Talking Trash

Yesterday my friend Scott and I parked the car on the side of the highway and walked along the Farmington River. He had not been there before. We walked about a mile and a half, over an old railway bridge into the village of Collinsville. Actually, the legal identification would be "town," not "village," since Connecticut is divided into 169 towns or cities and the separate entities in the towns are also called towns. Like the town of Winsted is in the Town of Winchester, and the city of Willimantic is in the Town of Windham, but the city of Waterbury is the City of Waterbury, and Waterville is in Waterbury, and Oakville is in Watertown, but the Borough of Naugatuck is a borough. Confused? Welcome to Connecticut.

To continue the story, we were in Collinsville. Unlike other municipalities in the state, Collinsville has not only kept its industrial past, its mid 19th century factories, but has renovated them into antique stores, workshops, galleries, studios, stores, restaurants and housing. This is not a large scale endeavor, in fact some buildings are still unoccupied, but enough has been created to enrich the "village" and create enough tourism to ensure its livelihood without it losing its integrity as a place to live. How different than the other 168 towns in the state. People here jog. There are yoga classes and funky cafes. The architecture is Victorian and it looks like Pollyanna lives here, after a hiatus in Berkeley. People smile. That may not seem much to you but for residents here in this state it is the antithesis of our upbringing. When my guests visit Collinsville, they all enjoy it and feel better than the rest of their time in Connecticut, in any other town.