A man who grew up in Westchester County and spent more than 50 years working at an insurance company in Connecticut has died at the age of 91.Fairfield County resident Anthony “Tony” Ragusa, of Wilton, died at Danbury Hospital on Thursday,…
Zackary Cernak holds the iron ball he found in woods in Russell, while creating a dirt bike trail. Historians are helping the Cernak family try to establish the ballâs likely history and significance. PHOTO PROVIDED BY CERNAK FAMILY
You can leave an 8.4-pound iron cannonball out in New England weather for two centuries, it turns out. It still will be round, though a little cracked. How it got to a Russell hillside, though, remains fuzzy.
Zackary Cernak came across just such a thing late last month, in woods in Russell while creating a dirt bike trail about a mile from the route of the famous General Henry Knox Trail. Today, that path is all but forgotten. A few historical markers, including one in Russell, offer a reminder: âThrough this place passed Gen. Henry Knox in the winter of 1775-1776 to deliver to Gen. George Washington the train of artillery from Fort Ticonderoga used to force the British Army to evacuate Boston.â
Shot heard ’round the world? Russell teen’s cannonball discovery raises questions about hilltown site
Updated 8:07 AM;
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RUSSELL Eighteen-year-old Zackary Cernak stumbled literally stubbed his toe on a mystery wedged under a rock on a hillside overlooking the Westfield River valley.
A senior about to graduate from Westfield Technical Academy, Cernak was working on his network of dirt bike trails, raking leaves and scraping debris away from a giant rock when he spotted something that looked too round, too unnatural, for its surroundings.
“Something seemed a little bit off,” said Cernak.
What he found is an iron ball, corroded and cracked with flakes of metal peeling from it, weighing in at a little more than 8 pounds and just more than 4 inches in diameter. Cradled in his hands, it looks like a rust-colored candlepin bowling ball.