LOCALadk Magazine

40 Summer 2020 LOCALadk Magazine LOCALadk A mere 460 million years ago, there was no Lake Cham- plain. Most of the continents were covered with water, as sea levels were much higher than today. Dr y land was a bar- ren place, where nothing lived except bacteria and, in some places, maybe some mosses and lichens. The atmosphere's carbon dioxide levels were 10 to 15 times higher than today. New York and Vermont were thousands of miles apart, and a shallow sea ran along the eastern edge of the Adiron- dacks. The climate that enveloped this shallow sea was sub- tropical. In that primordial soup, long before some creatures began to crawl from the sea onto land, marine animals had begun to develop hard exoskeletons, armor made of calcium carbonate to protect them against the other life forms in the sea that considered them dinner. As those hard-shelled ani- mals died and sank to the sea floor, their exoskeletons creat- ed what are the oldest known coral reefs on Earth. Today, evidence of the oldest known coral reef in the world is found in fossils in the town of Essex, New York, in what is now called the Essex Quarr y Nature Park. Champlain Area Trails (C ATS), a land trust and trails organization head- quartered in Westport, purchased the 35-acre Essex Quarr y late last year and is currently developing about two miles of trails for walking or cross-countr y skiing. The project also includes the installation of interpretive signs that highlight the park's special features—including those ancient fos- sils— and benches for relaxing and enjoying the peaceful- ness of the property. A grand opening celebration is planned for this fall. "The owners of the Essex Quarr y property wanted to see it used for the public's enjoyment," said C ATS Executive Director Chris Maron. "So they came to us with a ver y attrac- tive offer and then donated half the purchase price back to C ATS. We're grateful for their foresight, generosity, and help in making this dream come true. The Essex Quarr y Nature Park will be a treasure for Essex, where visitors and residents alike can walk through town and enjoy this oasis for hiking, skiing, or just unwinding." For fossil enthusiasts, the Essex Quarr y Nature Park will be a destination location, "a true treasure trove," says Ann (Nancy) Budd, professor emeritus of invertebrate paleontol- ogy at the University of Iowa, and an Essex resident. "The rocks in the park provide a rare glimpse into the past and the ancestors of modern-day coral reefs." There are the coiled bottom-dwelling snail Maclurites magnus, swimming orthocone cephalopods with elongate conical shells, and trilobites. At the bottom of the food chain were brachiopods ("lamp shells") and crinoids ("sea lilies"), which were attached to the seafloor. "It truly is a remarkable place," Budd said. Essex Quarr y's more recent histor y—recent, that is, when compared to the fossil histor y of eons ago —is equally fascinating. The stone mined from the quarr y was shipped south by barge to the Champlain Canal and Hudson River. (Wooden barges carr ying giant stones didn't always work out well: there is a 19th centur y sunken load of stone just offshore in Essex.) The stone was used in 19th centur y building projects such as the Brooklyn Bridge and the capital building in Alba- ny. The September 3, 1871, edition of the Essex County Re- publican says that when "Mr. Solomon," who owned the Will- sboro quarr y to the north on Ligonier Point, fell behind on his contract for the Brooklyn Bridge, the order was fulfilled with stone from Essex Quarr y. In 1874, the same newspaper indicates that Essex Quarr y hired 200 men to fulfill their own contracts; one can imagine the tremendous economic boost to the area the project provided. Stone from the quarr y was used throughout the town of Essex as well, in homes and walls, something the interpretive signs and regular walking tours at the new nature park will cover. As a nod to this past, C ATS will install natural benches using the quarr y's stone, and has created naming opportuni- ties to help fund an endowment to protect the park in future years. In addition to the richness of its histor y, the Essex Quar- r y Nature Park offers a unique natural community. While the western part of the property has the more common Adiron- dack hardwood-pine-hemlock forest, the eastern side was identified by Steve Young, an ecologist with New York State's Natural Heritage Program, as featuring a natural community that is rare both in the state and around the world, called a "Limestone Woodland." It occurs in shallow soil above lime- stone bedrock and, while it is rare on the planet, it occurs extensively along Lake Champlain and is often seen as a sce- nic limestone-cedar landscape. In addition to the Lake Cham- plain Valley, it is also found in the central Hudson Limestone Valley, portions of the St. Lawrence Valley, and across what is called the Ontario Lake Plain to the west. The Essex Quarry Nature Park: A Paleontological, Historical, and Natural Treasure By Beth Rowland Photos provided

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