On a traffic island at the intersection of Main Road, Youngs Road and Village Lane, this stone…read moreobelisk is tribute to the men from this area who fought for the Union during the Civil War. On one side, it reads "To the memory of the soldiers from this village who gave their lives to their country in the war of the rebellion." with "1870" on the base. The other sides list the names and deaths of these men. [Review 15307 overall, 809 of 2021, number 196 in New York.]

Masters and Johnson Sears and Roebuck…read moreSimon and Garfunkle Say and Brooke! Historical nuggets from this plaque include: 1) The town today known as Old Saybrook goes way back to 1635. 2) It was originally known as Say-Brooke; named for a Mr. Say and a Mr. Brooke. 3) Say-Brooke was the first settlement on the South shore of New England This is a one-sided marker from the CT Historical Commission in the familiar white lettering on a blue background. It's located on a small but very pretty village green with benches near 315 Main Street in Old Saybrook. The marker was dedicated in 1971 and is in very good condition.

There is a ton of eclectic information on both sides of this marker…read more Town land was bought from the Indians way back in 1676. The town's first nickname was the unflattering "Pump Town". A minister who was kicked out of Hebron may have coined the phrase "Blue Laws". A law school opened here in 1810. For a short time, automobiles were manufactured here. This is a two-sided marker from the CT Historical Commission, with the familiar white lettering on a blue background. The marker dates to 1979 and is in very good shape. It's located on the Town Green just in front of the gorgeous Old Town Hall in Hebron's historic district. The view of the bright blue marker in front of the stunning old white building makes for a very nice image.

This is a 2-sided marker from the CT Historical Commission in the familiar white lettering on a…read moreblue background, The lettering is the same on both sides. I love the location of the marker- right in front of Town Hall between two sidewalks, mailboxes and a bicycle rack. I love the idea that so many people walk by it every day to learn something about their town. Some of the markers I see are way off the beaten path, on a random street (example? Stonington). The marker is in good condition with easy to read lettering. It summarizes the history of the town from it's 1646 settlement and Massachusetts Puritan roots, its spin-off from New London 60 years later, and a great piece of trivia- that Groton was the site of one of the final battles of the American Revolution. On a more contemporary note, it talks about Groton's importance to the submarine industry. The marker reads: As a part of New London Plantation, Groton was settled in 1646 by John Winthrop, the younger, and a band of Puritans from Massachusetts. The town separated from New London in 1705, and was named for the Winthrop manor in England. One of the last battles of the American Revolution was fought on Groton Heights at Fort Griswold, September 6, 1781. The Groton Monument commemorates the battle. A state park now preserves the fort area. Groton is the site of the Submarine Base of the United States Navy, and home of the builder of much of the Navy's undersea fleet. It is the birthplace of the nuclear submarine. Erected by the Town of Groton, the Groton American Revolution Bicenntennial Committee and the Connecticut Historical Commission 1976

What a great tour! Our tour guide was a lovely lady who was very detailed in her descriptions and…read morestories and who was very knowledgeable about the Lee House and the Little Boston School, as well as the surrounding area and the Nehantic/Niantic tribe. We especially appreciated that so much of the home and its contents were so available for us to look at up close and we were able to tour the home so thoroughly. The guide explained the construction of the home and all of the items in the home, encouraging us to stand beside the hearth to feel the indentations left by the Lee family over years of tending the fire and cooking and demonstrating some of the household activities the family would have engaged in. We were pretty excited to visit the Little Boston School, because Rich is a teacher and I'm pretty nutty about all things historic, and we really enjoyed our visit. It's a cute one room schoolhouse - not unlike the one we have at the Old Bethpage Village Restoration here on Long Island - that is set up for a day at school. How fun! We also saw the displays in the barn, which were cool, and a well contraption (I can't remember the name) that doesn't use a pulley system but instead uses rocks as weights. The tour was great and the guide was clearly interested and passionate about her work and it showed in the animation with which she led our tour. We're very glad that we visited! It was a great way to spend a couple of hours and was more in-depth than some of the other tours we've been taken through the years.

Just ten years after the Civil War ended, this solemn 16' tall granite monument was dedicated in…read moreSept 1875 to those from Colchester who lost their lives in the American Civil War. It's a wonderful likeness of an austere looking Union soldier wearing a long unbuttoned overcoat and cape. He holds his hat in his hand and is looking down as though he is in deep thought. Look at the amazing detail on the statue - the soldier's sad eyes and flowing beard and mustache, his rifle, bayonet, and cartridge box, the "U.S" on his belt, the folds of cloth on his cape, and the cavalry bugle on the top of his hat. There are a lot of engravings on every side of the monument. You can see a slogan reading "NOT OURS BUT / THE NATION'S". You'll see emblems of the Shield of the United States, a field of stars, and the Connecticut Seal. You'll see a "Roll of Honor" with 44 names. The main engravings read: COLCHESTER HONORS ITS DEAD WHO FELL IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION, 1861 - 5. ERECTED / SEPT. 17, / 1875.

This is a 2-sided marker from the CT Historical Commission in the familiar white lettering on a…read moreblue background, It's located at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue (Connecticut Route 161) and Smith Street, just in front of East Lyme Town Hall. The marker has the same inscription on both sides. It summarizes the town's settlement in the 1640's, its development into a separate town in 1839, it's textile industry heritage, and the origin of the name Niantic (a district of East Lyme), which was a spin on the name of the local Indian tribe, Nehantic. The rest of the plaque spotlights two historic houses, the Thomas Lee House (1660) and the Smith Harris House (1840), a "romantic" 1646 marriage, and the local beauty of Mother Nature's "beaches, ponds, streams, woodland, and fields". It ends with a tribute to the Niantic Scallop " a popular seafood". The marker was dedicated in 1980 and is still in very good condition with no fading to the blue background or white lettering. The lettering is still crisp and easy to read. Its located in a very pretty setting in front of Town Hall.

In the final 79 words of this plaque's inscription, the words "art" or "artist" are mentioned five…read moretimes. Artists began congregating in Old Lyme in the early 1800's, and the town continues to be a popular artists' colony to this day. The marker is located on the front lawn of the Old Lyme Town Hall. It's a 2-sided marker from the CT Historical Commission, in the familiar white lettering on a blue background. It has different inscriptions on each side. The marker is in pretty good shape with minor fading on the blue background on both sides. 164 CT towns down, 6 to go The full inscription reads: As early as the 1640's settlers from Saybrook cleared and planted land on the east side of the Connecticut River in what is now Old Lyme. The first recorded grant of land, in 1649, was to Matthew Griswold in the Black Hall quarter. By 1665 the inhabitants on the east bank, "... desiring to be a plantation by themselves: do declare that they have a competency of Lands to entertain thirty families", and agreed with those on the west bank upon a "loving parting" by which a separate community was established. Two years later the General Court of Connecticut ordered that "... ye Plantation on ye East side ye River over agt Say-brooke for ye future be named Lyme." The settlement, some eighty square miles, included the present towns of Old Lyme, East Lyme, Lyme and part of Salem. The General Court gave consent to Lyme in 1678 to found a church society, which was not formally organized for fifteen years. Meeting House Hill, east of Duck River, was the site of two 17th century meetinghouses and one of the 18th. Samuel Belcher designed a fourth, built in 1817, to face the green at the south end of Lyme Street. After it burned in 1907, a replica became as favored a subject for artists as was the original. Seaborne trade began in 1650 with exportation of barrel staves on the ship TRYALL, starting a lucrative commerce with the West Indies. In the 19th century Lyme was divided four towns. This comminute in 1855 was named South Lyme, renamed Old Lyme two years later. From a summer colony of artists at the turn of the century evolved the Lyme School of Art, the Lyme Art Association, and the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts. Nearby on Lyme Street stands the Florence Griswold House of 1817, which lodged the artists and is now the headquarters of the Lyme Historical Society, where many of their works may be seen. Erected by the Town of Old Lyme the Lyme Historical Society and the Connecticut Historical Commission 1979