When it comes to things we love about the Valley, one of them indeed is Seymour’s historic waterfalls, located on River Street under Route 8.
I love waterfalls in general because they are a force of nature, and always spiritually refreshing to visit, and the Seymour falls have the distinction of being the largest and most dramatic in the Valley.
There are other waterfalls in Seymour — I can think easily of three — but the River Street falls are unquestionably the most majestic, especially after a heavy rain when they are rushing at full volume.
The falls are natural, although they were augmented over the years by various companies along the Naugatuck River, historians say. So they are blend of natural and manmade, you might say.
The official Seymour marker, which stands near the falls, tells their story succinctly. In 1803, they were known as Rimmon Falls, and General David Humphreys, friend and aide to General George Washington, bought them, with land, mill and shop.
The marker doesn’t say so, but historian Dorothy DeBisschop of Oxford informed me that Humphreys was the first to import Spanish Merino sheep into the United States, and the Seymour-Oxford area was the Merino wool capital of the country for some time, with the falls and surrounding mills as the heart center of the operation.
Seymour in 1805 was named Humphreysville, to honor the general, according to the inscription on the marker. That name did not change to Seymour as we know it today until 1850.
So the falls are not only gorgeous, full of nature’s wonder, but they have a rich history with a fabric that even today is considered a luxury — soft Merino wool.
I have to confess that after DeBisschop told me the story of Seymour’s merino wool mills by the falls I searched far and wide for a Merino wool sweater, and finally found one, out of Italy. I ordered it online and wore it until it shrank too much, but for that time I owned it, it was a tactile reminder of Seymour’s past.
It is a past I think of when I deliberately take the long way through town to see the falls, especially in the winter, when the trees that grow on the banks are bare and you have a clear view.
