To the Editor:

Last Saturday, the New Scotland Historical Association dedicated an historic marker at Lime Kiln Farm on Clipp Road.  The photo shows the lime kiln at the farm; you are right, the photo doesn’t look like much — perhaps a circular pile of stones.

Back in the 1800s (and even earlier), lime kilns were used to produce quicklime needed to make mortar for building houses; quicklime was also used for agricultural purposes.

The sketch shows how early lime kilns were made and how they operated, with layers of limestone and wood (or some other fuel).  The “access arch” and the “kiln eye” allowed air to enter from the bottom to keep the fire burning, and it allowed the removal of the quicklime after about a week of burning and cooling.

The Knox Historical Society would like to know if we have any lime kilns in Knox.  With the large amount of limestone in Knox, and its importance to agriculture, we must have had some lime kilns.  If you know of any, please let me know at .

Fred Schroeder, who was the director of the Albany Boy’s  Club and Camp Thacher, told me that he thought there was one on a trail near the Thacher Nature Center.  More toward the center of Knox, an 1881 deed selling a parcel of land to Ellen Witter describes a fenced “limekill lot” or “limekill field” just west of Witter Road.  The parcel is now part of the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy’s Hudson & Nancy Winn Preserve, accessed from Street Road.  So there must have been a lime kiln near Witter Road, but I haven’t been able to find it.

To identify the remains of an old lime kiln, look for a circular arrangement of rocks about 20 feet in diameter.  It may initially look like the foundation of a small building, but, as can be seen from the above sketch, the “foundation” walls will be sloping and very thick.  The ground level is likely to be higher on the side opposite the “access arch” to allow the fuel and limestone to be dumped into the egg-shaped kiln.

Please let the Knox Historical Society know if you have what you think may have been a lime kiln on your property (or anyplace in the Helderbergs).

Dan Driscoll, trustee

Knox Historical Society