New England - that's more coffee than tea, single-decker buses, and fewer superfluous "u"s in words like "color". Hartford, Connecticut is located in just such a place and everything about this stunning city is titillating! Our nation's Capital of Insurance is a non-stop thrill-ride, my friends. Founded in the 1600s, these people were thinking ahead when they named the main cemetery in town The Ancient Burying Ground (just try to get the zoning on a place with that name changed!). When you read up on the cemetery, you'll also learn about one of Hartford's celebrated founding fathers, the Rev. Thomas Hooker.
It turns out that the Hooker Day Parade is in celebration of Thomas Hooker's life, not what I assumed it was about, and so an entire paragraph that I was going to insert here I'm now going to have to remove. Also, I should point out here, that this slightly alters the level of excitingness I was attributing to this city.
Here are some things someone told me about Hartford that I did not confirm via careful research or indeed any research at all but am going to repeat with total confidence as fact:
- Katherine Hepburn is buried in Hartford (probably not in the Ancient Burying Ground, they stopped using it in 1803)
- Mark Twain is from Hartford
- Hartford has an annual spring festival on the recently renovated river front to celebrate the running of the Shad
- Shad is a type of fish
Elizabeth Park contains the world's oldest municipal rose garden.- Bushnell Park is America's oldest public park (As the youngest member of my family I think it's high time I object publicly to all the hoopla afforded "the oldest" of everything. What's so special about being first? Usually, when working on a series of things, the first is the major flop and each member of said series improves as you get some practice under your belt. Just sayin'.)
A short distance from Hartford, over in Farmington, you'll find the Stanley-Whitman House. The house is currently a museum and includes some impressive gardens. Our Hartford office will be the official gardeners on May 15th. No small task considering Hartford includes only Sherrie Cavanna and Chris Kelly. Don't forget your leather gardening gloves and big, floppy hats Sherrie and Chris. Have a great time!
1 comment:
Even if it is a misnomer...any city brave enough to have a Hooker Day Parade rocks in my world. Now I want to go just to say I've been! Oh! maybe they'll have t-shirts that say "I went to the Hooker Day Parade and all I got was this lousy t-shirt"! I could die happy.
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