Hope Meadow Hopmeadow Brewing Company, Avon August 2020 You can't really get a more perfect name than "Hopmeadow Brewing." The name is ingrained in the Simsbury/Avon area, most notably with Hopmeadow Street as a main thoroughfare. But I've titled this page "Hope Meadow" for selfish reasons. Because I hope … [Read more...]
Farmington Canal Heritage Trail: Section 2
Farmington Canal Heritage Trail Hopmeadow Street, Simsbury to Red Oak Hill Road, Farmington (~11 miles) July 2020 If you'd like to check out section 1, here you are. You can also learn a bit about the history of the failed Farmington Canal and how it became the failed rail line there as well. We'll pick up … [Read more...]
Farmington Canal Heritage Trail Intro
Farmington Canal Heritage Trail Massachusetts border (Suffield) to New Haven The summer of 2020 - the pandemic summer of 2020 - sort of forced my son Calvin and I to begin riding Connecticut's rails-to-trails in earnest. Nothing was open for visits in any normal way, so why not ride our bikes. Unfortunately, Calvin … [Read more...]
Chrissie D’Esopo’s Flower House
D'EsoPow! Chrissie D'Esopo's Flower House Avon I view this page two ways. One, it's ridiculous. I can't be driving around the state every June taking drive-by pictures of every house with nice landscaping. C'mon now. Or... it's awesome. Surely I'm highlighting the immense labor and cost put into this place on … [Read more...]
Book Review: The Night Country
Ghosted The Night Country by Stewart O’Nan (2004) West Hartford Library Even if this book was terrible, I'd still kind of love it. Stewart O'Nan has a thing for setting his stories in the very real places that he knows best. I'd previously read Last Night at the Lobster which is set, more or less, at the mall … [Read more...]
James MacDonald Monument
Old MacDonald Had a Firm... Grasp of Impending Realities James MacDonald Monument, Avon You've all seen it. Many of you have passed it 100's of times. I know I sure have. The strangely placed, impossible to read, tall, black monument on route 44 on the Avon side of "the mountain." "The mountain" being … [Read more...]
Talcott Mountain State Park Intro
Talcott Mountain State Park Avon, Bloomfield, & Simsbury Ah, yes. My backyard. Almost literally. Nearly everyone in north central Connecticut can see Talcott Mountain's Heublein Tower on their daily commute if they try. It is the pillar that stands sentry over both the Farmington River and Connecticut River … [Read more...]
Avon: Complete!
Avon: Complete! The North House Here is my list of everything I've done in Avon! I’m very excited to write this page. This is the 17th of what may ultimately be 169 town completion celebration pages! Yes, of course I am fully aware of how absurd that is. But I love it. For those of you who are new … [Read more...]
450. Schoolhouse No. 3 (RIP)
A, B, C! School - house 3! R-I-P! Avon (Google Maps location) February 10, 2019 This museum will remain RIP for the foreseeable future. In the world of historical museums, progress can be quite slow. Glacial even. (Although, with global climate change, the term “glacial” doesn’t quite mean what it used to mean.) … [Read more...]
419. Farmington Valley Arts Center
Fusing Art and History Avon (Google Maps location) May 19, 2019 When I wrote about Avon's nearby Climax Road, it reminded me about the Farmington Valley Arts Center. I had poked my head in a few times over the years for various reasons, one being my friend Eina Rieger had an exhibition there for her work with … [Read more...]
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