Weekend in Connecticut

Our weekend in Connecticut was busy and wonderful!  My main purpose in going there was to see the tavern that my ancestors had owned in the 1700s.

The Keeler Tavern started out as a farmhouse build around 1713 and converted into a tavern and stagecoach stop in 1772 by my ancestor Timothy Keeler.  It also served as the Ridgefield Post Office for over fifty years.

Timothy was an outspoken patriot so the British fired at the Tavern during the Revolutionary War (April 27, 1777) and a cannonball still remains embedded in the wall.  The curators at the museum were delighted to meet another descendant of Timothy Keeler - but I still wasn't allowed to take pictures inside the tavern.

While we were in the area we searched several local cemeteries for family grave sites.......

..........and found quite a few!

Not far from Ridgefield, in Norwalk, is the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion built in 1868.  It was originally called Elm Park and has 65 rooms, including 17 (or was it 19?) bathrooms.  It had state of the art technology for the day.

If you ever watched the old horror soap opera Dark Shadows or saw the movie The Stepford Wives then you've seen the inside of this house.  Unfortunately, our tour guide cited "copyright laws" as being the reason I couldn't take pictures inside.  It is magnificent!

On our way to Hartford we stopped at the Elephant's Trunk Flea Market.  I have seen it on HGTV's Flea Market Flip and PBS's Road Market Warriors and I wanted to shop here myself.

I cannot tell you how many times Hubby and I said, "If only we could get this home!"  I still managed to find a few things to buy but I can't show them.  They're Christmas gifts!

Our next stop was the home built by Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) in 1874.  It is a 25 room Gothic mansion and is impeccably restored with most of the original furnishings.

We had an excellent tour guide but he made sure no one took pictures inside this house either.

With all the beautiful historic homes in the area we were inspired to spend our last night in Connecticut at the Simsbury 1820 House.

When you stay at a historic inn you have to be prepared to climb stairs.

But the accommodations are always worth it!

After a delicious breakfast the next morning we said "good-bye" to Connecticut and headed back to Pennsylvania to plan some more adventures.