Meet Unk, The Sculptor

The hands that carved this nativity scene belong to Unk DaRos, who patiently turned a log into a work of art. Even more remarkable is the workshop he built as a replica of the 1850 Stony Creek freight depot on the old New Haven-New London Railroad line.

DaRos returned to his creative roots after retiring from more than a dozen years as Branford’s first selectman. These days he can be found working on projects in the depot that he finished building last December. It took about nine months to complete the structure, with a little help from family and friends. But the dream of rebuilding the depot began decades ago.

“I envisioned it in my mind for years, that I wanted to do something, and then it evolved into this,” he said as he looked around the workshop/depot. ​“I knew what I wanted to build.”

His talents as a builder and wood-carver come naturally. ​“I’m self-taught, that’s the hard way,” he said. ​“I’ve had a few wounds and cuts to show for it.”

The depot isn’t his first construction project. ​“I built my own house and a couple out on the (Thimble) islands,” he said. He’s also built nine boats. ​“This winter, if I get around to it, I might build another boat.”

He worked much of his life as a stone mason. ​“I was doing stonework back in the day,” he said. ​“Now they’ve got power tools and all kinds of fancy tools, but I did it all by hand, every bit of it.”

DaRos is enjoying his retirement. ​“I have self-imposed deadlines, but I try not to put them beyond reach. It’s great doing what you want to do when you want to do it.”

It Began With a Decoy

The wood-carving pursuits also began years ago. ​“It’s really fun. I’ve been doing it quite awhile,” he said. ​“It started off when I was duck-hunting. I couldn’t afford to buy decoys, so I started making them.”

Now he has a collection of decoys, some made by him, that hang on the walls of the workshop along with other Stony Creek artifacts he’s gathered over the years.

Several of his wooden sculptures are at the workshop —herons carved out of black walnut; a drummer; a big-horn sheep; and the nativity. Each carved from one piece of wood. He explains that the log for the nativity was split in half so he could carve each side of the figures.

“Once you get started, it’s fun. You’ve got an idea what you want to do, but the wood will tell you what’s going to come out,” he said. The black walnut for the herons was an old stump. ​“I split it down to where I could handle it, and pretty soon I started making something. ”

He estimates the carvings take from 50 to 100 hours and longer for the more complex pieces. But he doesn’t just create sculptures. ​“Right now I’m making axe handles for old antique axes,” he said. 

Re-Building History

When asked why he wanted to re-build the depot, DaRos just chuckled.

“I don’t know why, but I did it. Originally I was going to re-do the old building, which is still standing.”

DaRos bought the land and depot around 1980 and had planned to renovate the building. ​“It’s beyond the point of being able to save it,” he said. So he changed plans and hoped to dismantle it and use as much lumber as possible in the new building, but that wasn’t feasible either. ​“It was absolutely impossible to take apart without destroying it.”

“So I decided to build a replica — in the same spot where the original was first located.” The depot went through several owners, including one who literally ​“shoved it to the back of the property,” DaRos said. And that is where it still stands.

He hopes to use some of the freight depot’s exterior wall panels. ​“One of the reasons I wanted to save the building is because there’s initials all over it, like graffiti. The earliest one we found is dated 1854, and there’s several of them in the 1860s, and they have their initials and the dates and all that. I thought it would be pretty neat to try to salvage them.”

The new building is about the same size and shape as the old freight depot and has the exact logo of the New Haven-New London Railroad.

DaRos designed the building as he went along. “I knew the basics and I had the old building to go by. The lumber is exactly like the old ones— they used all 5-inch and 7-inch lumber,” he said.

The pot-belly stove inside the new depot was originally in Stony Creek’s old A&P Grocery Store owned by Charlie Baker. The Baker family offered the stove to DaRos. “I took it all apart and rebuilt it and cleaned it and it’s been working ever since,” he said.

The main helpers on the construction project were Fran Walsh, who was second selectman during the DaRos administration; Mark Robertson, who helped put up the rafters; and DaRos’ son Andrew and brother Pete. It was Pete DaRos who did the blacksmith work to create hinges and hardware for the doors. “That’s close to replicating the original ones,” DaRos said.

It was Walsh’s first construction experience, and he thoroughly enjoyed it. He was amazed at DaRos’s expertise and natural abilities. ​“There were no written plans,” Walsh said. ​“The details weren’t on paper, they were just in his head,” said Walsh, the former principal of the Walsh Intermediate School.

Walsh said it’s rewarding to see how much DaRos enjoys spending time at the new workshop/depot. ​“It’s really his dream come true.”

Walsh’s wife, Martha Link Walsh, an artist in her own right, took photographs of the construction process and printed them in a book for posterity.

The title of her book? ​“Stony Creek’s New Train Depot” — created and constructed by Unk DaRos with ​“a little help from his friends.” Here’s the cover.

When asked if he misses his days in public office, DaRos said ​“There’s some things I miss, like working with people. I think we had a good staff. But by-and-large, I never even look back.”

But he is looking ahead to days with his family and friends; and days in his workshop. ​“There’s always been something I need to do,” he said.

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