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.