Old, New, and the Gate Between the Two Old Newgate Road, Keith Scribner My list of "Connecticut Books" is a late edition to the CTMQ pantheon. It's one of those lists that will never be completed in any meaningful way - both because I'm not immortal and because I'll never know of all the books that could or should … [Read more...]
Metacomet Trail: Section 14
Section 14: A Jog by the Jog Route 20 to Rising Corner Road (MA), 7.8 Miles September 2, 2020 This is it. This is the end. What began on April 29, 2007 on the Berlin Turnpike across from a (now closed) stripclub, ended on a beautiful late summer day near the Massachusetts state line. Thirteen and a half years. … [Read more...]
NHL: Old Newgate Prison & Copper Mine
Old Newgate Prison & Copper Mine CT National Historic Landmark Newgate Road, East Granby This place has it all... 300 year old mining history, 200 year old jail stories, human rights violations, bats, terror, slave labor, interpretive center, traitors, escaped monkeys, nice views of the Farmington River … [Read more...]
First Copper Mine & Federal/State Prison in US
Old Newgate Prison & Copper Mine East Granby If you're reading this sentence and are at all interested in Old Newgate Prison and Copper Mine, you should just go to the page I wrote about our visit to it. Because what you're reading now is a very truncated version of that. First Copper Mine in the … [Read more...]
401. Old Newgate Prison and Copper Mine
From Copper to Coppers East Granby (Google Maps location) September 1, 2018 I didn't think this page would ever happen. Soon after I began writing this website in 2006, Newgate was "closed temporarily for repairs." I thought, "good, maybe I'll sort out if it's 'Newgate," "New-Gate," or "New Gate" by the time it … [Read more...]
The Hartford Gun Club
Bangin' The Hartford Gun Club Oldest Gun Club in America, East Granby & Windsor There are very few pages out of the (literally!) thousands here on CTMQ where I don't actually do the thing I'm writing about. This is one of those rare pages and I'm not even a little bit sore about it. Okay, maybe I am a … [Read more...]
Lake Basile
BaSilly Lake Basile East Granby, Granby, Simsbury I'm sorry, for those of you familiar with tiny Lake Basile. I know right now you're wondering why in the world it features on this website. It's a little pond (not a lake) choked with vegetation that no one really thinks about. I get it, I do. There's just … [Read more...]
Farmington Canal Heritage Trail: Section 1
Farmington Canal Heritage Trail Massachusetts border to Hopmeadow Street, Simsbury (~11 miles) June/July 2020 Annnnd away we go! Definitely one of Connecticut's top few bike paths... greenways, rails-to-trails trails... whatever we call them. It bisects the state, right down the middle from Suffield to New Haven. … [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...]
Cowles Park
Don't be Cowled Cowles Park, East Granby May 2019 Before setting out at Cowles Park, whether on foot or on mountain bike, just know that you will take a wrong turn somewhere. You won't get lost in any real sense, but you will get confused. (If you get lost in a real sense, your sense of direction needs some work, … [Read more...]