ruins in Atsion

Still standing in Atsion is the mansion built by Samuel Richards in 1826.Now in disrepair and vacant,it is still an imposing reminder of the day when bog iron furnaces made magnates like Richards lords of the Pines.The old stagecoach and post road still runs past the mansion and continues deep into the woods to Quaker Bridge.Richards died in 1842.The old company store still stands a few hundred yards from the mansion.Built in 1827,old records show coffee at 16 cents a pound,butter 19 cents a pound,and rye whiskey 37 cents a gallon.Today this once bustling settlement is abandoned,but standing on the veranda of the mansion one can imagine the activity that centered on the "big house."