavi]

Was surprised. Easy walking for the most part...



good colors..



weird manmade water pasageways in the middle of the woods...



getting closer



















I brought my friend Ed there. He worked there up until a year before closing.



He lived in pondview, and I was hopeing to get him in to see his old rooms but it was locked up good. He has many good stories there, and sued the actual hospital twice and won. He swears of a tunnel under route 12 but I cant find it....

[Chief]

Good stuff dude!  All the leaves suck now, they make too much noise steppin on 'em.  Did you guys see anyone? Like cops?

[CarbonCavi]

yeah they do make ALOT of noise. plus you dont see dead branches under them which only add to the antistealth

We did not see anyone on the opposite side that day. We were there around two hours total. No one up at the neighborhood either by the water tower. That was this day though. Ive seen them at pondview recently, and the building in front of it ( cant think of name atm ) bsing and talking on cell phone.

[Megster]

re: weird manmade water passageways-

I'm pretty sure it was a part of the trolley line that ran from downtown Norwich to Watch Hill from around 1905-1920 or so, because it ran past that building.  It was a strange line that I'm still trying to map out via google earth because it backtracked towards the state hospital from near 163 Middle Rd. and then ran along Poquetanuck Cove through the area of Lincoln Park (as it was known back then) and onwards.  The remains of the bridge abutments can be seen in the river behind Lincoln Park and much of the trolley line can still be traced on Google Earth.

[CarbonCavi]

REALLY! now that is interesting! do tell if you find more stuff! That is awesome!

[Megster]

Oh definitely.  If you want to see those bridge abutments, there is a walking trail that follows the old line on Lincoln Park Rd. and parking I think is just past #20.  You can follow the trail to the river where the bridge abutments are and I was told that bridge was taken out during the Hurricane of 1938.  (Could have been the 1936 Flood as that destroyed a lot of bridges, either way the rail system hadn't been used since 1920.)  You can see it again on Mathewson Mill Rd., and then Foxwoods used the same paths while building the road that links the commuter lot past Dunkin Donuts to Foxwoods (it was easier to distinguish before MGM was built)  It then traveled along the north side of Lantern Hill. I can see it on google earth pretty much from the Poquetanuck FD all the way to the RI line, but then lose track of it.  Following it from the FD to Norwich is near impossible as well and I used the 1934 aerial map to help me out there.  There's not a whole hell of a lot of evidence that a trolley line was ever there, it was smaller than the Airline Trail and the other rails-to-trails line that runs from Sterling to Coventry.  I know eventually the line ran parallel to Rt. 2 in the area of Do Drop Inn which is that fancy Italian restaurant now.

[CarbonCavi]

wow now that is really interesting stuff! from a new englander history standpoint, and a rail lover standpoint. I know exactly of the road you speak of that runs along two by foxwoods. The busses USED to take it before MGM was built, now its used as a shipping and receiving road for the loading dock at MGM. There was something to the slight south east of pondview ( if your facing it from the woods ) It was like a raised bed area, free and clear of trees and off the ground about 15 feet. Makes me wonder if that was the old roadbed..... I should have taken a photo as I knew it was out of the ordinary and not natural.... It ran through the woods towards the abandoned doctors houses on top of the hill. I almost followed it .... this is great stuff.