Neighborhood Spotlight: The Village of Noank, CT

Neighborhood Spotlight: The Village of Noank, CT

Noank is a village on a small peninsula, vaguely ear-shaped, at the western edge of the entrance to Mystic River Harbor. With water on three sides and the double-tracked railroad corridor cutting it off on the northwest, Noank has an isolated feeling, much like an island. National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form…

11 Cool Things to Do at Mystic Seaport Museum

11 Cool Things to Do at Mystic Seaport Museum

I have visited the Mystic Seaport Museum, the nation’s leading and largest maritime museum, a number of times over my years in Connecticut, and each time I’m surprised once again at its beauty and all that it has to offer. A quick look at their website or a Google search about the museum will turn…

Celebrate Spring at the Cherry Blossom Festival in New Haven, CT

Celebrate Spring at the Cherry Blossom Festival in New Haven, CT

It has been a bucket list item of mine to view the cherry blossom trees in Washington, DC. They only bloom for a three-week window, and it is hard to predict exactly when blooming will occur so planning for travel is a challenge. I was fortunate to see them this past spring, but I was…

Lawn Bowling, Anyone?

Lawn Bowling, Anyone?

The lesser known sport of lawn bowling, also known as flat green bowling or bowling on the green, dates to Egyptian times but the game played today was developed and formalized in Scotland in the 1800s. A “uniform code of laws” over the game was agreed to in 1848, and the Scottish Bowling Association was…

Neighborhood Spotlight: Asylum Hill, Hartford

Neighborhood Spotlight: Asylum Hill, Hartford

Some Basic Asylum Hill History Asylum Hill (initially called Lords Hill), a neighborhood west of Hartford, was once farmland named after Captain Richard Lord, a prominent early settler of Hartford. In 1817 the Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons was founded and its first student, Alice Cogswell, was enrolled. The…

A Cotswold Village in Connecticut: Avon Old Farms School

A Cotswold Village in Connecticut: Avon Old Farms School

Updated March 2019 “This place means peace to my soul.” ~ Theodate Pope Riddle Working in Simsbury and Avon, CT for almost twenty years combined, I learned many different routes to and from my home in West Hartford. The most direct route was over Avon Mountain which could be treacherous in the snow and ice, so my preferred…