What's in a Name? Ratley Road
Ratley Road Sign: Courtesy Google Earth
Hello again fellow history enthusiasts! I apologize for the lack of blogs in recent months. I needed to take a break because my wife and I welcomed our second child, a baby girl, back in February, so I have not had the time to do research and writing. Now that my life has somewhat stabilized, I am happy to get back to writing about Suffield’s history.
As a parent of a curious three year old, I get asked questions from the moment my son wakes up until the moment he goes to bed. In particular, he is interested in why places and objects are named the way that they are. I love how curious he is and his curiosity has rubbed off on me and I plan to, from time to time, explore how certain places in Suffield got their names.
A Topographic Map of the Rattlesnake Plain: Credit US Geological Survey. Note the flatness of the area compared to the surrounding hills and mountains.
I chose to start with Ratley Road because it seems so ordinary. I just assumed it was named after someone with the last name Ratley. However, it turns out Ratley is not a name, but a corruption of the word rattle as in rattlesnake. The early settlers of Suffield named the flat area that Ratley Road currently runs through Rattlesnake Plain. Now you may have lived on Ratley Road or the neighboring streets for many years and are probably wondering why you have never seen a rattlesnake or even knew that they once lived there. To understand that, it helps to understand more about the timber rattlesnake and its decline in the state of Connecticut.
The timber rattlesnake is one of two poisonous snakes indigenous to Connecticut. It lives mainly in forests with rugged terrain close to a source of water (In the case of Suffield, Rattlesnake Creek runs right near Suffield Mountain). During their active period from April through October, gravid (pregnant) females require rocks in sunny areas to bask in order to help them harness the sun’s heat to grow their young inside them. From November through March, they congregate with other snakes in rocky dens to stay warm while they brumate (reptile hibernation). Their diet mainly consists of small mammals such as mice and occasionally small birds.
A Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus Horridus): Credit State of Connecticut and Dennis Quinn
So what happened to the rattlesnake population in Suffield and more broadly in Connecticut? A combination of habitat destruction, purposeful killings, and a slow reproductive cycle has led to it being an endangered species in Connecticut. As English colonists flooded into the Connecticut River Valley, they cleared land for farms destroying the forests that the timber rattlesnake hunted in and removing the stones they needed to bask on.
Historic Timber Rattlesnake Range: Credit Rattlesnake Conservancy
Despite the fact that the snakes preyed on pests like mice and voles, their highly venomous nature made them an anathema to the colonists and the farmers of the early republic. In many towns across New England, a bounty was available for dead rattlesnakes. In an effort to protect their families and earn money during the lean winter months, many farmers would look for rattlesnake dens and kill as many snakes as possible while they were hibernating.
Current Timber Rattlesnake Range: Credit William H Martin
While other species have recovered from human activity, especially with the regrowth of forest habitats, the timber rattlesnake remains an endangered species in Connecticut. The problem for the snake is that it takes a long time to reach sexual maturity (males 5 years and females 7-10 years). This means that if a snake of breeding age is killed, it can take 5-10 years for it to be replaced. This meant that the killings by farmers of brumating snakes was particularly devastating to the species.
Rattlesnakes emerging from a den: Credit PennLive
Today, there are no known timber rattlesnake populations in Suffield. However, there are populations thought to live in Southwick and Granville While it’s highly unlikely you will see rattlesnake in Suffield, your best chance of seeing one is probably in Sunrise Park or along the Metacomet Trail. Should you encounter one, do not panic, just back away slowly and give it plenty of space.
Juvenile Timber Rattlesnake: Credit Christopher Keuny
Ratley Road serves as a reminder of both the lasting impact nature has on us as human beings and we have on nature.
Works Cited
Alcorn, Robert Hayden. The biography of a town: Suffield, Connecticut, 1670-1970. Hartford, CT: 300th Anniversary Committee of the Town of Suffield, 1970.
Sheldon, Hezekiah Spencer. Documentary history of Suffield: In the Colony and province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England, 1660-1749. Springfield, MA: Hezekiah Spencer Sheldon, 1879.
“Timber Rattlesnake.” CT.gov, March 18, 2018. https://portal.ct.gov/deep/wildlife/fact-sheets/timber-rattlesnake.
