Spooky tales on Dark Hollow’s trail

LAKEVILLE — Tom Key led a group through Dark Hollow in Lakeville during a Housatonic Heritage Walk on a drizzly Saturday morning, Sept. 6

Dark Hollow is about 175 acres of preserved land bisected by a seasonal dirt road that runs between Farnam Road and Salmon Kill Road. The group of 10 or so gathered near the Farnam Road entrance, just past the property that was once a home for the indigent.

The Salisbury Association Land Trust bought the property in 2002, helped by a large donation by the Belcher family.

The land trust takes a “forever wild” approach to the land. If a tree falls over a trail or the road and blocks passage, it will be cut.

Otherwise, the land stays the way it is. However, there is a sign on a downed tree at the start of the trail.

Key said the tree is too high up to be safely cut with a chain saw. So hikers either have to go around, or simply go under.

The sign refers to this, obliquely, with a reference to “aquatic fowl.”

Or “duck.”

This joke took a while to sink in among the hikers.

Volunteers have removed all sorts of things from Dark Hollow over the years, including mattresses, bedsprings and assorted roadside debris.

But since the land trust volunteers keep an eye on the property the amount of trash has decreased significantly.

One of the enduring tales of Dark Hollow is the one about the tombstone bearing the name Charlotte Remington.

Key came across the tombstone some years back. It had two sets of dates on it, adding to the mystery. The land trust board decided they didn’t want it, so Key dragged it into the woods off the path and covered it with leaves.

The next time he went up the ridge it was back in its original spot. Then the stone disappeared again, this time for good.

It has not returned.