People

Dallas Boushey - a man, a myth, an absolute legend
   Professor Boushey is an 80+ year old resident of the Englesby Brook Watershed and we had the pleasure of speaking with him one afternoon while exploring the brook.  He remembers the paving of Englesby Ravine (see Re-Shot Photo).  Boushey's life story (a janitor turned university anatomy professor) is inspiring and worth investigating.  Follow this link for articles on the life of Dallas Boushey:  http://www.uvm.edu/annb/faculty/boushey/

Culverts
   Like many urban waterways, waterflow in Englesby Brook is forced through extensive networks of culverts as it travels under major roadways.  Crawling through these culverts provides an epic adventure and a few sections rival advanced spelunking routes.  The following is a memoir from one of many culvert explorations in Englesby Brook:

On March 30, 2012, Carly, Steve and I started yet another adventure exploring the ins and outs of Englesby Brook.  As per usual, when Carly and I arrived at a 200 meter long culvert which allows the brook to pass under Pine Street, we made haste and started to crawl through.  Unlike past culvert trips, I was wearing a backpack and chest waders which made squeezing through the tight culvert a difficult challenge.  I traveled onward slow and steady but before long I looked up and realized that Carly was way ahead of me.  She yelled back to me and said that the roof of the culvert had ripped open and there was a steady stream of water falling from the ceiling.  By the time I caught up, Carly had already limbo-d around the small waterfall coming from the ceiling.  Since I had already been rushing to catch up, I made a split second decision to just duck my head and blitz through the waterfall as quickly as possible so that I wouldn’t get too wet.  However what I didn’t realize was that a piece of culvert metal from the imploded roof was jetting downwards just past the falling water and I ended up battering ramming into the metal head first, knocking me over, injuring my forehead, knee and ego. ~alejandro

Shopping carts blocking the path are just one of many obstacles faced during extreme culverting in Englesby Brook

  

Historical Reshots

The Crescent Woods bridge

An old stone bridge and culvert in Crescent Woods

At the bottom of the Crescent Woods area near Shelburne Road sits an old, collapsing bridge. The pools of water that form above and below the bridge are habitat for both fish and frogs. We believe this bridge was part of the Henry Holt property. Henry Holt was the founder of what is now a well-known publishing company, Henry Holt & Company. He built a mansion in the 1809's that is near the Burlington Country Club property, just at the head of Englesby Brook. See http://www.hkw-p.com/residential/?c=22# for more information on and pictures of the Henry Holt property.






Other human sign in Englesby Brook

Historical clay sewer main w/ exposed access point

Remnants of a zipline in Crescent Woods