Hartford - the capital of Connecticut

We may not have driven far today, but we certainly put some miles in the legs. Our first stop was the Cedar Hill Cemetery to look for the Hepburn family graves to see Katharine's final resting place. It takes a little bit of finding but we get there in the end.

Hepburn family grave plots

We then move into the centre of Hartford to have a tour of the Capitol building. It would have to be one of the most impressive Capitol's that I have seen. It is ornate yet can be quite understated in the Senate and House chambers. It does have a gold dome but the statue, the Genius of Connecticut that once adorned the peak, was melted down in WW2 for the war effort and her replacement sits under the dome on the ground floor waiting for prosperity to return to Connecticut to enable the funds to be raised to return her to her rightful place.

The Capitol building

The entry foyer

The Genius of Connecticut

The House of Representatives Chamber

The Senate Chamber

The dome

From the Capitol building we walk the Lincoln Sculpture walk along the waterfront which reflects on the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the USA.

Lincoln meeting Harriet Beecher Stowe

Freedom for Slaves

Bulkeley Bridge across the Connecticut River

Lincoln issued a Presidential pardon for
his son's pet turkey, Jack

The young Lincoln when he worked
in small towns

Our next tour was of the old State Capitol, which was a much more austere building, it being part of the early colonial days during Independence and the building of the state and the nation. It is now used for weddings and cocktail / dinner parties. The original building housed a Museum of Curiosities, a collection of animals and reptiles amassed by a portrait artist.

The old State Capitol

Where the original Senate met

The House of Representatives

The Museum of Curiosities

Next stop is to the house of Mark Twain. He and his wife lived in the house with their 3 daughters for 17 years during the late 19th century, during which he wrote Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, and other famous books. We were not permitted to take photos inside but the house was lavishly decorated. We learnt he was a man with strong ideas, a temper and some very good wit. He was beloved in the USA and holds a very special place in history of the USA. We also found a squirrel in the grounds.

A Lego version of Mark Twain

A bust of Mark Twain

The Mark Twain house

Squirrel

Our last stop of the day was to the Elizabeth Park, which has the oldest public rose garden in the nation. There were only a few of the roses out but when they are all in bloom it must be a magnificent sight to see.

What a fantastic day. It started out misty and wet but ended up with the sun shining. A thunderstorm moved in later in the evening but we were home before it settled in.

PS We do see quite a few squirrels, but mainly crossing the roads as we drive around so no pictures available. Our squirrel count is quite high, so much so we don't count any more!

Mystic to Rocky Hill - a coastal and country drive in Connecticut

We have a look around the town of Mystic and take a picture of Mystic Pizza, site of the "cult" movie Mystic Pizza starring Julia Roberts and Matt Damon, among others. Mystic is still a river town with plenty of boats on the river and a well preserved historic business district.

Mystic Pizza

Mystic River

Mystic River

Mystic River drawbridge at Mystic

Our journey continues to Old Saybrook where a 1911 built theatre has been restored and is now operated as the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Centre. It houses a small museum of memorabilia, mainly about her Hollywood career. Katharine spent her childhood near the town and used to come home often during her movie making days, eventually retiring to the family house. It is the only theatre to bear her name in the world, and the town are very proud of it. The theatre caters for a wide range of tastes, from children's pantomimes, to ballet, opera and rock concerts. We were given a short tour as we had come such a long way!

The theatre

Katharine

The theatre

For lunch we are visiting Essex and the Griswold Inn. The Inn opened its doors in 1776 and is one of the oldest continuously operated not only in Connecticut but also in the country. This town is in the 1,000 book because of it's historic houses, a lot of which were built in the 1700's and are still private homes today.

Griswold Inn

The tap room

One of the dining rooms

House built 1720

House built 1778

Now we turn inland and cross the Connecticut River via a ferry and visit a folly, Gillette Castle, built by an actor who created the persona of the pipe smoking and hatted Sherlock Holmes. Unfortunately due to budget cuts, it no longer opens on a Tuesday, but we look around the outside and peer in the windows.

Gillette Castle

The ferry

Inside Gillette Castle, through the window 

Ted looking regal

That is it for the day, another special day in Connecticut.

Mystic Seaport, Connecticut

We are in Mystic, Connecticut and we have spent the day at the maritime museum, Mystic Seaport. This is no two-bit building with old pictures. It is a living museum, with large exhibition spaces for displays on particular topics, such as photography in relation to the sea, whaling, etc. Then there are the shops and houses associated with a seaport town, some with very friendly people in them to guide you and answer any questions. There is the ship building area, as Mystic did once have a thriving boat building industry, building cargo ships, whalers and even the smaller fishing boats. Now they have turned their craft to restoration and here we found the Mayflower II that wasn't at Plymouth when we visited last week. And of course we have the various ships that have been saved and restored and are now used for education purposes to show school children (and tourists) what it was like aboard some of these fine sailing ships. If you would like to explore yourself, have a look at the web site: www.mysticseaport.org/explore/

Scrimshaw

The shops

A two story house

A sailing ship ready for her masts to go up

Steering the ship

Sailing ship

As it is Memorial Day, they have a special service in the church. It is the 1876 version, Decoration Day. There is a short service and then a march, in time to the fife and drum, down to the docks, for the last post and the firing of the canon. We then throw flowers into the Mystic River to remember the fallen. It is very nice to be a part of the day.

Throwing of flowers

The last post

It did rain in the morning, then stopped during the service to allow everybody to take part in the parade, and then started again when we were ready to leave. It was pretty close to 7 hours of walking, looking, climbing and studying. And we all enjoyed it very much.

Newport then off to Connecticut

We tour Newport today on a very nice guided tour by the ACME tour company, the principal tour guide being Carolyn Earle. Our first stop is the Newport Yacht Club, made famous in Australia as the hosts where America first lost the America's Cup Yacht Race.

We then look at a quirky sculpture (Ted gets into the picture), an interesting but quite useless stone structure and a cast off memorial stone for JFK.

Stone tower

Memorial stone for JFK

Newport held the forerunner of what is now known as the US Open, and the legacy and history is housed in the International Tennis Hall of Fame located at the Newport Casino, not a gambling casino but a club which once hosted the rich and famous of Newport society. Here is held the only grass court tournament in the USA, one week after Wimbledon. The Hall of Fame houses a large amount of tennis memorabilia, plus a room showing all of the inductees, including Australian players such as Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Margaret Court, etc.

Being Sunday we're off to church but with a difference. We have a tour of the Touro Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in the USA built in 1759-1763. Very interesting both the history and the information in the museum.

A couple more sights then we say good bye to Newport, and in a short time, also Rhode Island. We have moved into Connecticut. A whole new state of things to see before us!