Rob and I are really enjoying our wanderings up here in New England. Slowly but surely, Connecticut is waking up. The weather is starting to turn, the flowers are blooming, and things are starting to open up in preparation for the tourist season.
One of our favorite experiences so far, has been the discovery of Boston Post Road, or Highway 1. It is an old highway that hugs the coastline from New York to Massachusetts. It was originally a system of mail delivery routes between New York City and Boston and evolved into one of the first major highways in the United States. It reminds me a lot of Route 66. Highway 95 was built right beside it, cutting off the tiny towns and allowing for faster travel between the major destinations. Unlike Route 66, however, these smaller towns were lucky enough to be right along the coast and still have a lot to offer tourists during the summer season. In some towns, the area near Boston Post Road has been placed on the national register of historic places, because it was often the first road in an area and many significant buildings and homes were built close by. The oldest house we have noticed along Boston Post Road (so far) was listed as 1639! We plan to do a future post of all the historic homes we have come to love here.
Our first real discovery along this historic road was Harkness Memorial State Park in Waterford. We were driving along, looking at the homes and the coastline with no particular destination in mind (because the journey IS the destination), and we came upon a sign for a state park. It was cloudy and a little drizzly, but we thought we would check things out for a future visit. What we found was the Eolia Mansion Estate.
This beautiful revival style mansion was the summer mansion of the Harkness family and is set on 235 seaside acres. Mr. Harkness was a philanthropist who inherited his money from investments in the Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company. They bought the mansion estate in 1907 shortly after it was built and it was a working farm and summer home. During their lives, the Harkness family donated over 200 million dollars to various philanthropic endeavors, including many of the buildings at Yale University. Mrs. Harkness left the estate to Connecticut in the 1950’s and it became a state park. Unfortunately, it fell into serious disrepair before it was restored by volunteers in the late 80’s. It is now a lovely public park and the Eolia is rented out for weddings and other events.
Because it was off season and drizzling, we had the entire estate almost completely to ourselves. I will let the pictures speak for themselves, but I cannot wait to go back when it is sunny and in full bloom. A tour of the buildings and a picnic in this park would be a real treat.
