Town #106: Beacon Falls

Beacon Falls is a small town in Connecticut. There's no defined downtown area or green space, but there is a cool steel bridge in town and a small waterall.

The Depot Street bridge (No. 3788) was built across the Naugatuck River in 1935. The bridge is on the registry of historic places. It's historical significance has to do with the type of steel trusses which were used in its construction. The town recognizes that the bridge is in need of repairs. When you drive over it, the sides are dotted with orange barrel cones. That, and the metal grips attached to it in places, makes a person wonder about how safe it is. It is still open to traffic, about 2000 cars a day roll over it, and the town has plans to "revitalize" it. There was over a million dollars earmarked for the project in 2008, but so far no progress. According to this website an inspection found the bridge structure to be deficient, so it would probably be a good thing if the renovation project started soon.

As a side note, I discovered the town website where it is claimed that friction matches were invented in Beacon Falls, but as with many local "claims to fame" this one is also inaccurate. The first friction matches were first created in 1827 by John Walker in England. Thomas Sanford of Beacon Falls later created a new "recipe" and sold it to the Diamond Match Company.

A little ways from the bridge and the adjacent mill is the town's waterfall. It's a nice little spot with a foot bridge in front and not too far of a walk to get there. The name of the falls is Spruce Brook Falls. The name of the town is probably a combination of the waterfall's name and the hill in town named Beacon Hill. Lots of people have taken pictures of the little falls, but here's my addition.


Back in May we also had dinner with friends here. The place was an Italian restuarant with a nice ambiance called Antonio's. The wine I had made an impression, and the waiter was nice enough to write its name down for me. It is one of the most flavorful "cheap" wines (under $10 a bottle) I've ever had.

Beacon Falls stats:
Population: 5,596
Size: 9.9 square miles
Historic Places: Home Woolen Company
Must Eats: Antonio's

Town #105: Coventry

We went to Coventry for this outing. We spent part of the day with the Connecticut Flickr group. The group travels around the state taking pictures about once a month.

What Coventry is known for: being the birthplace of Nathan Hale

So it was fitting that the Nathan Hale Homestead was our first stop. The town holds a farmers' market at the homestead every Sunday, so there was definitely enough to take pictures of.

After wandering around the grounds for a while we took a tour of the house where Nathan Hale was born and grew up as one of twelve children. We saw his traveling trunk and the gun he shot himself with as a child. The tour guide showed us a picture of a bed rug that was "sold at one point to Williamsburg and they won't let us have back."
The man who owned the house and donated it the town upon his death was quite a character. He has a huge stone memorial on the site to his horse. He had gone through quite a search looking for the house. He used historical documents and then went house to house examining bedroom doors, and scraping paint when necessary. When he found the right door he took it off the hinges and went right out the front door with it. He then proceeded to offer cash to buy the house. All this is according to our tour guide.

She also told us that sarsaparilla is 1) poisonous 2) no longer sold in the US and 3) that men used to live longer than women because women drank so much sarsaparilla in their tea. So you might want to take what she said with a grain of salt.

Nathan Hale is, of course, the famous Revolutionary spy who said, "I only regret that I have but one life to give my country." Probably one of the most famous last words in history. No one knows if that's exactly what he said, but that's probably beside the point. His words do seem more famous than what he did in his life or the circumstances behind his hanging. At his grave memorial in the Nathan Hale Cemetery, I learned a few interesting facts: he was hanged in New York and that his remains were never actually located. Earlier our tour guide told us he didn't live long enough to have his portrait painted, so we don't even know for certain what he looked like.



Later we headed over to Cassidy Hill Vineyard which opened in 2007. We had fun tasting their wines and taking photos around the grounds. The owner gave us a tour which was basically one large room downstairs.

I was surprised at how little space one would need to actually run a small vineyard. We also learned that only 40 percent of their grapes are grown on the vineyard. We found the white wines at this vineyard to be much better than the reds, and interestingly, I believe it was the white grapes which were grown at the vineyard. We had fun walking all over the grounds. We took pictures of everything from the grapes to the farm equipment--even finding a bit of tranquility that we don't usually experience in our part of the state.

One of our last stops was the Bidwell Tavern. The place is known not for their wings but for their wing sauces. There were probably two dozen available on the menu. The pub is a great example of, well, pubs in rural New England: large menu, lots of beer, the cook yelling so loud you could hear him at your table, a mix of people some in leather biker garb and others in shopping mall ensembles. We recommend the stop for the wings as well as the ambiance.

The photo album for all the pictures taken during this outing are on my Flickr page.

Coventry stats:
Population: 11, 105
Size: 38.4
Historic Places: Bringham's Tavern, Capron-Phillips House, Captain Nathan Hale Monument, Coventry Glass Factory Historic District, Nathan Hale Homestead, Loomis-Pomeroy House, Parker-Hutchinson Farm, South Coventry Historic District, Elias Sprague House, Strong House
Must Eats: Bidwell Tavern

Town Revisit: Goshen

Oh Goshen, we came back. And animals were involved again.

Our first stop was Action Wildlife Animal Park. Connecticut only has one zoo. So, perhaps that's why this place has been growing in popularity. There are a lot of animals here, but it's not your typical zoo. Most of the animals are farm animals from around the world. You can drive through, walk, or do what we did which was a combination of the two.

I was particularly interested in the fainting goats, but we couldn't find them. The signage needs a lot of improvement at this place. It's not a bad way to spend a few hours though. There is also a petting zoo made up mostly of goats, and a museum filled with taxidermy animals. We actually missed the "museum" as we felt we were running behind on time. But I'm not sure I'd actually want to see that. The adventurous part of me says yes, but the rest of me just hears taxidermy museum of exotic farm animals.

Time to head off to a different sort of Goshen field...We went to the Connecticut Wine Fest held annually at the Goshen Fairgrounds. This was the first time we'd ever been to a wine festival. We can't compare to any other, but this one had about 20 vineyards in one of the buildings set up at tables. There was a HUGE turnout. I have no idea how many people showed up, but we were shoulder to shoulder inside the building. The picture really doesn't do the chaos justice. I can say with a lot of certainty that this was probably the most packed event we've attended so far.

While the weather in Connecticut has been raining virtually all summer, each time we do something outdoors we get a one-day heatwave. This day was no different. Thank goodness for the benches under the tent for breaks from the sun and the heat inside the main building. The music was pretty good too. I would highly recommend one of the three acts that played. Shawn Taylor Duo has a bluesy-rock-folk sort of sound with introspective lyrics that went well with the breeze and a nice glass of any variety of wine. It was a lot of fun to sit and watch the festival attendees as well. There were people (like us) dressed casually all the way to the other end of the spectrum--people dressed like it was prom. Just a very interesting day. Most interestingly were the women in black cocktail dresses who came with men in t-shirts and shorts. There was a scene straight out of Desparate Housewives playing out in the women's bathroom, but that's another story...

One thing I was suprised about was how many blushes were offered as samples. I know the rose has been making a comeack in the last few years, but Connecticut wineries have definitely gotten behind the trend. I would say at least half of the wines we tried weren't red or white, they were blushes.

A couple wines we found to be particuarly interesting:
Digrazia Vineyards in Brookfield. We tried several of their wines but Williams Sonnet was the most interesting. It is a white wine blushed with raspberry. It was so popular in fact they sold out before we could buy a bottle.
White Silo Farm and Winery in Sherman. We tried several here as well, but loved the Sangria. This wine was a combination of their Dry Rhubarb and Sweet Raspberry. Technically, combining a white and red wine to create a blush is a faux pas in the wine world, but in this instance it created an amazing taste. Very original.

Town #104: North Haven

After a few (or maybe about a half dozen) town revisits, we finally got back on track to visiting a new town. Grocers aren't really something we would normally get excited about, but we heard about a couple neat places in North Haven, so we decided to check them out. But first we stopped at the Holiday Inn for the Hamfest. No, not the edible kind. Bruce wanted to check out the ham radio sell-a-thon. He enjoyed the hammy goodness all morning. I wandered around taking random photos of things like these bubbles.

By 10 am we were starving. Maybe it was the subliminal references to ham. Not that either of us eats ham (for completely different reasons though.) We found our way to the nearest diner which happened to be called Demir's Restuarant. We were pleasantly surprised. It's definitely above average in service and quality of food. One strange thing on the menu was a chicken omelet. We didn't try it. It did get us thinking about why you never see that.

After (veggie) omelets and waffles, we finally got on track to our grocery adventure. Our first stop was Connecticut Natural Food and Produce Market. We stocked up on avocados, scallions, and tiny plums. It's a small place, but if you're looking for fresh fruits and vegetables (and you live in the area) it's a better bet than the average grocery store. The prices are great on all items that are fresh. Packaged things are not inexpensive, but seemed no higher than other specialty markets in Connecticut. There's no specific information about the market online, so I'm not sure where they actually get their fruits and vegetables. If I find out later, I'll add that information.

Then we took a drive over to Liuzzi's Cheese Grocer. OK, this place was an experience. And it was more than just cheese. I really think that anything that falls in the category of Italian food could be found in this place. It felt like a little piece of New York City plopped down in a random Connecticut town. The place was packed inside and out. The photo is a bit blurry, but the experience was a little blurry as well.

Our final stop was to the public library. I decided a few months back to take a picture of all the libraries I encounter from now on. Well, this turned out to be another adventure. There was a book sale going on in the lobby. The first floor is one flight of stairs up, so when you are in the lobby there is no staff around. The book sale books were all line up on tables in the lobby. I had picked out a few books when a woman who came by to lock the doors gave me a brusk, "we closed at 1 pm." I apologized and went up to the first floor to pay for the books. The clerks told me that I couldn't pay for the books because the library was now closed. So, I took the books back downstairs and on my way out I ran into the woman locking the doors. I asked if she had made an announcement. She told me that she had. I tried to tell her that I hadn't heard it, and maybe the staff should check their intercom system. But I didn't get most of that sentence out because she started lecturing me on how the library always closes at 1 on Saturdays and there is a sign on the door and I could have also looked the hours up online. When I got back to my car, I looked at my clock and it was just turning 1:00.

I did look up the library website to send an email to let them know that they might want to check their equipment, but to my dismay the library site does not have an email address listed for contacting anyone. There's not even a generic send-us-your-comments form. In fact there's not a single name on the website in case you need to contact anyone directly. The one and only way to contact someone is by calling the main number. I know this all really amounts to one experience with this library, but for now I'm deeming North Haven: The Most Unfriendly Library in the State. Would love to hear from anyone else who might have visited this library or has an opinion either positive or negative.

North Haven stats:
Population: 23,908
Size: 21 square feet
State Parks: Quinnipiac River State Park
National Historic Places: Pines Bridge Historic District, Rising Sun Tavern

Town Revisit: New Britain

I lived in New Britain for four years, but there were a few things I never got around to doing. So, we decided to go back and have an afternoon of industry.

First, we visited the New Britain Industrial Museum. Why does New Britain have an Industrial Museum? Well, because more hardware has been produced and distributed from New Britain than any other city in the United States. That, in itself, is interesting. It's also illustrated on the "poster" that hangs on the Industrial Museum's wall. Not the most exciting way to display this information, but it still makes the point.

Before I moved to Connecticut I had never heard of New Britain. But other cities known for producing hardware (e.g., Cleveland, Philadelphia, Chicago, etc.) are very well known. Perhaps those cities made a name for themselves in other ways, or perhaps Connecticut has had a long tradition of not promoting itself. It's really hard to know.

Our guide also told us that other industrial cities grew up near bodies of water and/or railroad lines. New Britain's industrial prowess happened in spite of its bad location as far as transportation outlets. So, New Britain is also unique in that the people were industrious enough not to be held back by those handicaps--and the city went on to be the main industrial supply hub for the country for many years.

So it has always been a bit surprising to me that the museum for New Britain's industrial history in basically one large room on the second floor of Central Connecticut State University's Institute of Technology and Business Development Training Center. Man, that's a long name for a building! We were told by the man who gave us the tour that the museum can only display part of what it owns due to space and weight restrictions. The floor of the building just wouldn't support some of the the larger, heavier items. Perhaps this is why (to my husband's great disappointment) we only saw the products that were made in New Britain and none of the machinery used to make everything from ball bearings to coffeemakers.) But, since our guide said they have been looking for another space for seventeen years, I kind of doubt a better place will be found.

The most interesting thing (to me) was the shelf of convenience products for modern housewives in the early to middle parts of the twentieth century. For example, if you didn't like seeds in your grapes, there was a machine for that. I loved this thing! Think of how much work it was to load the grapes in one at a time and turn a crank by hand to de-seed them. Then, ta-da, a seedless bowl of grapes. America apparently has always been in love with kitchen gadgets.

Anyhow, when we left the Industrial Museum we went to visit a place that was started during the industrial glory days of the town and which is still around making the same product: Avery's Beverages. Avery's is a small soda producer, and one of the oldest in New England. The operations are still in the same little red barn where it was started in 1904. You can even make your own if come on a Saturday with five or more people. We didn't know all the details, so we didn't get to take on that challenge. But after watching what a crazy, wet, and dirty mess it was for the employees making it, I'm not sure I am completely disappointed. Then again, Avery's probably doesn't throw kids on the assembly line. There's probably a nicer version for all of us "tourists" to the soda making world.

After the soda employees had enough of us and we had way too much soda, we decided to head over to the Hardware City Tavern and celebrate New Britain's industrious spirit with a few drinks. The aptly named pub is also where Harry Houdini did one of his famous straight-jacket stunts. He flung himself off the top of the building in the 1920s. Houdini, an innovator in his own way, fits right into New Britain's history. The bar has plenty of space, a great view of the downtown streets, and a sort of old-fashioned vibe. Hardware City (the tavern) opened in 2007, but it seems to be going strong in the actual Hardware City. Maybe a new chapter is coming for New Britain.

Town Revisit: Hartford

When I first moved to Connecticut one of the few things I knew about the state for certain was that Hartford was the state capital. Shortly after moving here I realized two more things about Hartford: only about 100,000 people lived there but everything was so crammed together it gave the illusion of being a much, much bigger place. Then I learned the roads seemed designed by a team of madmen, so I decided to just stay out. Over the last ten years I've only been to Hartford three or four times (other than going to Real Art Ways) until last week.

Last week I ended up at the State Library. Quite a place. I've only seen the non-pubic spaces so far, but eventually I'm looking forward to seeing more. Especially now that I am getting my bearings and realizing what an architecturally interesting place the city is.
Usually when we visit a town we go to something that exists in the town. That might be anything from a structure like a museum to a gathering like an annual festival. However, the photo walk we went on in Hartford doesn't really fit our previous categories. It did take place in Hartford but it is not something you could actually do if you visited the city. There is the possibility that the photo walk will take place again in Hartford next year, so bookmark this site if you are interested.Anyway, we had a great time. All the pictures on this page were taken during the walk. The one above is a plaque to a counterfeiter which just seemed interesting. I found little information about Buel other than he was an inventor who designed the first American submarine and that he spent time in jail for his counterfeiting activities.

You can see more Hartford photos on my flickr page too. I was amazed at how little ground we actually covered in two hours. There was so much to see in Hartford that we could have spent the whole day taking pictures. The umbrella below is in the Travelers Insurance courtyard. It's their logo, of course, and probably isn't the biggest umbrella in the world, but it is huge and therefore worthy of inclusion in our big things category.

Town Revisit: Middletown

Witness the Largest Jack-in-the-Box...

In the world!
It's in Middletown, Connecticut. Exciting, no?

I have yet to see this in action, but Wild Bill's is worth checking out. The first time I went there I was...well, I don't really like mannequins or dolls and this place has disembodied doll heads hanging from the ceiling. You really can't describe this "flea market" you just have to experience it. It's awesome. Just go.