Town #57 New London

October 10, 2009
Upper Deck Café * Fort Trumbull State Park * Studio 33 Art Gallery * New London Antiques Center * Hygienic Gallery * Muddy Waters Café * Daniel's Dairy * Custom House Marine Museum

We started at the Upper Deck Café on Pequot Avenue, for breakfast. It’s definitely a place the locals go, and we liked the friendly service and menu choices. I had eggs Benedict with a sausage patty and sausage gravy—different, but quite tasty. Jan had a biscuit and sausage gravy, also very good. (Total with coffee and tip, $20)

We had planned to visit the Hempsted Houses and take in their Annual Harvest Festival, but since the event didn’t begin till 11 a.m., we had time, we figured, to visit Ft. Trumbull State Park. We’d heard about it over the years, and felt obligated to learn about its history. Finding the fort was easy, as was parking. We weren’t sure what we’d see for the $10 per person fee at the visitor’s center, but we took a chance and bought our passes. The visiting season ends Columbus Day except for special groups. We got so involved in the exhibits, that we spent almost three hours there! (We skipped the Hempsted Houses.) ($20)

This quote from their web site nicely explains the Visitor's Center:

"The Center contains state of the art multimedia theaters, computer touch screen interactive exhibits, 3-D models, and extensive graphics and text panels. This one of a kind center depicts over 225 years of military history and technological advances from the Revolutionary War to the Cold War. Some of the main themes of the Visitor Center are the September 6, 1781, attack by the British under the command of Benedict Arnold, the U-boat menace during World War II, and the anti-submarine efforts during the Cold War."

The Friends of Fort Trumbull website details a summary of the history of the fort well.

The first floor covered the fort’s Revolutionary War history and mentioned three systems of the fort’s evolution. Each evolution of coastal forts eventually proved inadequate as military firepower developed. First system forts were ultimately destroyed by inadequate rear defense, as guns were pointed toward the sea or rivers and harbors. Second system forts suffered from the development of larger and larger smooth bore cannon. And third system forts couldn’t survive even larger and more powerful rifle bore cannon. The second floor covered the role of the fort in the world wars (developing sonar to detect submarines), in cold war research (including the development of SONAR), in the presence of the Coast Guard at the fort, and finally as a branch campus for UConn.

The fort overlooks the Thames River. The Coast Guard barque Eagle is berthed there and Electric Boat and Fort Griswold are directly across the river. Fort Griswold also played a role in defending New London. We strolled around the granite walls of the fort and appreciated the commanding view as a defense of the river. We bought two laminated bookmarks with the CT lighthouses at the gift shop. ($5)

We headed to Bank Street and parked (street parking is free) in front of Studio 33 Art & Frame Gallery which we visited briefly. We then went to New London Antiques Center and spent a little over an hour there. It’s a huge consignment store with antiques and collectibles similar to those found in Collinsville and Pomfret. Jan made a purchase (two pins and a future gift for Bob, $22) and I was tempted by a 38” ship’s wheel, but after considering it, decided against buying it for a dining room chandelier.
We investigated Hygienic Art. Apparently it has a bit of a reputation for being a little risqué, but we didn’t find that for the present exhibit, “Portraits of the Feminine Divine,” which were mostly mythological representations of the feminine divine, and primarily the work of one artist. Interesting, but we didn’t spend too long there.

We were ready for a break and headed to the Muddy Waters Café. The place looks old and fits in with the old section of Bank Street. There was inside or outside dining, or take out. My ham and Swiss cheese sandwich on a Kaiser roll, and Jan’s vegetable soup/half BLT sandwich on a croissant were excellent and very generous. I also enjoyed a café mocha, Jan a hot cider. The pastries looked delicious, but we held back on those as we had spotted an ice cream shop up the street. ($23)

We walked down to the waterfront, crossing the Amtrak tracks to the pier where the Fisher’s Island and Block Island ferries arrive and depart. Nicely rebuilt, but not a lot to see. We stopped in the train station, which looked like it could capitalize nicely on its architecture, but the interior was plain and strictly functional. As we headed back near State Street we spotted a huge mural on the side of a building and noticed the artist’s name was Wyland. He’s the marine artist whose gallery we visited in Key West. His work is absolutely beautiful and extremely high end. In 1993 he painted 100 such murals in all 13 states on the East Coast “to heighten awareness about the plight of whales and other sea creatures. On the way back toward the car we checked out Daniel’s Dairy for ice cream cones, eating them there. ($7)

Next we visited the Custom House Maritime Museum. Jan was getting tired and chose to wait in the car. I contributed the suggested $5 donation and wandered around. Various maritime exhibits included knot boards, an oyster exhibit, model boats and ships, etc. I was listening to the end of an explanation of the Fourth-order Fresnel lens the museum procured from the New London Ledge lighthouse (which we toured a few years ago). The family moved on and I chatted at length with the curator about lighthouses. We moved on to ship models and he explained those in the museum. At one point he invited me to the closed-off library revealing a neat collection of intricately scaled model steamships, and explained how the man who made them spent about a year on each. They were amazing in their small size and incredible detail. The website subtly reveals one of these on the library shelf. There is also quite a collection of information on the La Amistad history. We did a harbor cruise on the reproduction of the ship a few years ago and the UCC is quite involved in its history as well.

We decided to head home so we put the GPS in the blue highways mode (no freeways) and enjoyed a scenic ride home. (Bob)

Town #56 Franklin

Sunday, October 4, 2009
Blue Slope Country Museum and Fall Event


Somewhere we got a post card or found reference in the paper or on the internet for a weekend event at Blue Slope Country Museum. We have passed through the main roads of Franklin often, but this time we followed narrow country roads in North Franklin to Blue Hill Road in the northwest part of town. Blue Slope is a working dairy farm with Holsteins for milk, Belgian work horses, and goats for meat and cheese. They make maple syrup and have a farm trucking business. They also have a museum full of hand tools, dairy equipment, and much more. Educational programs are available for groups of all ages.

This weekend was their “Annual Fall Event,” complete with re-enactors, draft horse demonstrations, exhibits, working artisans, crafts, music, antique tractors and cars, and a food tent ($12).

We bought a beautiful, unique Eastern European macramé piece that could be used as a doily or framed for a wall ($29), and a bunny-shaped jigsaw puzzle for Ella ($5).
We watched hay being baled with a horse-powered bailer. It took one horse and four men—one loaded the hopper with hay, another guided a Clydesdale horse around a circular track to pull a lever which operated the baler, and the others handled the bales, and bailing wire, etc.

We saw cider being pressed and had a sample, and watched a horse and carriage competition. For lunch we each had a bowl of clam chowder sold by the VFW, some of the best we’ve had, with plenty of clams—just the way it should be ($9). The peach cobbler looked good and as it was seasonal, we couldn’t resist. It was warm, and quite tasty. ($7)


We toured the museum and saw some nice wrought iron work by a Mansfield blacksmith. Jan found a weaver and watched her at work on her loom, and we finished up watching apple pies being made. We had a long chat with the pie-making demon-strator and found her technique interesting.


Blue Slope Country Museum has year-round activities such as square dancing, family campfires, horse drawn wagon, and sleigh rides. Their web site has more information.

We later had dinner at Modesto’s on Route 32 in Franklin. We had eaten there before, but were on the way to RI and it was convenient. I had veal parmesan, and Jan had veal portofino, both excellent. I had a rich cannoli cake which I really didn’t need, but was worth it. (Bob)

Town #55 Thompson

Friday, October 2, 2009
West Thompson Dam

Thompson is the most northeasterly town in CT, bordering Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Other than a historic mill and international speedway, it doesn’t have much to offer visitors that we could find. We decided to visit the West Thompson Dam, which apparently is in the borough of North Grosvenordale, one of five tiny villages in this tiny town.

The dam on the Quinebaug River and the resulting West Thompson Lake north of the dam were built as a result of the 1938 and 1955 floods, which devastated this area. A kiosk with excellent pictures describes the project. We looked over the spillway and hiked down to the lower level—a large field and pavilion with picnic tables. Near the lake there are hiking trails, a campground, amphitheater, recreation area, and a boat launch.

As we left, we crossed the bridge over the French River, which caused more flooding in 1955, resulting in a huge fire that burned down a large textile mill, leaving a single brick tower still standing. Fall foliage should be nice in that area in a couple of weeks, and kayaking would be quite feasible. (Jan)

Town #54 Woodstock

Friday, October 2, 2009
Cinnamon Tree Bakery * Windy Acres Florist and Gift Shop * Flying Carpet Studio * Java Jive * Scranton Antiques * Scranton Country Store * Roseland Cottage * Sweet Evalina's Stand * Woodstock Thimble Cottage * Woodstock Christmas Barn * Woodstock Orchards

Woodstock’s attractions are largely unique little shops along Route 169. The town web page is one of the better organized, most useful town web sites we’ve seen. We started out near the junction of Routes 169 and 171, at the Cinnamon Tree Bakery, for breakfast, and we both had the French toast made with their cinnamon swirl bread. It was delicious, in spite of the artificial maple syrup ($15). We resisted their yummy-looking baked goods on display. We visited Windy Acres Florist and Gift Shop, in the same building as the bakery, and found a 50% off sale good on almost everything in the shop as they were reorganizing. We bought a large gray-green knobby gourd and a couple kale plants ($26.50). Our next stop, going north on Rt. 169, was the Flying Carpet Studio, a boutique with some clothes, interesting trinkets, and lots of artistic jewelry. They must have moved from up the street because the picture on their website does not show their current location. I got a few things for Bob’s birthday and myself. Bob got tired of watching me browse, so he headed next door to Java Jive for a second cup of coffee and a blueberry scone ($4). Continuing north a bit, we found Scranton’s Shops. We’d never been in Scranton Antiques, but have been by it many times in its 25 years. We each bought something we didn’t tell the other about. Just up the driveway is Mrs. Bridge’s Pantry, a British tea room. I’ve been there before, so we passed on by and went to Scranton Country Store, which sells candy and kitchen novelties. I got a jar of peach and raspberry chutney ($6).

For a change of scenery we headed north to Roseland Cottage. We stopped to read an informative plaque about the town at the Green.

A tour started at noon and we got there just in time. The guide took the four of us on the tour through every room in the house and some of the outbuildings and explained all the details of the Bowen family, the house, and the gardens. It is a beautiful example of a wealthy family’s summer home in the mid-19th century. The Bowens lived in Brooklyn Heights, NYC, where Henry—a Woodstock native—made his fortune in several businesses and authored quite a few books. The house has always been coral pink to match various varieties of roses grown on the grounds, but the shade currently in use is historically accurate. Henry was an active abolitionist, Congregationalist, and Republican. The interior has a great deal of Lincrusta wall covering, a heavily embossed, “paintable” paper, invented in 1877 and frequently used in Victorian hotels and restaurants. At Roseland, much of it was embellished with gold paint, all of which has faded. It is quite amazing. In wikipedia’s article on Lincrusta, a picture of Roseland Cottage is featured. (Admission $14)

The formal boxwood parterre garden has paths between boxwood borders and 21 flower beds with 4000 annuals, the exact varieties that the Bowens had planted.

We were ready for lunch (and a seat!) so we headed north a bit more to Sweet Evalina’s Stand—not a stand but a cute little restaurant with homemade desserts. Friends had recommended it a couple years ago and we’ve been wanting to get there. Menus are on the wall and your choices are given there. We each had clam chowder and clam cakes. I confirmed that it was New England style, but the cook didn’t know what that was. When I said it was creamy, he said that’s what theirs was. Well, it had milk in it but it wasn’t creamy, and there weren’t very many clams, although the taste was very good. The clam cakes were dense, clammy, and excellent. Bob had spied lemon meringue pie (for $2.75!) so he had to get that for dessert; I had a moose tracks ice cream cone (Lunch $27).

North again to the Woodstock Thimble Cottage, a country-style store where I bought a little girls’ purse for our granddaughter for Christmas ($8). Just beyond was the Woodstock Christmas Barn, which has been there for many years. I found a different strawberry ornament for our mini-strawberry Christmas tree and a couple other little things ($15). We asked the shop owners about finding something to do in Thompson as information was hard to come by. They suggested the Thompson Dam and explained how to get there.

We retraced our path and headed to Thompson, first stopping at Woodstock Orchards’ big farm stand. We bought a couple different gourds and squash to sit next to the green one I got this morning ($3). (Jan)

Town #53 Hampton

Thursday, September 17, 2009
Trail Wood, Audubon Society's Edwin Way Teale Memorial Sanctuary

Hampton has an excellent town website but they claim no interesting things to see. We pulled a first and visited the town hall to speak with the Town Clerk. She laughed at the idea that we were looking for “something interesting in her little town of 1900 people” but when we gave her the “Diana’s Pool” idea, she promptly came up with the Connecticut Audubon Society’s Trail Wood, also known as the Edwin Way Teale Memorial Sanctuary. She also mentioned Pine Acres Lake and Hampton Reservoir, but the latter two will have to wait for another day.

We were not familiar with Teale. Here is a Wikipedia excerpt about him:
"Edwin Way Teale (June 2, 1899-October 18, 1980) was an American naturalist, photographer, and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer. Teale's works serve as primary source material documenting environmental conditions across North America from 1930-1980. He is perhaps best known for his series The American Seasons, four books documenting over 75,000 miles (121,000 km) of automobile travel across North America following the changing seasons."

We signed in at the unmanned Visitor’s Center, just past the house in which Teale and his wife Ellie lived, looked over various educational materials, and studied a map and guide of the grounds and tried to find our way to the suggested trail. After a couple of trials and errors, we found the Veery Trail and we were on our way. We found Hidden Pond, which Teale had excavated from a red maple swamp for his enjoyment as well as his nature studies, and a nearby Summer House, basically a 9-foot square screened gazebo. He would sit there and look over his pond and footbridge at the far end of the pond, a nice relaxing place to meditate. We walked around the pond to the footbridge, then to the Writing Cabin. The cabin was built of logs, but was locked. Teale is said to have written some of his books here. Its dimensions are reportedly the same as Thoreau’s on Walden Pond. We made our way back to the Visitor’s Center, replaced the laminated guides we’d borrowed for the trek, and headed back to the parking lot. Jan spotted a monument built many years ago by one of the workers on the grounds of Teale’s estate. The man realized that monuments seemed to be built for various well known people, but none for the common laborer, so he built one to himself in Monument Field using the indigenous stone that he was hired to clear from the field.

The sanctuary was interesting and there are plenty of documented spots to explore. The trails need a little more maintenance, but we suspected they were let go due to perhaps finances, and the fact it was after Labor Day. We’d like to return and walk some more of the trails.

Town #52 Chaplin

Thursday, September 17, 2009
Diana's Pool * Ribbits

A visit to Chaplin’s town website made no mention of anything of significance to see in that small town. Somewhere, however, in our collection of clippings and notes, we recalled Diana’s Pool was a natural pool in the Natchaug River. It’s located off Rt. 198 right near a bridge that crosses over that river.

We parked in a parking lot on a dead end street for a short trek. The water was a little low since we haven’t had much rain recently, but the rock ledge formations are interestingly carved out by the river. Near the bridge, we thought we were looking at the pool, but after exploring a bit and heading a bit north on the rocky shore and woods, we discovered Diana’s Pool upstream a short distance. The noise of the water was loud enough, considering the low volume of water, and we could imagine the sounds of rushing water if there was a full flow. It would be fun to come back after a good rain or a winter snow melt as we know from our own Fenton River.

There are various legends regarding the naming of the pool. One is that a young girl’s heart was broken by her lover and Diana jumped off a high ledge to her death; or she slipped on the tears she cried. Or maybe the pool was just named after the Diana family who owned the pool. Take your pick.

For lunch, we headed for lunch toward Rt. 6. We had four choices from our web search and we spotted Ribbits first (no website, but various reviews on the web). The place was clean and the décor had a neat frog theme. We were there around 1:00 and the place wasn’t at all busy—they do lunch and dinners. The menu is extensive. Jan had a toasted chicken salad sandwich and French fries and I had a special, grilled chicken cordon bleu sandwich with sweet potato fries. ($20) (Bob)

Town #51 Colchester

Saturday, August 29, 2009
Diane's * Gallery Cinema

Being a rainy day with tropical storm Danny off the East Coast, I decided to take us to lunch and a movie, though I kept Jan in the dark about specifics. Since we’d been to Harry’s Place (a very well known and neat place for clams, fries, burgers, ice cream, and more), I had to select somewhere else to eat to qualify as a new place for our CT travels. We had a list of diners where Joe Liebermann had eaten, and Diane’s Restaurant was listed as one. They do not have a web site, and online reviews were sketchy at best. Some reviews, however, provided some very favorable comments. Their hours are 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. and, although one page of their four-page menu was for lunch items—almost as an afterthought, they have an extensive breakfast menu. The only specials on the boards at noon were for breakfast. We took the hint. We found the place in a small strip mall and almost missed it; there is a sign around a corner, but no sign on the building. It’s definitely a mom and pop place, visited mostly by local people. It definitely has a hometown flair. I had a delicious seafood benedict and Jan had stuffed french toast with peaches and strawberries that was not overly sweet as stuffed french toast can be. That and coffee set us back only $18. Afterward, we went to the nearby Gallery Cinema and saw Julie and Julia. It was a cute picture, about Julia Child, and Julie Powell’s blog about cooking all 524 of Julia’s recipes in 365 days. It was a good way to spend a rainy afternoon. ($10, “matinee special.”) (Bob)