Old plants, airports, and Indians

We took a ride to Short Beach yesterday afternoon.  I can't do the beach in the direct sunlight these days unless I slather sunscreen all over myself, so I have discovered the beach in the late afternoon.  It's really lovely, usually quiet, and the birds are all over the place.  

Yesterday, the tide was either coming in or going out (a subject of much debate - yet no one checked on their smart phones - sometimes it's just fun to argue!).  It was high, and there were waves (unusual at Short Beach).  We felt the spray, and all had salt on glasses.  Really a true beach lover's afternoon.

On the way to the beach, we passed the old Avco parking lot.  Now, I know that wasn't the last company to leave the Army Engine Plant, but it is still called Avco by us old time folks.  I guess I have to call myself one of those now.

In the parking lot south of the building, there were hundreds of orange traffic cones in some sort of pattern.  The gates were all closed to the lot, so we didn't have a clue why they were all laid out.

About a week ago, my Dad decided to talk about things that he doesn't know a lot about.  One of those things was Native Americans who lived around here back in the day.  Sometimes Dad is actually partially correct on a lot of his pontifications, but this time?  No.

He said the reason the Sikorsky Airport cannot force Stratford to move Main Street to give more of a runway safe zone for the Airport is because the parking lots at Avco were built on Indian Burial grounds.

A little background on the Airport might be helpful here.  The Airport is wholly within Stratford, but owned by the City of Bridgeport.  The battles between Stratford and Bridgeport began back in the early sixties, with expansion wants (no, they were NOT needs) of the Airport.  There is an area of town located south of the Airport called Lordship.  Folks who live out there certainly didn't want big jets flying in and out, and Stratford hated that they couldn't collect tax dollars from Bridgeport.  Other stuff happened over the years too.

Now, the Feds have said that Stratford has to move Main Street away from the airport fence, going directly through the old parking lots.  Stratford didn't want to move Main Street for several reasons, but the main reason was the old battles. Stratford has been fighting the original order for several years now, and have finally hit the wall. Indian burial grounds NEVER came up in any of the dialogue.  Given that I've done some serious research on Connecticut tribes, I begged to differ with Dad, saying the burials would never happen  in tidal lands that were good for food.

This didn't matter to Dad, even after I explained all the particulars.  That's alright with me; I really don't need to win (go ahead and laugh, folks that know me that well!).  

What did matter, however, is that when we drove by the parking lots yesterday, and talked about why those cones may be there, I said the cones were marking all the places bodies may be buried.


Comments

  1. Bob JAugust 30, 2012 at 9:05 AM

    Cones marking bodies? Feels like a good answer.

    http://tunxis.edu/personal-enrichment/motor-cycle-rider-safety-education/

    ON CYCLE RIDING INSTRUCTION will be held at:
    STRATFORD ARMY ENGINE PLANT
    550 MAIN STREET (RT.113)/SNIFFENS LANE, STRATFORD, CT

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