Eric Sloane (1905-1985) was a prolific artist, author and illustrator of over 30 books, and an avid collector of Americana. His extensive collection of hand tools is displayed in a building gifted to the State in 1969 by Stanley Works, the Connecticut-based tool manufacturing company, to mark their 125th anniversary. The collection tells a fascinating story about bygone times and the great American heritage of craftsmanship.
Eric Sloane Museum
31 Kent Cornwall Rd.
860-927-3849
Bulls Bridge is one of the few functional covered bridges remaining in Connecticut. Built in 1842, the bridge was one of the few ways to cross the Housatonic River from New York State, and was intended to bring more traffic into the area. In addition to the scenic wooden bridge, the area features waterfalls, rapids, overviews, a small gorge, and hiking trails which link up to the nearby Appalachian Trail.
About 3 miles SW of Kent on Bull’s Bridge Rd.
203-788-7665
Beckley Furnace (also known as “East Canaan #2” during the Barnum and Richardson years, and also known as East Canaan Iron Furnace Industrial Monument) produced pig iron until the winter of 1918-19. Constructed of locally quarried marble, the furnace was originally thirty-two feet in height and thirty feet square at the base. Later, after the Barnum Richardson Company acquired it, the height was raised to forty feet making it one of the largest of forty-three blast furnaces in the Salisbury Iron District.
Beckley Furnace
SE of Canaan on Lower Rd.
860-837-0270
[email protected]
West Cornwall’s covered bridge is an excellent example of the Town lattice truss, with its red-spruce timbers secured by a pair of treenails (slotted and wedged to hold them in place) at every intersection. For many years it was thought that this bridge was built in 1841 to replace one washed away in the flood of 1837, but recent research by Michael R. Gannett for the Cornwall Historical Society has shown that the correct date is 1864. The center pier supporting the middle of the bridge was probably reused from the earlier structure. One source gives 1887 as the date when a secondary queen-post truss was added, probably to stiffen the bridge, since wooden trusses had a tendency to sag.In 1973 the Connecticut Department of Transportation rehabilitated the bridge by inserting a concealed steel deck to bear the weight of the traffic. The project won the Federal Highway Administration’s outstanding historic preservation award.
West Cornwall Covered Bridge
CT 128 at Housatonic River, Cornwall
The Housatonic Railroad was one of the first railroads to exist in the northeast. Goods flowing from the many industries of Litchfield County could then be transported to Bridgeport on Long Island Sound and then taken to New York markets via ferryboat. Construction on the Housatonic Railroad was actually begun in 1837. By February 1840, rails stretched from Bridgeport to New Milford, Connecticut. Almost two years later, in December of 1841, rails reached Canaan. Ten years later, the railroad had reached into Massachusetts and had forged links with the Western Railroad of Massachusetts, later to become the Boston & Albany Railroad.
Cornwall Bridge Railroad Station
Junction of Poppleswamp Rd. and Kent Rd., Cornwall
[email protected]
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, wealthy New Yorkers established country estates in western Connecticut. One of these was Rock Hall, begun in 1911 for Jerome Alexandre, the heir to a shipping fortune. Alexandre’s architect, Addison Mizner, is best known for luxurious Mediterranean Revival estates in Palm Beach, Florida. For Rock Hall, Mizner employed a simplified version of 16th-century English design, which he called ‘Tudor’ and which reflected the Anglophilia of the American upper class at the time. The exterior is a severe composition of rubble stone and stucco, achieving visual effect from contrasting textures. The interior is more elaborate, and in an eclectic mix of styles—English, French Renaissance, and Georgian—characteristic of Mizner’s work. In the landscape are curving drives, allées of trees, a rustic garden pavilion, and a balustrade terrace, which, before the trees grew up, would have provided scenic views. Rock Hall continued to serve as a summer home until 2007, when it became a bed-and-breakfast.
19 Rock Hall Rd., Colebrook
According to the original store ledger, the Colebrook General Store was built and opened for business in 1803 by Martin and Solomon Rockwell. The original store, a one room, one story building, is known today as the Woodbine Cottage. It stands directly behind the Colebrook Store. The need for a larger store to serve the growing population resulted with the Rockwell’s having master builder William Swift construct another building directly in front of the original one in 1812.
559 Colebrook Rd., Colebrook
The Civilian Conservation Corps built the Peoples State Forest Nature Museum in 1935. It was open until 1942, when the CCC was decommissioned. The outside of the Museum, and the fireplace, are made from local fieldstone, some of which was taken from nearby stonewalls. The inside is paneled in American chestnut, which was harvested after it was destroyed by the chestnut blight.
Peoples State Forest Museum
106 East River Rd., Barkhamsted
860-379-2469
Overlooking the Farmington River and only minutes from the Peoples State Forest, the Old Riverton Inn was opened in 1796 by Jess Ives. Originally known as Ives Tavern or Ives Hotel, the Inn provided a resting place for stagecoach drivers and their passengers along the route between Hartford and Albany.
Old Riverton Inn
436 East River Rd, Riverton
860-379-8678
