The Distracted Wanderer

Located just shy of the Massachusetts border, the northernmost section of Connecticut's Air Line State Park Trail  can be found near the intersections of East Thompson Road and New Road in the Quiet Corner section of the state. The 50-mile linear former rail bed passes through eleven towns in eastern Connecticut - East Hampton, Colchester, Hebron, Columbia, Lebanon, Windham, Chaplin, Hampton, Pomfret, Putnam, and Thompson - and is divided into sections designated South (22 miles: East Hampton to Windham), North (21 miles: Windham to Putnam), and the Thompson addition (6.6 miles: Thompson to the Massachusetts state line.) The popular greenway that is now used by hikers, bikers, and horseback riders was once upon a time the site of the Boston and New York Air-Line Railroad (later the New York and New England Railroad (NY&NE) carrying passengers on what was then the most direct route from Boston to New York or vice versa. The rail line opened in 1873 and underwent various owner...

One might not think that words from Henry David Thoreau's Walden  would apply to dining choices but sometimes they most definitely do, especially at Manchester, Connecticut's Shady Glen Dairy Stores where their motto could definitely be: "Our life is frittered away by detail ... simplify, simplify."  For those of us who enjoy a simple meal in a simple place that not only tastes great but takes us back to the simplicity of our youth then this is the place to wander to - even if the cheeseburgers are not exactly what one is accustomed to! Shady Glen got its start when John and Bernice Rieg opened their first store on the Manchester/Bolton town lines on June 12, 1948.  Prior to opening the store with 47 stools arranged around the kitchen and soda fountain, the Riegs worked with Leonard R. Dowd, Professor of Dairy Manufacturing in the University of Connecticut's Department of Animal Industries, on their ice cream formulas using milk from their own herd of cows. ...

In Part One of this series I touched on the history of Martha’s Vineyard and the town of Vineyard Haven where the Massachusetts Steamship Authority ferries arrive and depart during the off-season. If you didn't bring your car with you and don’t have another way to get around the island, chances are good you’ll spend most of your time in that part of Martha’s Vineyard but if you've got wheels and are mobile or an adventuring spirit, a good watch, and a schedule for the Martha's Vineyard Transportation Authority buses there are a lot of other areas to visit. It’s time to touch on some of those so let’s go west, shall we? Soon after leaving Vineyard Haven aka Tisbury you’ll come to the town of West Tisbury which, along with Chilmark and Aquinnah, forms the area known as “Up-Island.” The town, which was the last to be incorporated on the island and ranks as the second largest, is considered to be the agricultural heartland of the Vineyard.  In this part of the island y...