Chelsea Parade * Mohegan Burial Ground * Indian Leap on the Yantic River * Christine's Family Restaurant * Slater Museum
For the first time, we “embedded” ourselves in one town and really explored it. We put 70 miles on the car and packed a lot into the six hours we were gone. We have passed through Norwich on our way to the Rhode Island shore for over 34 years, but we rarely stopped to look a bit deeper.
Our first destination was going to be Indian Leap at Yantic Falls. However, we passed the big town green on Washington Street and spent some time in that area first. The green is called Chelsea Parade and is the site of nine veterans’ memorials. The land was given to Norwich in 1797 by three men whose names are on a plaque on the southeast corner of the land. The monuments are clustered on the narrow north end:
• A plaque says the tract is dedicated to veterans.• A memorial honors Capt. Samuel Chester Reid, from the war of 1812. He planned the design of the U.S. flag.
• A tree is dedicated to all prisoners of war and those missing in action. It was apparently planted in 1973.
• There is a Norwich Vietnam memorial.
• There is a POW-MIA memorial.
• One side of one memorial is dedicated to those who died in World War II and in Vietnam, and the other side to those who died in the Korean War and Vietnam.
• There is a memorial honoring those who died in World War I.
• Another memorial is dedicated to all who fought and died in all wars, and has an eternal flame. • A statue of a soldier names those who died in the war being honored,
but neither the monument nor the names give any clue as to which war it was. We emailed the town and the town Historian responded, identifying it as a very early (1873) memorial to Norwich citizens who died in the Civil War. 
Just to the east, across Broadway, another small park has a statue of Christopher Columbus. Four granite benches circle it, dedicated to Norwich Italian immigrants, Italian Women of Norwich, Italian-American War Veterans, and members of the United Italian Society in Norwich. A monument nearby also honors the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus.
Just southwest of Chelsea Parade, on the corner of Washington and Sachem Streets, is a Mohegan burial
ground. A former Masonic temple on the property was apparently on sacred ground, so it was torn
down and replaced by a monument to all the Mohegans buried or re-buried there where their original resting sites had been desecrated. Posts with the names of the thirteen moons circle the center. 
A few hundred feet away is a small, ancient Mohegan burial ground, centered by a tall monument with “Uncas” on it.
Some of the homes along these streets are lovely, with very unique architectural features. Most are maintained well.
Then we went to Indian Leap, just around the corner on Yantic Street. A sturdy pedestrian bridg
e crosses the Yantic River just above the falls and a train bridge crosses slightly above the first bridge. The Yantic Falls are high, powerful, and loud, tumbling over rocks at the bottom. The chasm is narrow in spots, leading to the story of the name “Indian Leap.” A plaque explains the name: "Y
antic falls, known as Indian Leap, was a favorite encampment of the Mohegan Indians. In 1643 Uncas, Sachem [chief] of the Mohegans, led his warriors in the famous battle against their rival tribe the Narragansetts. During the battle, the Narragansetts were pursued by the Mohegans. Legend has it that a band of Narragansetts, unfamiliar with the territory, unknowingly reached the high treacherous escarpment of the Falls. The Narragansetts, rather than surrender, attempted to leap the chasm. Unsuccessful, they plunged to their deaths into the abyss below."
A lovely home and yard occupy the hill on the other side of the bridge. As we walked across, we met an elderly gentleman, the homeowner, and struck up a conversation. Was he ever full of historical information! He is 85 years old and was born in what was a very large house next door, with 6 bedrooms to hold his parents and 11 siblings. He talked about how the bridge area had changed over his lifetime. He remembers a file mill near the larger dam, powered by water coming over the dams—there is a second one just upstr
eam. The file mill closed when an industrialized process for making hand files made the old method obsolete. Earlier mills dating from the 1600s included a paper mill, a cotton mill, and a nail factory.
A building next to the upper dam, still there, was a generator, providing
power for the factory just downstream, just enough to provide some light. We walked around it later. He showed us where a railroad siding had been when the mill was in operation. He also said that on hot summer days, families in the area would have picnics on the land between the two dams, and kids would swim and go over the upper dam, something that is firmly not allowed these days. Trains still use the rail two or three times a day during the week. Just north of the bridges is a tall, arched railroad tunnel with a road on top. Our host said it had been built in an unusual fashion, and we started over to look, then decided we should move on.
He gave us a strong piece of advice: travel while you can and don’t put it off. Apparently, when he retired his wife became ill and he cared for her for eight years. Now he is alone and can’t travel. He’s not bitter but regrets having put off traveling until retirement.
Our next stop was to be the Slater Museum on the campus of Norwich Free Academy, but it was lunchtime, so we found Irene’s Family Restaurant nearby. It was full—a good sign. Our waitress had her hands full but took good care of everyone. Bob had a chicken parm grinder to compare with Willington Pizza’s (it fell short), and I had a lunch serving of shrimp scampi (tasty and garlicy, and too much pasta with the four small shrimp).
e crosses the Yantic River just above the falls and a train bridge crosses slightly above the first bridge. The Yantic Falls are high, powerful, and loud, tumbling over rocks at the bottom. The chasm is narrow in spots, leading to the story of the name “Indian Leap.” A plaque explains the name: "Y
antic falls, known as Indian Leap, was a favorite encampment of the Mohegan Indians. In 1643 Uncas, Sachem [chief] of the Mohegans, led his warriors in the famous battle against their rival tribe the Narragansetts. During the battle, the Narragansetts were pursued by the Mohegans. Legend has it that a band of Narragansetts, unfamiliar with the territory, unknowingly reached the high treacherous escarpment of the Falls. The Narragansetts, rather than surrender, attempted to leap the chasm. Unsuccessful, they plunged to their deaths into the abyss below." 
A lovely home and yard occupy the hill on the other side of the bridge. As we walked across, we met an elderly gentleman, the homeowner, and struck up a conversation. Was he ever full of historical information! He is 85 years old and was born in what was a very large house next door, with 6 bedrooms to hold his parents and 11 siblings. He talked about how the bridge area had changed over his lifetime. He remembers a file mill near the larger dam, powered by water coming over the dams—there is a second one just upstr
eam. The file mill closed when an industrialized process for making hand files made the old method obsolete. Earlier mills dating from the 1600s included a paper mill, a cotton mill, and a nail factory. A building next to the upper dam, still there, was a generator, providing
power for the factory just downstream, just enough to provide some light. We walked around it later. He showed us where a railroad siding had been when the mill was in operation. He also said that on hot summer days, families in the area would have picnics on the land between the two dams, and kids would swim and go over the upper dam, something that is firmly not allowed these days. Trains still use the rail two or three times a day during the week. Just north of the bridges is a tall, arched railroad tunnel with a road on top. Our host said it had been built in an unusual fashion, and we started over to look, then decided we should move on.He gave us a strong piece of advice: travel while you can and don’t put it off. Apparently, when he retired his wife became ill and he cared for her for eight years. Now he is alone and can’t travel. He’s not bitter but regrets having put off traveling until retirement.
Our next stop was to be the Slater Museum on the campus of Norwich Free Academy, but it was lunchtime, so we found Irene’s Family Restaurant nearby. It was full—a good sign. Our waitress had her hands full but took good care of everyone. Bob had a chicken parm grinder to compare with Willington Pizza’s (it fell short), and I had a lunch serving of shrimp scampi (tasty and garlicy, and too much pasta with the four small shrimp).
What a find the Slater Museum was! We had no idea it was so full of treasures of so many kinds! William A. Slater had it built to honor his father, John Knox Slater. The building itself is a beautiful Romanesque Revival structure designed by Worcester architect Stephen Earle. The interior has a great deal of beautiful woodwork and some very unique structuring. Slater's goal was to expose the students of the Norwich Free Academy and the community to art and cultures beyond their experience, a very unusual approach for such a small town on a school campus. William was encouraged to buy and donate to the museum 227 plaster casts of classical and renaissance sculpture, a rare collection. William and his wife Ellen undertook a Grand Tour, a rather common practice among wealthy families in the 18th and 19th centuries, on their ship, the “Eleanor.” Many of the items in the Slater Museum were collected on this world-wide tour. A temporary exhibit shows many pieces of work by John Crocker who, along with Alexander Emmons, were prolific Norwich portrait and landscape painters. (Jan)
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