Mark Twain and Kate Hepburn - Connecticut

Oct 22
Thursday

More than a few times I enter a sort of trance while driving and found myself over the border in Connecticut.  These winding twisting endlessly scenic roads can do that to you.

Glad to be in New England to see the fall color and get some relief from large states that take forever to get out of. Here they are very tiny.  Connecticut is only 80 miles across. Rhode Island is smaller than London.

Connecticut puts on a final curtain call of color.

Brilliant foliage in a palette of red, orange, gold, yellow and russet.

I begin to hear a noise coming from the back of the Doodle.  WTF?!   Did I close all the cabinet doors?  Is something loose and ratting?   I slow down to 50 and it goes away.

No photos allowed inside. Darn.

Finally in Hartford to see Mark Twain's home.

After some success as a writer Samuel Clemens married Olivia and they settled here to raise their family in 1874.

Here he wrote seven of his most famous works including the Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn stories.

He and Livy designed and built the 11,000 sq foot,  25 room home to meet the needs of their growing family of three daughters. Sadly, while they were in Europe on speaking tours, their daughter Suzy died of spinal meningitis in 1896.  After that it was too hard for Livy to continue to live in the house so it was sold in 1903 and the Clemens spent most of the rest of their lives in Europe.

This may be my quirkiest celeb sighting yet, 

a Lego Mark Twain.

Trying not to break his arm off as I'd never be able to reattach it.

Just across the lawn from the Clemens is the home of Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin.

As a noted abolitionist, she and Sam spent many evenings together entertaining friends like Frederick Douglas.



When Harriet Beecher Stowe met Abraham Lincoln in 1862, he is said to have exclaimed, "So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war!"   I don't believe he was being condescending to Harriet with his "little" remark as she was only 5 feet tall. She spent the last 23 years of her life here.

Back on the road in Connecticut, that darn sound is not going away.
Will check it out soon.

In Old Saybrook, Connecticut, I am on the trail of my favorite actress, Katherine Hepburn.

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Spent the night here in this 1746 B&B,
 The Deacon Timothy Pratt.

The living room had scrapbooks of local history for my sleuthing.

My room had been the room of the first woman pharmacist in Connecticut in the late 1800s.

When I get home I will move the antique bedroom set from the guest room into my bedroom.

It felt sacrilegious to open my laptop here.

Kate's family lived here in this coastal community of Old Saybrook since the early 1900s.

So she came back here to retire and could often be seen riding her bicycle around town, here buying a new broom and groceries at Walt's.

Walt's is still here, but not Kate.

I wandered in and bought some cheese.

The townsfolk said she was always charming, even while putting out a get lost sign.
Note the "please".







A small museum dedicated to Kate gave many insights into the life of this interesting and very beautiful woman.
   

Leaving Connecticut, that noise is still a bother. Checking at a repair shop it turns out to be yet another bad tire, this time on the left side rear opposite the flat tire a few weeks ago. Even my daughters knew I should have had them both changed at the time. Wonder why the first repair shop didn't suggest it?!

 

The fall colors make everything seem beautiful, even things that aren't.