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Toll House Museum, Plymouth CT
Once upon a time (more specifically, during the late 18th to 19th centuries), Connecticut was laced with 1,600 miles of toll roads. (Here is a list of them.) The tolls were collected not by the government, but by private corporations which built and maintained the roads. Sometimes this involved repairing an existing path, but other toll roads had to be constructed from scratch, carved out of the woods. In 1807, one visitor reported that “in almost every other direction” in Middlesex County, he encountered “a turnpike-road; for these roads being here made objects of private gain…they are established with avidity, on the smallest prospect of advantage.” Tolls were paid at…
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Abandoned aging old steel barn, Terryville CT
The three of us were out barn hunting and saw this beautiful old abandoned steel building in Terryville CT. It sat about 100 yards, in an open heavily overgrown field, behind what was once a major steel fabrication shop. So although I don’t know for sure it just seems like it could have been a maintenance shop for that facility. Although shot in color I rendered it in black in white to give it a sort of nostalgic look as it sits long abandoned and isolated. Photographed with a Sony A7RV, 61mp mirrorless camera and a Sony 24-70 f2.8 GMII lens. To get extra reach I switched to JPEG resolution…
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The Old Farm School, Bloomfield CT
This post is part of a continuing series called “one room schoolhouses”. To view other one room schoolhouses in CT and RI access the search menu in the top right corner of the homepage and enter “schoolhouse”. Cheryl, myself and our dog Molloy stopped by this historic two room schoolhouse to add it to our collection. The Old Farm School, also known as the Brick School, in Bloomfield, Connecticut is a historic schoolhouse located at the intersection of Park Avenue and School Street in Bloomfield, Connecticut. Built in 1796, it holds the distinction of being the oldest surviving public building in Bloomfield. Before the brick structure was constructed, a log…
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Auer Farm, Bloomfield CT
Auer Farm 158 Auer Farm Rd. Bloomfield, CT 06002. Open seven days a week from 7 AM to 7 PM Myself, Cheryl and Molly took a ride out to the Auer Farm to see if we could get a decent picture of the barn as well as a little frolic time for Molloy to investigate the goats and donkeys etc. When we arrived there was a large birthday party for “Jacob” that saw guests pretty much occupying what was once the farms cow barn. As a result we never went inside. Cheryl and Molly walked about the grounds looking for interaction with Molloy, (our Golden Doodle puppy), and seemed to…
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Keeney One Room Schoolhouse, Manchester CT
Kenney Schoolhouse 106 Hartford Rd. Manchester CT (860) 647-9983 This post is part of a continuing series called “one room schoolhouses”. To view other one room schoolhouses in CT and RI access the search menu in the top right corner of the homepage and enter “schoolhouse”. The Keeney One Room Schoolhouse in Manchester, Connecticut, has a fascinating history. Originally built around 1751 on Keeney Street, it was one of five schools authorized by the local ecclesiastical society to serve the community. This schoolhouse was part of a system where small villages or scattered farms had their own schools due to the difficulty of travel in early Connecticut—bad roads, rare…
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Neispic One Room Schoolhouse, Glastonbury CT
This post is part of a continuing series called “one room schoolhouses”. To view other one room schoolhouses in CT and RI access the search menu in the top right corner of the homepage and enter “schoolhouse”. For more information on schoolhouses purchase Linda K. Elliotts book titled “Connecticut Schoolhouses Through Time” on Amazon. The Town of Glastonbury originally referred to this school as the “17th District School” but at some point later on it became the Neipsic School. Originally built in 1889 as a one room schoolhouse it was expanded in 1900 to two rooms. I couldn’t determine where the name Neipsic came from but it’s quite possible that…
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Barn Beauties on the CT coastline (5 STARS)
These two barns sit almost directly across from one another along a well travelled CT coastal country road. If you’re one to pay any attention to old barns what will immediately strike you is their absolute pristine, new like, appearance. The roofs are brand new, the cladding does not show one board that is so much as slightly warped. None of the boards even have signs of aging at ground level where you tend to see it most. New looking storm windows are in place and on the larger barn there were even some small windows that were added which are not typical of barns. The sliding front doors on…
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Beautiful old barn & silo, East Windsor CT
This barn and silo served two functions. The silo held some type of granular food which must have been for the farmers animals or potential storage and sale of whatever was inside. When I zoomed into the image, in hi-resolution, I could see a series of vertical boards in the upper half of the side wall that were obviously opened at times to allow for the drying of tobacco. So I would think this resourceful farm had more than one crop and possibly livestock as well. Either way to me it’s a beautiful site! I photographed this image with a Sony Nex-7, 24.3mp mirrorless camera and a Sony 18-55 f3.5-5.6…
