A Visit To Southington’s Great Unconformity

Paul Sulzicki inspecting Southington's Great Unconformity ERICA BOVINO PHOTO

There is no path to Southington’s Great Unconformity. Instead, visitors must tread carefully over boulders and through stands of oak and mountain laurel until they come to the edge of a steep ravine. There the ground drops away to reveal Roaring Brook splashing over mossy rocks, forming a series of small waterfalls on its way to the valley below.

One cold Saturday morning in late December, a group from the Southington Land Trust made a journey to this ravine. The view and the hypnotic trickle of the water were charming enough - yet that was not all they had come to see. On the far side of the stream rises a rock formation that looks like two different types of cake stacked on top of each other. The upper layer is more rusty in color with horizontal bands, while the lower one is grey and juts up vertically like a row of blunt teeth.

This rock formation, the Great Unconformity, was the goal of their visit.

Many residents know that Southington has an ‘unconformity’ – it is even mentioned on the town’s Wikipedia page. But what is it, exactly?

A Short History of a Long Past

An ‘unconformity’ is any place where two masses of bedrock that differ radically in age and origin touch, without any layers from the time in between. Most unconformities lie deep underground, covered by topsoil. They only become visible when some natural force, like Roaring Brook, cuts a channel to expose them.

These junctions have a story to tell about earth’s deep past. The story of our town's unconformity begins with the lower layer of rock, which is the older of the two. It dates to a time about 400 million years ago when the highest forms of life on earth were fish and plants. At that time, all seven of the earth’s current continents formed a single giant landmass called Pangaea. A massive mountain range stretched across its northern parts as tall as the Alps and twice as long – a range that survives to this day, in diminished form, as the Appalachian Mountains.

WIKIPEDIA CREATIVE COMMONS IMAGE

The land that today we call Connecticut was located just south of the center of that range. The grey rock one finds in the Unconformity and elsewhere on Southington Mountain once belonged to these mountains. For the most part it is a mix of whitish quartz and glittering mica:

PHILIP THIBODEAU PHOTO

Now the next chapter in our story unfolds. About 200 million years ago, just as dinosaurs were beginning to take over the earth, an enormous crack developed in the middle of Pangaea, just east of the mountain range. It grew and filled with seawater, splitting Pangaea into the separate continents of North America and Africa. Eventually that gap would expand to become what we now call the Atlantic Ocean.

WIKIPEDIA CREATIVE COMMONS IMAGE

Around the same time, a set of smaller cracks opened in the middle of future Connecticut. There the earth sank down to form the Connecticut River Valley, which stretches through the middle of the state from New Haven to Windsor Locks, and includes most of Southington. What started as a marine inlet eventually filled in with sediment washed down from the surrounding mountains.

In time, this sediment was compressed into a soft, rust-colored sandstone known as arkose. Most of the bedrock in the middle of Southington is a layer of arkose resting on the grey rock below, like a mud pie in a stone bowl.

Over the next hundred million years, the floor of the valley slowly tilted, with the western half rising and the eastern half sinking. (You can still see this tilt when you are driving on I-691 in Meriden, in the slanted cliffs under Castle Craig.)

When the western part rose it lifted the valley floor. The rock formation at the Unconformity is a part of that floor - a place where a piece of mud pie touches the bowl. In short: compacted marine sediment above, and the remnants of an ancient mountain range below.

The Unconformity And The Southington Land Trust

Southington’s Unconformity is a rare natural wonder, not unlike the dinosaur footprints that are the pride of Rocky Hill’s Dinosaur State Park. However, rock masses are not quite as universally beloved as dinosaurs, and for most of the town’s history, no serious effort was made to promote or protect the site.

In 1972 the question of preservation became an urgent one when a developer named Gerald Griffin purchased the land near Roaring Brook in order to build there. The members of Southington’s newly-formed Conservation Commission tried to see what they could do to protect the site. Griffin, while unwilling to donate the land outright, was lured by the promise of tax incentives to grant an easement for the lot containing the Unconformity. Under the terms of this easement, the stream and the rocks would remain untouched in perpetuity.

All that was needed to seal the deal was an entity to hold the easement. And so one was formed: a nonprofit corporation called the Southington Land Conservation Trust. The trust was headed by Luis Lozano, the Commission's chair, and officially recognized by the IRS in 1974.

Today the Unconformity lies on private property; a chain-link fence, dense shrubs, and ‘no trespassing’ signs serve to discourage unannounced visitors. However, the Trust continues to be responsible for inspecting the property, to make sure it remains undeveloped and has no issues with trash or invasive species. To fulfill this obligation, members visit the site twice a year.

Land Trust member Theo Smigelski and President Val Guarino look over the ravine. PHILIP THIBODEAU PHOTO

A Family At The Rocks

On the day of the visit, Paul Sulzicki, a Land Trust member who lives on Mt. Vernon Road, brought his whole family – wife Erica Bovino, father-in-law Severino, and their children Jack, Stella, and Hazel - to enjoy this rare opportunity.

“We were here many years ago, before the kids, and we thought this was a great opportunity for them as well to learn about history and nature, so we can protect it and be a good steward. Here we all are, from seven years old to eighty – what is it, Dad?”

“82,” said the elder Severino, smiling.

“Seven to 82. Just so appreciative of what’s around us. The monumental forces at play, that created this, are just amazing.”

Severino Bovino pointing out the rock formation. ERICA BOVINO PHOTOS

Erica noted that there is more to the site than geological history: “When we first came through here years ago with the owner’s permission, we saw a bobcat lurking in the shadows over there. There are plenty of bears too - and deer, and turkeys.”

The family spent their visit inspecting the stream and the rocks, sharing recollections of wildlife (including flying squirrels that they spotted in their own back yard), and taking it all in.

Seven-year old Hazel summed up the experience: “It’s really cool. I like the rock, it’s amazing. The waterfall too.”

Stella, Jack, Hazel, Erica, Severino, and Paul

Sober Southington Is Serious About Having Fun

The Sober Southington crew at Kinsmen Brewery, with pizza and non-alcoholic beer. PHILIP THIBODEAU PHOTOS

“What did you think of Barb’s?” a member of Sober Southington asked the group. “I liked it, it reminded me of the kind of pizza I grew up with," came the reply.

And South Town Pizza, where they had just come from? “Checked a lot of boxes for me, especially the nice burnt crust.”

Those gathered around the table at Kinsmen Brewery were participating in a ‘Best Pizza of Southington’ contest and waiting for new pies to arrive. Just a few minutes earlier, they had been out on the Canal Trail to stage a playful ‘pizza protest.’ “What do we want? GOOD PIZZA! When do we want it? NOW!” Group organizer Shane Shackelford shouted through his megaphone, while the rest of the group repeated the chant and moved in formation down the path.

Over six feet tall and sporting a festive collection of tattoos, Shackelford, who goes by ‘Shawn Sharks’ on Facebook, stands out in a crowd. He prefers clothes with flair, such as the pants with pizza-slice print he was wearing today. He also radiates openness, greeting people he’s just met for the first time as if they were old friends. A native of Nashville, Tennessee, he now resides in Southington with his wife Sara Cyr and his son.

Shackelford runs Sober Southington in his spare time. His day jobs include working at a doggie day-care and tending bar at the Groggy Frog. The latter might seem like an odd choice for someone in recovery, but Shane says “you have to keep your demons close” to keep them under control.

He and Sara started the group to provide “the sober and the sober-curious” with safe socialization options. Staying clean requires discipline, persistence, and humility; what Sober Southington has to offer are opportunities to have fun, to get a healthy buzz from shared adventures, and to know someone out there has your back.

“Shane is way outside the box,” said group member David Riccio. “Some of the things he comes up with are so artistic. Ironically, I stopped drinking on the same day he did. Shane is like, you’re taking on a new life, a new way of life, a sober way of life. “

“Here, you’re putting yourself with other people and helping each other out. It’s a public group, not a private one. A couple weeks ago we had a guy’s night. I met four guys that I probably never would have encountered otherwise. It was at the escape room at Factory Square. We had to work together as a team. Then we went back to Shane’s garage, his man-cave. He got out the Avery’s soda, said which is your favorite flavor, and handed them out.”

“I can go on. Everything he touches just turns to magic. He’s got that personality.”

Once the platters at Kinsmen were empty – “excellent, really tasty” – the group members piled into their cars to head for their fourth and final destination, Nonna’s Pizza. There, owner Ace Memeti and his father entertained the crew while pizzas cooked in the oven. Once served, the group made short work of the pies. Everyone handed in their rating sheets and waited for the votes to be tallied.

The winner? Nonna’s Pizza, by a considerable margin. Some might wonder whether the $20 gift certificates that Ace distributed to the participants may have played a role in this decision. Regardless, the essential point was not to evaluate culinary standards – it was to spend the afternoon going around town and having fun.

Shane photographs Nonna's manager Ace Memeti as he holds his trophy.

The Silent Ravers

Shane and Sara keep the group’s calendar full: after the pizza crawl on December 20, there was a massage night in West Hartford on December 28, a book club at Kinsmen on December 29, and to ring in the New Year, a silent rave at Infinite Growth Club downtown.

A ‘silent rave,’ for those who don’t know, is a dance party where the participants wear headphones linked to wifi that let them choose from a few different dance tracks. People who prefer up-tempo beats can dance together in one area while those who prefer something slower can gather in another. Another option is to take off your headphones and hold a conversation in a room that, while buzzing with activity, is not deafeningly loud.

One participant, Bob from New York, said this was his first ever silent rave. He expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to try out something completely new.

Two attendees, Carrie and Kelly, heard about Sober Southington from The Phoenix, another Hartford-area sobriety group. Lighting up the floor with their glow-in-the-dark shoes, they took turns dancing, sipping on their drinks, and circulating.

Their beverages were made by Roaming Spirits, a mobile bar run by the husband-and-wife team of Anthony and Kelly. The options were, of course, non-alcoholic, but not lacking in imagination:

One noticeable feature of this dance party was the presence of young children. A few gathered around a console playing video games, while others danced with their parents.

One of the mothers, Alicia Diaz, is the co-owner of Infinite Growth. She and her business partner Brandi Nik Kilbourne-Price took turns joining the party and welcoming guests at the door. They said they were excited to ring in the New Year with Shane and his group and looked forward to future collaborations.

Alicia and Brandi, co-owners of Infinite Growth

Part Of A New Movement

Sober Southington is not unique in its devotion to alcohol-free socialization. As CNN recently reported, a new trend for sober partying has sprung up that spans the globe. In Seoul, for instance, young people rise at daybreak so they can dance for an hour before work, fueled by good vibes and caffeine. In France, one bakery has become famous for dance parties that celebrate bread and other baked goods.

All over the world, it would seem, people are rethinking what it means to have fun and coming to similar conclusions about the possibilities. But a trend doesn’t just happen on its own: it takes individuals with energy and imagination, like Shane, to make it happen. On January 3, on Facebook, Shackelford spelled out what Sober Southington is all about in a short manifesto:

“Sober Southington likes to have fun! We are a community of people who have chosen to live without alcohol or drugs but who still value laughter, connection, adventure, and genuine enjoyment, often even more than before. This kind of group understands that fun does not depend on substances and that the most lasting, satisfying experiences come from being present, clear-minded, and authentically engaged with others. Members include people in recovery, those who simply choose not to drink for health or personal reasons, or individuals who are “sober curious” and want to see what life feels like without relying on substances to relax or socialize. We gather for activities where the focus is on shared experiences rather than on drinking: lots of activities lined up for the month of January. If you are practicing dry January, now is the time to check us out.”

Friends dance in front of Roaming Spirits' mocktail bar.

Bread For Life Offers Food - And Much More - For Those In Need

SCREENSHOT FROM 'BREAD FOR LIFE'

The executive director of Southington’s Bread For Life, Missy Cipriano, is a trained beekeeper. During the summer, when the hives behind Bread For Life’s garden are awake, she takes care of the bees as they gather nectar and make honey. But even in the winter, when the bees hibernate, her skills are still useful, since Bread For Life is itself a kind of beehive, buzzing with people collecting and processing food to feed those in need.

In fact, Bread For Life does more than target hunger. Recently Missy took the Outsider on a tour of the facility to show us what she and her staff do to provide its clients with practical help, dignity, and a sense of community connection. The tour was filmed and edited by Wayne Edwards – a member of the Outsider's Board of Directors, and a professor in the Communications, Film, and Media Studies Department at the University of New Haven – along with two of his students, Elisa Roche and Jay Sanders. Click below to watch the 13-minute feature:

For more information, see Bread for Life's website.

Here are some of Bread for Life's dedicated volunteer drivers preparing to make deliveries on Christmas Eve: