Town #41 Killingly/Danielson

Friday, March 27, 2009
George's Galley * River Walk * Main Street architecture * various shops * Cat Hollow Town Park

After a three-week trip to Florida, Georgia, and North and South Carolina, we decided to get back on track visiting our own state of Connecticut. We chose Danielson, the “city” portion of Killingly. The town has a nice web site which pointed our several historic buildings with interesting architecture, walking trails, and bike routes.

We left home around noon, so naturally we needed to find a place to have a bite to eat. Having checked the web before leaving, we found several possibilities, including George’s Galley at 55 Main Street. Because we wanted to walk along the Five Mile River, which parallels Main Street, George's seemed like a good option. We drove through town on Main Street and, just about in front of us, with a parking spot in front, was the Galley. We weren’t disappointed.

The place is an old-fashioned family-type restaurant with cheap prices, good food, and small/reasonable portion sizes. The menu is extensive, so the waitress helped us out by making some excellent recommendations. We both chose the chowder and clam cakes. The clam cakes (we’d call them fritters) were the best we’ve had since making our own at the shore. The chowder was more of a potato chowder, with a few clams in it, but the waitress didn’t call it “clam chowder” though the soup of the day description did. It was OK, but not worth getting again. The strawberry shortcake was good and had a real biscuit for only $2.35. Coffee was $!.25. (meal with tip $20)

After lunch, we found the Five Mile Pond, footbridge, various waterfalls, and channels in back of the restaurant, as described on the web site. The area was rather overgrown and in a state of disrepair since its heyday when the town was a mill town. We walked north a short way and found our way back to Main Street, where we noted the various old buildings on the east side of Main St. with their interesting architecture (the S.P. Photographic Gallery, Evan’s Block, the Diamond Building and others). For some reason, though, the buildings at our backs weren’t listed on the web site, and they were just as interesting. We visited Heart and Soul, a gift and craft shop, and Danielson Adventure Sports, the local bike shop, which occupied an old train station next to the train tracks. It is a very old wood structure that takes one back in time.

We continued our walk southward along the Five Mile River, this time along a paved path. There are park benches to sit on and a picnic table, and the river is visible through the vegetation. It’s a nice river walk, well constructed, though some of the vegetation is beginning to take over in places. We hope they don’t leave it neglected.

Finally, we drove north to Cat Hollow Town Park. “The Cat Hollow Town Park was opened in 2003. The park contains a .5 mile trail along Cat Hollow Road suitable for bicycles and strollers. The road is closed off to traffic. The trail parallels the Whetstone Brook and a beautiful mill pond and waterfalls.” This was a nice walk for an early spring day. We saw a great white eron and heard frogs beginning their spring ritual.