Springtime In Southington: A View From The Air

John McDonald, the founder of CT Photo Pro and a sponsor of the Southington Outsider, took advantage of the nice spring weather last Sunday, April 26, to shoot some drone footage of Southington. The movie he put together features panoramic views of the downtown area, Southington High School, and Panthorn Park. For the best viewing experience, watch this video on a laptop or desktop - the resolution is high enough that you can make out a pickleball as its being served on the Panthorn Park pickleball courts.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/abd89a_2fd752faea6548e6a8a2421179bd0773/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Youth Fishing League Kicks Off At Sloper

Landon hauls in a sunfish at the Youth Fishing League's first derby. PHILIP THIBODEAU PHOTOS

“Hey, look at that!” shouted Jeff Barton, founder of Southington’s new Youth Fishing League. Where he pointed, a young child, half as tall as his pole, was reeling in an orange-bellied sunfish from the waters of Sloper Pond. “Someone knows how to fish over there,” he said.

A strong wind blew puffy clouds overhead Sunday morning as dozens of children with parents in tow stood patiently on the shores of Sloper waiting for the tell-tale tug on their lines. Barton beamed with satisfaction at the turnout for the League’s first event, a fishing derby. He was a child himself when he first learned the sport. “My father taught me,” he said. “We used to go deep sea fishing to catch bigger fish.”

Jeff Barton at Sloper Pond

The idea for a youth league came to him after he spent a day casting lures with players from the Blue Knights Football team, which he helps coach. “I’m a football coach,” Barton said. “I brought the players out to go fish, and seeing the fun that they had, I said we’ve got to figure this out.”

The derby was designed to add an element of fun and competition to the mix: “Today we’re doing prizes for biggest catch, most catches, and winner of the casting competition. Mt. Southington and other businesses donated prizes, and we’re going to package them up. There’s about $200 value in all the prizes.”

Jordan shows off his catch.

YFL volunteers man the tent

While the event had a $35 registration fee, the fee was waived for the first 75 kids to sign up thanks to a generous donation from the family of the late Jhonatan Jiron of Bristol.

Now that the first derby is in the books, Barton is planning to hold them on a regular basis. “We’re trying to do one a month,” he said. “I’ve been waiting to announce other events until this one was over with. Now that I know people will come, we can book out the schedule.”

Asked whether Sloper Pond is his favorite local spot, Barton said it was one of several. “Sloper, yes. Crescent Lake is great too. I’m also working with Aqua Turf, they have a pond that is stocked where they let us fish. Lymans Orchards is another. The Town of Southington wants us to do events through Recreation Park, so we’re working the details out for that.”

Barton observed that dredging of the bottom of Sloper a few years ago has improved the experience for fishermen. “Dredging really helps it. Pond weed in Connecticut is a big problem right now. The more shallow it gets, the more weedy it gets. So dredging helps with that, it helps with the fish population.”

He recalled attending Camp Sloper when he was young, and learning the legend of the giant snapping turtle said to inhabit its depths. “Since I was a kid there’s been a legend of Mama Cass, a big snapping turtle out there. I remember that since I was a kid here. They’d tell the story of Mama Cass coming out of the water. Every kid was terrified.”

On Sunday morning, however, the only bites were from sunfish, crappies, pickerel, and bass that sparkled in the sun before being returned to the water.

Once the derby ended and the results were tallied, three winners were announced. Dylan Donaruma received the award for most catches - an impressive 31. Chase Marcy won the award for biggest catch. Finally, Grant Ramey went home with a certificate proclaiming him the winner of the casting competition:

Dylan Donaruma, Jeff Barton, Chase Marcy, and Grant Ramey. PHOTO COURTESY OF JEFF BARTON

The Youth Fishing League Facebook page can be found here. The League's Instagram account offers detailed fishing reports for Southington, updated each day.

Rare Spanish Coin Unearthed

The 'tails' side of a Spanish piece-of-eight PHILIP THIBODEAU PHOTOS

It was not the first time, Val Guarino, president of the Southington Conservation Land Trust, had taken his metal detector out on Land Trust properties to see what he could find. Often enough he came home empty-handed; occasionally he would find a something interesting, like an old tool. "I once found a metal file," he remarked. "That was about it."

Two weeks ago, however, his search led to the discovery of something special. He was sweeping an area that had recently been exposed by mowing. The detector made its characteristic ping, indicating that it sensed metal underground. Digging down a few inches, Guarino found a silvery disc about the size of a poker chip. He rubbed off some of the dirt and realized that he had found a coin.

Removing the rest of the dirt revealed lettering. Circling a worn and damaged silhouette on the 'heads' side of the coin were the letters DEI GRATIA 1800 CAROLVS IIII, which is Latin for 'By the grace of God, 1800, Charles/Carlos the Fourth."

The 'heads' side

On the 'tails' side (see the headline photo) was an elaborate coat of arms flanked by two pillars and surrounded by the letters HISPAN ET IND REX M 8R FM.

The first four words are short for Hispaniarum et Indiarum Rex, which means 'King of Spain and the Indies' in Latin. In other words, this was a Spanish coin. Finally, the 8R clinched the identification of the piece: it stands for 'eight Reales', and indicates that the coin was what characters in pirate movies refer to when they mention 'pieces of eight.'

The significance of the number 1800 is thus obvious: it is the year when the coin was minted - over two centuries ago, when Southington was a mere 21 years old.

But what do the other letters stand for? And what was this coin doing in Southington in the first place? For more information on the piece, the Outsider reached out to Dave Wnuck. Wnuck is a coin dealer with an expertise in early American coins, and the founder of Dave Wnuck Numismatics in Wallingford. He graciously shared the following information on Guarino's find.

"What you found is an 1800-Mo FM 8 Reales. The 'M' stands for Mexico City, where the coin was minted."

"'FM' are the initials of the assayer at the Mexico City mint. This is the person ultimately responsible to make sure the coins made at the mint under his direction had the proper amount of silver in each coin."

"The coin was legal tender in Southington (and the rest of America) and circulated alongside the US coins being minted at the Philadelphia mint. In fact, all foreign coins were legal tender in the US until 1857."

"We were not a wealthy nation in 1800 by any means, so we didn't/couldn't make enough coins for daily transactions throughout the young nation. So, a Southington resident in 1800 was much more likely to have a foreign coin in their pocket than a coin made in the USA, especially coins from Mexico. The Mexican 8 reales was the US Dollar of its day, and preferred by most countries in the world for trade purposes."

"In 1800, a Mexican 8 reales coin - commonly known as a Spanish dollar or 'piece of eight' - had a spending power equivalent to one United States dollar. A single 8 reales coin represented significant value, as a dollar in 1800 was equivalent to about $20 to $30 in 2026 purchasing power. In the US around 1800, one Spanish dollar could buy either 6 pounds of butter, 1 bushel of wheat, 4 quarts of whiskey, 2.5 bushels of corn, or 300 pounds of hay."

"The 8 reales coin was equal to eight 'bits' or reals, and was often split into smaller pieces to make change, which is the origin of the term "two bits" for a quarter."

"The US Dollar was directly based on this Spanish coin, and the Spanish dollar was the primary currency for trade. The '$' symbol is believed to be derived from the S-shaped banner wrapped around the Pillars of Hercules on the coin's design."

As for the location of the discovery, Guarino is keeping that confidential in order to prevent a swarm of treasure-seekers from descending on the property. In fact, this coin was an isolated find, which means that it probably slipped out of someone's purse two-centuries ago, rather than being part of a buried horde.

After all those years in the cold dirt, the coin will now have a nicer home - though Guarino has not yet decided whether that will be the Land Trust office or the Southington Historical Society.

Val Guarino on a Land Trust property with brush trimmers