Preserve New Fairfield


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If These Walls Could Talk

Charcoal Burning in New Fairfield

by Linda Decker

The following is an excerpt from an article written by Peg Raacke in 1979 from a conversation she had with Ed Chase.

My father, Edwin F. Chase, burnt coal about all of his life in the Short Woods area of New Fairfield. My brothers and I helped him. We would cut 40 or 50 cords of wood for a coal pit. Then we would set the wood up on end, cover it with hay and dirt or sod and burn it. When the charcoal was ready he would take it to Danbury, New Milford or Quaker Hill and sell it for 10 or 12 cents a bushel.

Any kind of tree would be cut into four foot lengths and then stacked together on end in an area about 40 or 50 feet across. It was then completely covered with earth and the fire started. The fires would burn for about two weeks. Then we would uncover it, dig and rake the charcoal out around the edges of the pit and put out any burning spots with water. It would take about 10 or 12 hours to cool. When finished, the charcoal logs would be about two feet long. These we would pack into two-bushel baskets.

The “coal pit” was not a hole dug in the ground but the surface of the land where the logs were stacked. These coal pits could be cleaned off and used again. There were about forty coal pits in the Short Woods area. About 1000 bushels of charcoal could be gotten from 50 cords of wood and about 3000 bushels during the season. We would load about 150 bushels in the wagon and drive the horse and wagon to Danbury or New Milford. In Danbury we sold to the Heneby Brass Foundry on Franklin Street and in New Milford to the tobacco farms and some of the schools. My brothers and I would go with my father to help sell it. We would take turns carrying the baskets in. It was hard and dirty work.

Ed Chase was born on December 18, 1894 to Edwin F. and Betsy Benedict Chase in the family homestead on Shortwoods Road, near the intersection of Rocky Hill Road. Ed had seven brothers and one sister. Ed died in 1989 at the age of 94.

Marguerite (Peg) Raacke was one of the founding members of the New Fairfield Historical Society.

Information for this article was obtained from the writings of Peg Raacke.