Helping Put the Green in Greeneville

Sunday is Earth Day. Technically, everyday is Earth Day with special emphasis on April 22nd, the date in 1970 when the first Earth Day was observed. I marched in the parade that day in NYC and am not proud to admit we left quite a mess for others to clean up.

I have a chance to atone for that youthful indiscretion this Sunday morning and so do you when we volunteer for the Shetucket River Cleanup that kicks off at 9 in the parking area created by the Norwich Public Utilities where the 8th Street Bridge and Roosevelt Avenue meet.

You can sign up by calling Peter Procko at 860-908-5532 and then show up Sunday with work gloves, sturdy work shoes and, if you have one, a rake. There’s a lot to do and we’re going to need all the help we can get and then some.

I confess joining late the Shetucket River and Greeneville Dam fan club. It was about a month ago I wandered past the information kiosk about the fish found below, and above, the "new" dam in the Shetucket and read about the fish ladder. It was a fine walk on a mild March Saturday. Understand "new" dam is a relative term, having been built in 1915 to replace the "old" one, from 1828, sections of which are still visible upriver.

I shared part of the walk with a resident and occasional fisherman who told me stories of the life and times of earlier-than-his-generations of Greeneville residents and the influence of the now long-gone industries the Shetucket River fostered and furthered on his youth and on all those youngsters with whom he grew up.

Greeneville was named for William P. Greene who purchased land on both sides of the Shetucket River in 1826 for development, proving even then Norwich was a good investment. In 1828 Greene transferred his purchases to the Norwich Water Power Company, (he was the largest shareholder), and the original dam was constructed in 1828. I have no idea if an historic predecessor to the Norwich Community Development Corporation was involved in the construction as the city's preferred developer and don't know anyone old enough to know in order to ask.

Even with our mild winter and the dry Spring forcing water levels to record lows and exposing more riverbank than has been seen in a century or more, you'll hear the Shetucket roar before you see the dam. There's a constant hum, probably like that of one hundred and eighty years ago that drove water wheels producing the power needed by mills to turn out the cloth made into uniforms of Union soldiers in the Civil War and drove the foundries that forged cannon balls and grapeshot fired in the battles that preserved our nation.

I realize asking you to give up a few hours or more (it's been a mess for a long time, I'm not going to lie to you) is asking a lot, especially on a Sunday but important people do important things and this is important, not just for Greeneville but for all of us who live here. Please join us Sunday and help save the planet, or at least a small part of it and to assure Greeneville’s story remains a part of our history.

-bill kenny