CONNECTICUT CALLING

our vacation in Connecticut begins in the city of Hartford it has a rapidly changing skyline and a network of fast moving freeways Hartford is situated on the banks of the Connecticut River in the north central part of the state the ornate gold domed Capitol building was officially opened in 1879 that structure of steel and green tinted glass was built for one of hartford's largest insurance companies one of the few two sided buildings in the world it has a specially designed window cleaning rig that moves up and down the face of the building on metal tracks from the roof of this same building we gaze down at Constitution Plaza the center promenade is a green oasis of trees surrounding the cool water of a fountain the tall modern buildings around the plaza were erected mainly by insurance companies and as we know Hartford is called the insurance capital of the world at Tower Square three blocks west of the plaza a monument honors the first pioneers who made the perilous journey into this territory and that was over 300 years ago the inscription on the monument reads in June 1636 about 100 members of Thomas hookers congregation arrived safely in this vicinity with 160 cattle they had followed old Indian trails from the Massachusetts Bay Colony to the Connecticut River to build a new community incidentally this monument is known as the safe arrival across the street from the monument is the old church where that same pioneer founder Thomas Hooker served as minister this handsome building in Hartford is the wodsworth Atheneum Art Museum the first public art museum in America the dedication reads in gratitude this building is erected for the Fine Arts where the work of our hands may establish and beauty the visions of man the atheneum as they call it in Hartford covers an entire square block and contains 50 art galleries in the early American gallery a pewter pitcher and earthenware jug take us back to the days of the early settlers this beautifully preserved spinning wheel was used by a local family several centuries ago and this wooden cradle handmade in 1620 is believed to be the first piece of finished furniture built in America however I'd have to guess in favor of Jamestown anyway the large patchwork quilt was made in 1842 by a Hartford girl named submit' Gaye in sharp contrast are these two paintings and the modern American gallery now some of the more important paintings on exhibit still life with fish by Picasso red poppies by Vincent van Gogh the beach at ruble by Claude Monet the artists signature can be seen quite clearly the tiger hunt by Rubens the great Flemish painter Mark Twain loved and lived in Hartford and the Mark Twain Memorial is located in the quiet residential section of the city in this big old rust-colored house the great American humorist spent nineteen of his most productive years the house was completed in August 1874 and every detail of its design reflects the personality of Mark Twain the chimneys were built to resemble the smokestacks of a Mississippi River steamboat the porch on the third floor was made to look like the pilot house of a riverboat there is some reminder of this famous man's personality such as his high-wheel bicycle on display in the front yard inside the house is a portrait of the author when he was fifty-five and another painted during the period when he lived in Hartford Olivia Langdon Clemens Mark Twain's wife with her daughter Cheney in the library which was Twain's favorite room you'll see the beautifully carved mantelpiece along with this antique pitcher it was imported from an old castle in Scotland in 1874 the central escutcheon contains symbols of the arts poetry music painting and literature this bust was done by a young man named Karl Gerhardt Twain put him through art school in the bedroom we can still see Twain's ornately carved bed now on the head of his bed are these figures of Cupid's and various positions and wouldn't you know it Mark Twain always slept with his head at the foot of the bed so that he could enjoy looking at the carved Cupid's on the headboard many of the beloved writers first editions are on exhibit this one inscribed merry Christmas to mrs. Lily Warner were the warm regards of Samuel al Clemens Clemens of course was the author's real name a first edition of life on the Mississippi The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the prince and the pauper and certainly the whole world has enjoyed Tom Sawyer as well as the delightful a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Harriet Beecher Stowe best known as the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin was a Twain favorite and the plant conservatory of this house at the end of the library was designed by mrs. Stowe mrs. Stowe lived next door and convinced the Twain's that the sunny flower room would add greatly to the enjoyment of their home the Mark Twain House in Hartford full of warm memories of one of America's brilliant writers the man on horseback reflects a great moment in Connecticut's history and Broad Street in downtown Hartford is packed with people who have come here on July 4th to witness this reenactment it was in 1776 that a post rider delivered the news of the signing of the Declaration of Independence his destination was the same location where he handed a copy of the great document to an editor of The Hartford Courant America's oldest newspaper the Elizabeth Park rose gardens in Hartford cover an area of two and a half acres admission is free and we can enjoy the color and beauty of over a thousand varieties of roses these lovely roses are called white dorothy and this display of pink red blooms makes the trip especially worthwhile for green thumb addicts the specimen is called the Rubaiyat this deeper shade of red is crimson glory and this delicate flower is the peace rose mrs. Alta field of Williamstown Massachusetts pauses to take a snapshot of the tropicana rose in nationwide competition during 1963 it was named Rose of the year the Elizabeth Park rose gardens a treat for the senses in Hartford Connecticut this peaceful landscape is part of the handsomest estate in Farmington eleven miles west of Hartford the estate is Hill stead an elegant old manor house and some 172 acres that surround it hill stead was built by Alfred Pope a self-made millionaire in 1901 and Pope filled the house with original paintings such as whistlers seascape in the living room ballet dancers Bodega hangs over a loveseat on the opposite wall haystacks by the French artist Claude Monet on the second floor a section of the guest quarters the mulberry rule we can summarize Hill status being the Acme of Victorian elegance an era ended but not forgotten the small town of Sharon was incorporated in 1739 today it's Main Street is a quiet one and this barn red covered bridge with its one lane roadway is still in service but instead of the clump of horses hooves it rumbles with the sound of the 20th century horseless carriage below the bridge the Housatonic River flows lazy way lists the picture downstream the unspoiled beauty so typical of this part of Northwestern Connecticut many of us think of Connecticut is a highly industrialized state and so it is but there are also thousands of acres such as these rolling hills covered with green forests and not a sign of a factory anywhere [Music] from the top of a hill the small town of Washington seems almost hidden by green foliage but on the village green we find one of the most beautiful churches in this part of New England the first congregational of Washington nearby is the attractive Town Hall and on a large stone the people of this quiet town have placed a plaque in memory of those citizens of the town who served in the First World War beneath the list of names is this short poem so nie is grandeur to our dust so near is God to men when duty whispers lo thou must the youth replies I can on the same village green is a White House which looks like but isn't a private home it's been a drugstore for the past 100 years a 40 minute drive from the peace and quiet of Washington brings us back to the roar of the 20th century Connecticut is the home state of the Sports Car Club of America and 8,000 loyal sports car fans are gathered today to watch the [Music] with a population of a hundred and sixty-five thousand people New Haven is one of Connecticut's largest cities in the very heart of the city is Yale University founded by ten clergymen in 1701 they started with only a handful of students but today Yale has an enrollment of about eighty four hundred and a faculty of 2,300 in the city of Stratford we've stopped at the handsome American Shakespeare Theatre it has a long history of professional excellence among its actors and one of the guests [Music] [Applause] New London Connecticut the waters of Long Island Sound beckoned thousands of swimmers every summer this is Ocean Beach one of the finest saltwater swimming beaches in the entire state the US Coast Guard Academy at New London is a school with a long and proud tradition on the spacious campus cadets were able to pass these stiff entrance requirements are molded into Coast Guard officers the Academy's Memorial Chapel services all faiths and it's designed to resemble a lighthouse an appropriate symbol indeed Fort Griswold on the banks of the Thames River is the site of a towering stone monument that overlooks one of Connecticut's best-known revolutionary battlegrounds there are a hundred and seventy-two steps inside the tower and when we've caught our breath we can look down on the panorama of this historic ground inside the small picket enclosure of plaque recalls an American tragedy on this spot Colonel William Ledyard fell by his own sword in the hands of a British officer to whom he had surrendered in the massacre of Fort Griswold September 6 1781 the British troops by the way were led on that black day by the traitorous American general Benedict Arnold the main street of Essex on the Connecticut River about 12 miles inland from the sea retains much of the flavor of colonial America many of the stores such as this bookshop recall the days when Essex was a center of shipbuilding and trade with the West Indies this blacksmith shop turned out everything from ships fittings to horseshoes from 1678 until 1961 it's been the oldest business in the United States under one continuous ownership today it's occupied by a firm of attorneys and maintained as an historic landmark in Essex farther south on Main Street is the Griswold M still operating as a restaurant and hotel after a hundred and eighty nine years in the dining room paintings by a Connecticut artist Kip's all dwell vividly depict an attack on Essex five British warships on April 18 1814 several American ships and tons of supplies were destroyed before the British were finally driven off and in 1870 Essex looked like this today we can look back at those early times as we watch the Deep River Fife and drum corps on parade marching along the same Street where the Battle of Essex took place a century and a half ago the men in red and white are from the Essex Fife and drum corps both groups march and play once a month in their uniforms are authentic down to the last button on the south eastern coastline of Connecticut Stonington offers small but attractive beaches where everyone gets into the swim and has a wonderful time a short walk from the beach is the old Stonington light it's a museum now but in the days of the great clipper ships the light from this tower saved many a vessel from running aground on the rocky shore as we look out from the lighthouse fog starts moving in across the harbor at Stonington the old piers are deserted except for two lobster fishermen talking quietly about the day's catch this sign will lead us to one of the most charming attractions for vacationers in the entire state of Connecticut Mystic Seaport on Long Island Sound built on 30 acres at the mouth of the Mystic River it's an authentic recreation of a mid 19th century coastal village well let's start our visit with a ride in the old-fashioned horse-drawn wagon and from this vantage point we can see many of the old shops and stores who were to be found along Connecticut's coast in the 1850s here's the print shop the Nantucket cooperage where wooden casks were made for the great sailing ships a wagon shop and the ship chandlery which sold canvas and rope this huge kettle was used on whaling ships to boil whale blubber whale oil for the lamps that preceded Edison and when men went out in search of whales in those days they couldn't find a finer ship than this she's the Charles W Morgan and she has a history that will stir the imagination of anyone who thrills to the sea on board the Morgan sailor Jerry McCarthy shows one of the deadly harpoons to a couple of would-be Whalers they don't have much to say but one look at the spear end of that harpoon is enough to convince them that going after whales was a pretty serious and dangerous business the managing director of Mystic Seaport mr. Charles Brooks tells us more about the Morgan we've been looking at the Charles W Morgan the last of the American wooden whale ships enshrined here at Mystic Connecticut the Charles W Morgan was built in New Bedford Massachusetts in 1841 she sailed as an active Whaler until 1923 she sailed more miles caught more whales and earned more money for her owners than any other American whale ship she sailed every see on the globe the Charles W Morgan is only one of many attractions here at the Seaport we have aside from the Morgan the Admiral McMillan's article exploration ship the Boden we have a Chesapeake Bay bug I known as the Parsons the smallest square rigger ever to circumnavigate the globe is the Joseph Conrad we also possess what we believe to be the last of the Gloucester fishermen the LA Dunton in addition to these ships all of which are full-size and original we have over a hundred small craft both waterborne and in static exhibits on shore nothing pleases us more than when a family from the Midwest who may never have seen the ocean visits with us and for a while transplants themself back into the atmosphere of a mid nineteenth century New England seafaring commitments at the dock of the headline ferry boat on a beautiful section of the Connecticut River three miles north of Essex the headline ferry is operated by the state park system and the toll is 25 cents for Car and Driver extra passengers are only a nickel apiece probably the best bargain boat ride in America we're taking the ferry for a special reason than this is it the Gillette castle sitting high on a bluff above the river pulling into dock on the east bank we leave the ferry and start the drive up to the smoke unusual house I say house because this strange-looking building made of native white oak and field stone was the private home of this man William Gillette born in Connecticut Gillette gained fame and a sizable fortune as an actor on the early American stage he is best known for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes a role he played in theaters all over the United States during the early 1900s from this overlook on a terrace of the Castle Joyce Roberts of Hartford shows her friend rosemary Stiles of Cincinnati Ohio the Magnificent view to be seen of the Connecticut River Valley we're looking downstream now we can understand why some travelers have compared this part of the river with the valley of the Rhine in Germany this is the view looking upstream north of Gillette castle you're innately carved wooden door in the living room of the house is made of oak and with its handmade wooden locks it typifies the kind of eccentric decor to be found throughout Gillette's former fault instead of using wallpaper Gillette imported this hand-woven raffia made by Japanese craftsmen the wall light is decorated with bits of colored glass taken from bottles that Gillette collected from his friends by the way the carved light switch is of wood the actor himself designed the castle and he was constantly adding rooms to it while the contractors needed five years to finish the entire building the Gillette castle one of the more unusual attractions on our vacation to Connecticut will be on hand next week same time same station for another colorful 30-minute tour somewhere in America I do hope you'll be able to share it with us until then Jack Douglas saying thank you so much and good night ladies and gentlemen boys and girls [Music] [Applause] [Music]