The land that became Windham was gifted to local settlers in an Indian Chief's will way back in…read more1675, and the town's name was based on Wynmondham, England the original home of some of those settlers. Windham greatly supported the "Patriot cause" and repudiated British policies when their Sons of Liberty was formed. This is a two-sided marker from the CT Historical Commission with the familiar white lettering on a blue background. You'll see it on a small Town Green in front of the Windham Library, more or less where Routes 203 and 14 meet. The sign dates to 1976 and is starting to show minor signs of wear with small areas of peeling on both sides.

Political wheeling and dealing has a long history. All you have to do is look at the origin of…read moreMansfield, CT, as described in their historical marker. It seems that a request to subdivide the area into two sections (and what would become Mansfield) was granted under certain conditions- namely payment of back taxes, and continued support of the local church until a new minister could be found for the new town. You'll find the marker in front of the Mansfield Public Library. It's a 2-sided marker from the CT Historical Commission in the familiar white lettering on a blue background. There is a different inscription on each side. The marker was dedicated in 1975 and is in pretty good condition. The full inscription reads: The area that became Mansfield was included in land acquired by sixteen residents of Norwich and nearby towns from Mohegan Indian chief Joshua, son of Uncas. This tract was incorporated as the town of Windham in 1692. At that time the families of Samuel Hide, Jonathan Hough, and John Royce were living at Pond Place, later named Mansfield Center. Partly because of hazards encountered in crossing the "bad and dangerous" Natchaug River, differences arose about location of the meetinghouse. In May, 1702 Joseph Hall, representing Windham, petitioned the General Assembly to divide Windham into two towns This was granted under certain conditions: the new town must pay arrears of parish taxes and continue supporting the Windham Church until Mansfield secured "an able orthodox minister of the gospel." In May, 1703 the General Assembly defined the boundaries of Mansfield. Following establishment of the First Church of Christ at Mansfield Center in 1710, the population grew so rapidly that before long the town was divided into north and south parishes, and the Second Congregational Church of Mansfield was established in 1744. By 1774 Mansfield had 2,466 inhabitants. The estimated population in 1974 was 20,000. Erected 1975 by Town of Mansfield, the Mansfield Historical Society, and the Connecticut Historical Commission.

His exploits remind me of a comic book super hero…read more In childhood he crawled into a wolf den to kill a wolf. He was minutes away from being burned at the stake by Indians. He was farming at his CT home when he heard of the killings at Lexington and Concord. So what did he do? He abandoned his plow, jumped on his horse, and rode 100 miles in 18 hours to join the revolution. This monument in the form of boulder and bronze plaque commemorates the patriotic life of General Israel Putnam and is located in the center of Brooklyn, CT. It was dedicated on the 200th anniversary of his birth, close to where he operated a tavern with his wife. the plaque's inscription tells his glorious story, his rise to command colonial forces at the Battle of Bunker Hill, and his subsequent promotion to become George Washington's second in command. The full inscription reads: In the field behind this stone after the close of the French and Indian wars, returning from many expeditions to ticonderoga, fort edward, quebec, montreal, havana, detroit, and new orleans lived col. israel putnam here, with his wife (2nd) mrs. deborah (avery gardiner) putnam he dispensed a famous hospitality at the general wolfe tavern near this spot, also, april 20, 1775, putnam received news of the battle of lexington. leaving his plow in the furrow with his son daniel, he rode one hundred miles in eighteen hours, reaching cambridge the next day. there soon after he planned and on june 17, 1775, commanded at the battle of bunker hill receiving thereafter from the continental congress by the hand of washington the first commission of major general (and the only one unanimously voted) which made him second in rank to his chief ----- placed by the town of brooklyn and the colonel daniel putnam association inc. 1918 the 200th anniversary of his birth ----- patriot, remember the heritages received from your forefathers and predecessors, protect and perpetuate them for future generations of your countrymen. The plaque has become difficult to read because of the copper patina over time. Maybe a restoration should be in order for the 300th anniversary of his birth in 2018?

This is a one-sided marker from the CT Historical Commission in the familiar white lettering on a…read moreblue background. It's located on the front exterior wall of a stately three-story brick building that serves as the Stafford Springs Town Hall. The marker is in very good condition, and describes the apparently controversial history of the town. The full inscription reads: This is the house of the famous mineral springs where the Indians met to drink the iron and sulphur waters to make them "lively" and to which the future President John Adams came for his health in 1771. Later the elite of the Nations gathered here for pleasure. The region, originally Mohegan Indian land, was bought in a questionable transaction by Major James Fitch of Canterbury, who had acquired large tracts of eastern Connecticut land. His claim was not completely accepted by the General Assembly, which orders in 1718 that a town be laid out "...of seven mile square...eastward of Enfield". This was beginning of the legal settlement. Bog iron was discovered and furnaces were built to smelt the ore for iron castings and tools. Endowed with abundant water power, the various early mills gave way to a thriving textile industry, of which a portion has continued to the present day. Erected by the Town of Stafford The Stafford Historical Society, Inc. And the CT Historical Commission 1978

OK, so I'm a cottonheadedninnymuggins. We love covered bridges. We've visited them in NH, VT, IA…read moreand more, and it actually never occurred to us to look in RI for any! Luckily, taking an 'avoid highways' trip we passed the sign in Foster pointing the way to this bridge and since then we have found out there are several, easily accessible, covered bridges in state. Although none of them are the original structures, they are still works of craftmanship and remind of times past. This bridge is just out of sight of the main road. At the time of our visit the roads had been stripped down to dirt and there seemed to be some excavating work going on. Not sure how long it's been like that or how long it will last, but it did not look like a 'new' occurrance. It spans a small creek, at when we visited in the summer it was surrounded by lush greenery making any path to the water impassable. There is a home right next to the bridge and aside from lurkers like us, looks like an idyllic spot for a home. Just before the bridge there is a spot to pull off the road while you take your photos and get a closer look. The road is in use as we had a couple of vehicles pass us while we were exploring the bridge. We did not have enough to turn around an followed the GPS back to the main road we had just come off, further up the route. If you enjoy exploring covered bridges, this is a quick stop along your route and a lovely photo op.

Covered bridge in Foster, RI. Perfect to view during Fall if you want to see beautiful fall…read morefoliage. I came here today and missed peak foliage by about a week! Most of the trees surrounding the bridge no longer had any leaves. However, the drive to the covered bridge was perfect! There were a ton of beautiful trees near the water, Barden Reservoir. I suggest stopping by the water because the views are beautiful! (About ten minutes before the bridge.) Although I was a bit disappointed when I got to the bridge due to lack of fall foliage, the drive more than made up for it--very peaceful with great views.

With a population of around 15,000, Tolland is a nice quiet suburb of Hartford half-way to the…read moreMassachusetts line as you head up I-84. So it's only fitting that it has a nice quiet historical marker. It's rather brief text doesn't really offer any "wow" factors. So what does it highlight as epic moments in Tolland history? It was named after Tolland England. Its first homes were built over 400 years ago in a part of town named for ancestors of a 19th Century President. It was once the state's county seat. Its courthouse became a library and its jail became a museum. Not exactly scintillating stuff. This is a two-sided marker from the CT Historical Commission in the familiar white lettering on a blue background. It can be found on a grassy area on the side of the municipal building. It has the same inscription on each side. It dates to 1971 and is in very good shape.

Benefit Street is a nice little walk and The Shunned House is a sweet little surprise. What I like…read moreabout The Shunned House is that you would have NO CLUE that this house was significant amongst the others in the surrounding areas. The armory down the street stands out a lot more than the lil house that HPLovecraft wrote about. Still it's a great side trip that will only take seconds out of your day if you are in or around the colleges in the area. This is obviously a residence and they have since named the house after someone but you can see the wall that used to be used as the front of the house and the descriptions stand strong in Lovecraft's writing. No big deal but I liked being there and seeing it.

I was going to write about this curiousity, but I realized I couldn't do any better than what…read morebrought me in the first place: "The house was--and for that matter still is--of a kind to attract the attention of the curious. Originally a farm or semi-farm building, it followed the average New England colonial lines of the middle eighteenth century--the prosperous peaked-roof sort, with two stories and dormerless attic, and with the Georgian doorway and interior panelling dictated by the progress of taste at that time. It faced south, with one gable end buried to the lower windows in the eastward rising hill, and the other exposed to the foundations toward the street. Its construction, over a century and a half ago, had followed the grading and straightening of the road in that especial vicinity; for Benefit Street--at first called Back Street--was laid out as a lane winding amongst the graveyards of the first settlers, and straightened only when the removal of the bodies to the North Burial Ground made it decently possible to cut through the old family plots. "At the start, the western wall had lain some twenty feet up a precipitous lawn from the roadway; but a widening of the street at about the time of the Revolution sheared off most of the intervening space, exposing the foundations so that a brick basement wall had to be made, giving the deep cellar a street frontage with door and two windows above ground, close to the new line of public travel. When the sidewalk was laid out a century ago the last of the intervening space was removed; and Poe in his walks must have seen only a sheer ascent of dull grey brick flush with the sidewalk and surmounted at a height of ten feet by the antique shingled bulk of the house proper. "The farm-like grounds extended back very deeply up the hill, almost to Wheaton Street. The space south of the house, abutting on Benefit Street, was of course greatly above the existing sidewalk level, forming a terrace bounded by a high bank wall of damp, mossy stone pierced by a steep flight of narrow steps which led inward between canyon-like surfaces to the upper region of mangy lawn, rheumy brick walls, and neglected gardens whose dismantled cement urns, rusted kettles fallen from tripods of knotty sticks, and similar paraphernalia set off the weather-beaten front door with its broken fanlight, rotting Ionic pilasters, and wormy triangular pediment. "What I heard in my youth about the shunned house was merely that people died there in alarmingly great numbers. That, I was told, was why the original owners had moved out some twenty years after building the place. It was plainly unhealthy, perhaps because of the dampness and fungous growth in the cellar, the general sickish smell, the draughts of the hallways, or the quality of the well and pump water. These things were bad enough, and these were all that gained belief among the persons whom I knew. Only the notebooks of my antiquarian uncle, Dr. Elihu Whipple, revealed to me at length the darker, vaguer surmises which formed an undercurrent of folklore among old-time servants and humble folk; surmises which never travelled far, and which were largely forgotten when Providence grew to be a metropolis with a shifting modern population." H.P. Lovecraft, The Shunned House Be mindful that this is a private residence. Please be respectful.

Providence City Hall is the center of the municipal government in Providence, and is located at the…read moresouthwest end of Kennedy Plaza at 25 Dorrance Street. The building was constructed between 1875 and 1878 and designed by Samuel J. F. Thayer in the Second Empire style. In 1975, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places; it is also a contributing structure to the broader Downtown Providence Historic District. Though the area around it has changed over the years, Providence City Hall remains a constant in downtown Providence. The cast iron and masonry structure witnessed the evolution of Exchange Place into Kennedy Plaza, two hurricanes, and multiple cycles of economic depression and growth. Initially, Providence's municipal government was located in the crowded Market House, across the Providence river. Needing a bigger space, alderman were split on where to put a new city hall. Half of the council lived on the east side of the river, and half on the west, causing a thirty-year struggle over where to put the new government building. Eventually, the west side won and the cornerstone was laid on June 24, 1875. In the 1950s the city's downtown master plan called for the demolition of City Hall, but it was saved and restored, reflecting the city's pride in its historic roots. Many city departments can be found in this building...including Tax collection, Board of Canvassers, Board of Licenses, City Archives, City Council, Public Works, Municipal court, Mayor's office, and much more. I usually go into the building for things related to my tax bill or a few years ago to get my marriage license. Anyway, a beautiful building reminiscing of a French government building in the heart of Providence.

So, as much as I hate paying taxes, the gentleman who has helped me the last two times I was there,…read morewas a real gem. I won't say enjoyed paying taxes but his persona and personable manner made it less painful.