Honeymoon, Day 8
(by Grace) We left Branford and headed North on Route 1 to travel along the seashore. We stopped at a little cemetery (of course) along the way in Guilford or Madison and checked out a few headstones. We found the first grave, laid in 1688, a young boy of six. We know it was the first because we read it on the stone. There are many, many old graveyards in these towns. We’ve not stopped for every one, but it has been tempting.
Next, we pulled off at Hammonasset State Park, a beach area along Long Island Sound. We found some shells and a plant or soft coral in the waves. Got our feet damp getting them, but it was fun. I actually took off my shoes and socks and wadded in to get the coral thing. The water was chilly, but not too bad.
Oldest stone house in New England
Grace finds a coral souvenir
We stopped at a Christmas store in Niantic for our Connecticut ornament. Niantic is on RT 156, which we switched to when RT 1 went farther west than we wanted to. We continued on and stopped again in Mystic for lunch, though not at the pizza place. We did see it though, and snapped a photo of the sign. Neither of us has seen the movie… After lunch, we witnessed the drawbridge over the river in action!
The drawbridge at Mystic Seaport
It has gimongous concrete counter-weights
We continued on after lunch to Newport without stopping. We wanted to arrive before sunset to see some of the town and arrived just in time. We drove “the loop” and were able to see some of the grand old homes along the shore. These mansions are huge! And they have great names on their gates, like The Breakers and Windswept. We saw several for sale…Newport is a great little town with lots of historic old buildings housing businesses and bed and breakfasts. We stayed in the Pilgrim House, a quaint old Victorian. As I write this, I am in the Breakfast room on the third floor. The door to the deck is in front of me, and I can see the docks and the water from here. It’s a grey morning with light cloud cover. Haven’t ventured outside yet, but I’m sure it’s chilly. I’m waiting for coffee…
Just half a block from the Pilgrim House is a church. We’re told it’s the oldest Anglican church in the country and that it’s still in operation. The Queen made a point of visiting it on one of her visits! On our way to dinner last night, we walked by it and discovered it has a cemetery attached to it. Yes, we stopped in. It was too dark to read much, but the King’s tax collector is buried right near the street lamp. He’s interred with his maiden sister. I believe he passed in 1734. Lots of nice things were inscribed about his character on his tombstone, but what could one expect from Loyalists? We’ll visit the yard again today before we leave. It’s sad, these stones are being slowly eaten away, or toppled (not by vandalism it appears, but by age and frost) and so many wonderful verses and stories will be lost forever.
