Casperkill Watershed Oral History Project

When Nadine and I approached Chris Scott, his dog Pebbles was frolicking happily in the Casperkill.  Chris, a resident of Meadowview Drive, told us that whenever he is home (he currently attends college in Virginia), he and Pebbles frequent Hagantown Park.  Pebbles is particularly fond of swimming in the stream and eating the stream-side vegetation; “I think it cleans her teeth,” Chris explained.

Chris said that when he was a kid, this site along the Casperkill was one of the best ‘wild’ places for him and his friends to play.  Chris fondly recalled how they would play war games with different “bases” along the creek.  “Red Hawk versus White Hawk…it was like Vietnam or something.”

In addition to serving as a fun play area for neighborhood children, this little-known access point to the Casperkill is also home to variety of wildlife.  Chris told us that he is always finding new weird bugs.  Another neighborhood resident, Fran Hartenfels, told us that her kids always come to the site in the spring to look at the tiny frogs emerging from the pond adjacent to the stream.  When we visited the pond with Fran, this blue heron was wading in the green algae.