In Pursuit of Pastries and Pictures

 We woke to a beautiful view from all the windows in our tiny house. 

This window is the full width and height of the cabin. Photo taken from lying in bed. You can see the bottom of the top bunk in the upper left of the photo but the window keeps going up to the ceiling so the top bunk gets the view also.  

This photo is from the foot of the lower bed. 

Taken from the upper bed. 

Closeup of above

Closeup of above

Treats left for us. 

Our tiny cabin

The fire pit

The walk up to the cabin. 

This is the name of the place we’re staying. 

NATHAN HALE SCHOOL HOUSE 

EAST HADDAM, CONNECTICUT 

NATHAN HALE 

SCHOLAR TEACHER SOLDIER MARTYR 

BORN COVENTRY CONNECTICUT, JUNE 6, 1755 

GRADUATED FROM YALE, 1773 

TAUGHT IN THIS 

"LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE AT THE FORK IN THE ROAD" 

FROM NOVEMBER 1, 1773 UNTIL MAY, 1774 

GAVE HIS LIFE FOR HIS COUNTRY SEPTEMBER 22, 1776 

IN NEW YORK CITY 

WHEN HE UTTERED THESE IMMORTAL WORDS 

"I ONLY REGRET THAT I HAVE BUT ONE LIFE TO LOSE FOR MY COUNTRY"

When Hale was 14, in 1769, he and his older brother Enoch enrolled at Yale College, where he studied a broad range of subjects, including Latin, Greek, geometry, astronomy and rhetoric. He joined Linonia, a debating club that discussed such issues as slavery and women’s rights, and befriended classmates like Benjamin Tallmadge, who would later lead Washington’s Culper Spy Ring.

On the morning of September 22, 1776, Hale was marched to an artillery park in New York City. (Its exact location remains the subject of debate.) According to Hull’s memoirs, which were published posthumously by his daughter in 1848, Hale requested a Bible and a clergyman to attend him in his final hours but was denied on both fronts. After writing letters to his loved ones, the doomed spy, who “was calm and bore himself with gentle dignity, in the consciousness of rectitude and high intentions,” arrived at the gallows, where he delivered “his characteristic dying words,” as a British officer who’d witnessed the execution reportedly told Hull.

The bold turn of phrase that Hull attributed to Hale—“I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country”—was almost certainly not what he actually said. The line appears to be a paraphrase of Cato, a 1713 play by Joseph Addison that was popular among American revolutionaries for its theme of liberty vanquishing tyranny. In the text, the title character, Roman statesman Cato the Younger, says, “How beautiful is death, when earned by virtue! Who would not be that youth? What pity is it, that we can die but once to serve our country!”

Hale’s body was left hanging on the gallows for several days, then cut down and buried in an unmarked grave.

River View Cemetery founded 1773 as The Landing Burying Yard

Even though the colors have passed peak, they are still breathtaking and we found ourselves constantly oohing and ahhing over them. 

Well look at this. We have located the Pursuit of Pastries. Fortunately for us we didn’t pursue pastry as much as we did pictures or we would have been rolling in the door tonight. 

Jo Anne said this is absolutely the best donut she’s ever had in her life and to compare it to Dunkin’ was an insult to this donut. It was their signature donut and was like a beignet only baked. She also had an apple hand pie

I chose the healthier? spinach and feta pastry and an orange, ginger and white chocolate scone. (no judgement)

A few of the other offerings in the bake shop

The chocolate case

Their specialty is actually bread and I didn’t take any photos of their bread. 

We were very close to New York

This, and the following two photos were taken from the Walmart parking lot. We had to go to Walmart so Jo Anne could get some gloves because she left hers at home even after Kevin reminded her to get them. 🤣

We left the cabin this morning planning to take a scenic drive. All of these photos are from our day driving down the roads of Connecticut. This bridge was built in 1895 by the Berlin Iron Bridge Company. 

These photos all taken from the bridge 

The other bridge that replaced the iron bridge. 

Photo taken from the other bridge. 

Beautiful church with a red door

First Congregational Church

Stopped at this market so Jo Anne could buy Haylee some maple syrup from Connecticut. 

Loved this old barn

We stopped at Hidden Valley Preserve to walk the Presidents Trail. 

The Thoreau Bridge, located at the Hidden Valley Preserve, was conceived and produced by Trustee Emeritus Edwin Matthews, designed by Gray Organschi Architecture in New Haven, and funded by The Gould Family Foundation, a grant from the State of Connecticut, and a number of individual donors. The bridge design is a product of collaborations with wetland, soil, and wildlife biologists and introduces innovative and sustainable construction techniques for sensitive ecological areas.

The Thoreau footbridge is a cable stayed, mass timber suspension bridge spanning 134′ across the Shepaug River. The bridge deck rises to clear the 500 year flood level and then sweeps 90 degrees as it gently ramps down to the north side of the river.

Quotes from Thoreau’s seminal writings, inscribed by water jet into a bench at the cliff base and along the bridge’s steel handrails

It was this online photo that made us want to walk this trail. Clearly you can see from my bridge photo above, we missed peak color by a bit 🤣. 

This trail walking along the Shepaug River reminded us so much of walking along the River Spey on the Whiskey Trail in Scotland   

The presidents trail is marked with orange squares 

The hillsides were covered in pink “burning bush”. In other areas it was fire red. 

This is the Stephen Reich (major, US Army) bridge and bench. 

And it just climbs right up that hill. We crossed over and walked back down the other side of the river. 

Opera House built in 1884

After our little hike we stopped in Thomaston for a late lunch at Crabby Al’s Seafood Restaurant. When we walked in it looked like a pub in the UK so we had to order fish and chips 😁. 

It was good but not as good as the British fish and chips. 

After lunch we headed to Terryville in search of the Nutmeg Spice Company because this is the Nutmeg State afterall. 

After much driving around through town we finally located it only to be informed that they don’t sell their products there. They package and label them for others to sell them in groceries and markets. ☹️

The village is named for Eli Terry Jr

Eli Terry Jr. Water Wheel circa 1830. 

Eli Terry, Jr. lived here in Terryville and Junior is the son of Senior who introduced mass production to the art of clockmaking, which made clocks affordable for the average American citizen. Terry (Senior) occupies an important place in the beginnings of the development of interchangeable parts manufacturing. Terry (again, Senior) is considered the first person in American history to actually accomplish interchangeable parts with no government funding.

But it’s Junior with a “census designated place” named after him. 

And a water wheel prominently displayed in the heart of that census designated place right on Route 6. 

This 20-foot-in-diameter water wheel has a gear around the circumference that adds speed to the shaft which was used to operate the machinery of one of America’s first lock factories, Lewis Lo Co., in the early 1850’s. 

Originally it supplied power to the Terry Clock Shop located on this property. In the early 1830’s the manufacture of locks began. By 1845 over one half million locks were made in Terryville. The business employed 38 people. By 1854 the Eagle Lock Company had been formed. Eagle Lock would eventually employ 1800 people. The company ceased operation in 1975, but you know what’s right down the street from the water wheel, right?

The Lock Museum of America of course!

We ended the day back in our tiny cabin wondering why it felt like 9 o’clock when it was only 5 and so very dark outside. There are some obvious formatting issues with some of the photos and captions but I’m too tired to deal with them tonight. 

Well that’s our day! It was a really good day spent in awe of God’s creation.

I’ll end with another quote from Thoreau:

“An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.”