Mystic Mountain Memories Part 2

 

 Mystic mountain discovery.

In search of the thunderbox steps.

 

After writing about Stella Patrone’s inspiring life in the New Mystic Lake estate last issue. I decided with information supplied by Stella’s grandson Gary Pope, I would head back up to the estate to use my very amateur archaeology and sleuthing skills to rediscover some history.

The day we chose couldn’t have been any better for climbing around the site. 18 degrees in February, dry but overcast meant at least we could be comfortable in protective clothing. This was needed due to the grasses being long (some sharp). broken branches and stumps both visible and hidden that were a burden on exposed skin. Armed with clues that may point us towards some hidden treasure we walked up into what once was Stella’s home for 15 years. On entering Alamein Ave., we were surrounded by butterflies, if it had been a warmer sunnier day, I dread to think how many more there would be. It’s just one of the charms of being up in this part of the woods in February. Moving down the road they flittered and fluttered in front of us until we reached the bend in the road that landmarked the property entrance.  Here, we could identify the flat area, known as the bottom landing that sat in front of the large gum tree, that in another age was where a table was set up for outside meals. It was clearly still there for anyone to find complete with a rock surround, and I was amazed it wasn’t bulldozed away back in the 1980s during the reclamation. Up where the front fence and top landing have been was now overgrown and were destroyed with any trace of the foundations for the floor supports.

One thing we were specifically looking for was the remains of the outback toilet, a standalone structure further up the block, something Gary had rediscovered on a visit with his wife Betty after reading the Mystic Estate article in the BBCN last year.

Misreading the orientation of the house and where it faced on the block we were looking further back than we needed to be when my sharp-eyed assistant Madelyn discovered a piece of cast iron just below the surface in an area surrounded by rocks of various sizes, almost perfect for a garden border. We identified it as a flue transition from an old wood stove, coincidently almost identical to one I have as an ornament in my own garden.

Getting our bearings thanks to Gary’s reference and the massive gum that is the one remaining tree that still can be identified from old photos, we moved a bit deeper into the block where we found the partially covered steps leading up the hill. I started to clear away the grass, dirt and fallen trees that covered them. I was using my little hand spade to clear the area when just as I was bringing it down to find an edge of a step, a reptilian head popped out and I smacked the face of the blade right on its head. At this point, I was ready to give up completely. However, my trusty assistant, Madelyn, who is a keeper at the Mt. Evelyn Nocturnal Zoo and handles these things on a daily basis was more concerned for the reptile which to my mind was a giant anaconda but she had wisely identified it as a blue tongue lizard. By now it had recovered from its bonk on the head and decided to turn around showing its body and legs and go back into its hole. When we (I) recovered we unearthed eight steps, all flat concrete and spaced evenly. This took a bit longer than anticipated because instead of hitting a lizard I had to avoid Madelyn who kept getting in the way trying to retrieve the reptile. The steps look so out of place amongst the natural flora.

 How the bulldozers removed all traces of introduced vegetation but missed these is a mystery, but proof still exists that life was once vibrant up this now closed-off and abandoned street. On consultation, the piece of cast iron didn’t belong to the house,  as Stella had an open brick fireplace and chimney but it was confirmed that the area it was found in was a garden bed and was full of found pieces to house cactus and smaller plants.

I have a theory of why after 35 years Lot 61 still has some traces left. The main aim was to remove structures and evasive flora. Other items not bulldozed would be reclaimed by nature and since the Pope property was higher on the mountain, the other two established sites referred to in the last issue faced the Mountain highway and with widening and reinforcing of the road, a lot more area was eventually removed. Ironically, the one property that blatantly stands out with its set of stairs leading up to a flat pad was never built beyond that point and is clearly visible from the highway today.

 

I have discovered that the New Mystic Lake estate is a piece of history that just keeps giving and there is still so much to explore but that’s it for now.

It's wonderful to point out that thanks to ladies like Stella, the Basin and the Mountain still had women with a pioneer spirit right up to the middle of the last century.