Having just completed a morning jaunt up to the Ledge I decided to go check out the former site of Moncton, the small hamlet that was swallowed up in 1915 when underground seepage from Chester Morse Reservoir caused Rattlesnake Lake to swell up and flood the town. It can only be reached around this time of year when the lake is at its lowest level. I parked at the east end of the Watershed Interpretive Center and made my way down to the lakeshore, which as I indicated is more shore than lake at the moment. The ground was soft but easy to walk on, allowing me to get close to the lake without getting mud up to my ankles.
I been here many times before, but this was the first time I noticed so many remains of the former railroad town. The broken remnants of the fireplace are what most people usually see, but this time I noticed countless wood beams and posts scattered throughout the area. My archaeology fu is weak so I had no idea what I was looking at, but knowing it was all connected to the ghost town formerly known as Moncton, aka Cedar Falls was pretty cool. Also cool were the countless tree stumps, many with the roots exposed and with notches that held the springboards 19th-century lumberjacks would stand on while cutting them down with two-man buck saws.
Anyway, it wasn’t so much a hike as a nature walk, and I only saw a couple of other people there walking their dogs plus a few birds. Like I said this feature is only visible when the lake is super-low, so if you're in the area you should definitely check it out before the lake rises and swallows up the town again.
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