Hartford Courant Reporter Dan Haar Explores Route 44

By Michael Kelly

The Hartford Courant,founded in 1764, is celebrating its 250th anniversary and simultaneously saluting its distinction as the oldest continuously published newspaper in the country with a year-long series of events. For his part of the celebration, Courant reporter, Dan Haar, decided to walk across the state on historic Route 44 from the New York border in Salisbury to the Rhode Island border in Putnam, a distance of 106 miles. Overnighting in selected towns, he wrote articles on interesting people or places he encountered along the way.

The portion of 44 that cuts through the heart of Norfolk and doglegs sharply past Village Green was once known as the Greenwoods Turnpike, a colonial road from Albany to Hartford. In November of 1778, General John Burgoyne’s English and Hessian troops, defeated at Saratoga, were being marched as prisoners along the Greenwoods Turnpike on their way to Virginia, when they stopped for several days to camp on Norfolk’s Village Green. A few of the Hessians died while bivouacked here and at least one stayed on and married a Norfolk girl.

When Haar arrived at Infinity Hall for a Wednesday night open mic event, he was already two days behind schedule, having found many more engaging story-lines in Salisbury and Canaan than expected. He had planned to stay at the Manor House in Norfolk for one night but he was so taken with the charms of our remote village that he stayed another night, as the house guest of Yale Summer School of Art director, Sam Messer.

Ann Havemeyer, interim director of the Norfolk Library, proved to be a most congenial town docent, schooling Haar on the historic and architectural treasures of Norfolk, in particular the several buildings designed by quirky local architect Alfredo Taylor in the early 1900’s.

Just across 44, Paul Hawkshaw, director of Yale’s Chamber Music Festival, gave Haar an intimate and intriguing tour of Whitehouse and an in-depth verbal portrait of the Eldridge and Stoeckel families, emphasizing their generosity to the townspeople of their Norfolk.

At the Music Shed, a student rehearsal conducted by world-renowned clarinetist Richard Stoltzman was in progress, and that evening, Haar enjoyed a student recital, sitting with the young musicians onstage in the venerable, acoustically impeccable, wood-shingled Ehrick Rossiter building.

Messer wouldn’t let Haar leave town without a visit to the studio of 87-year-old master craftsman, John Garrett Thew, on Ashpohtag Road, where Thew continues to forge his unique hand-hammered, copper weathervanes. Speaking of 87-year-olds, Haar’s father, a World War II veteran, drove in from Cleveland for a day to accompany his son on the segment of his walk from Norfolk to Winsted.

That night, back at Infinity Hall, Haar was introduced to Norfolk native Star Childs, facetiously, as the “King of Great Mountain Forest.” Star humbly demurred saying that no, he’s the Prince of Great Mountain Forest. He then proceeded to give a funny and almost coherent explanation of how to pronounce Norfolk, a four-minute clip of which Haar later loaded on the Courant’s website, along with a clip of John Thew demonstrating how he goes about creating his weathervane works of art.

Having found so much to write about in Norfolk, Haar was up until four in the morning at the Manor House, writing articles and editing the video clips of Norfolk that can be found at http://tinyurl.com/o2ocp9a.

Vowing to return to immerse himself in Norfolk’s brimming cultural milieu, Haar strapped on his backpack and happily headed east toward Rhode Island on his quixotic, serendipitous walk across Connecticut.

Photo: Dan Haar photographs Yale’s Paul Hawkshaw, as snapped by Michael Kelly.