No Post Office. No Bank. Just Quiet Beauty.

From Mr. Nutmeg:

I used to fill these pages with posts about various Boston neighborhoods and towns and cities in eastern Massachusetts. Since the pandemic lockdown went into effect in March 2020, however, I have only taken the subway into Boston with my son a few times (see September 2, 2020, "Back At It" and September 10, 2020, "This Former Baking Supply Business Has Cooled In a Hot Market"). More recently, he has traveled by himself into the city. I think the days of our joint trips have come to an end.

I've been focusing on towns and cities closer to home of late, such as Waltham and Watertown. But circumstances no longer allow me to venture too far afoot to check out other locales. So I've come up with a new approach: about once a month, when I'm in Connecticut visiting my mother, I pick a spot that I can explore either before or after my visit (or sometimes both). I have written about Windsor, the town where my mom lives (see December 17, 2020, "A Towering Discovery in Tobacco Country" and March 12, 2021, "Blowing into Windsor"), as well as the Rockville section of Vernon (read this and this).

While I love checking out old mill towns and cities, I am also a big fan of quieter, more rural towns. So recently I pulled off I-84 into Union, the smallest town in the Nutmeg State, population-wise. No post office. Nary a bank.

Bordering on Massachusetts, Union was the last town to be settled east of the Connecticut River. Incorporated in 1734, the town was originally home to lumbering and sawmill operations. In more recent years, the quiet town has become a place of small businesses, with forestry and agriculture the main industries, per the town's web site.

The closest thing to a "downtown" in Union is the intersection of Buckley Highway (Route 190), Town Hall Road and Cemetery Road. I parked in the nearby Union School parking lot and started strolling.

I shot that nice-looking barn/garage and headed down the hill toward a small green next to a quaint white building that I'm guessing was once the town hall or perhaps a school. My walk was quite peaceful.

I love the memorial to soldiers who fought in the War of the Rebellion. For such a small town, it sure provided a lot of men!

I walked past the library, but the lighting wasn't great, and the large tree looming over it made it difficult to get a good shot. I did snap a picture of a memorial rock in the sideyard.

I'm not sure who Mary Rizner Hattin was, but I'm guessing she was a librarian or town clerk or served some other important role for the town.

Next I ventured up Cemetery Road.

These beautiful ground-hugging flowers were everywhere!

I just love what nature does to older gravestones.

Thanks for your service.

Heading back to my car, I poked my head into a wooded area across from the school.

The town's first meetinghouse was on this hill, from 1741-1844. Now on this site there is the Pavilion in the Grove, which was built by townspeople during the town's bicentennial, per the Union web site.

My final stop was Camp Pomperaug, a Boy Scouts of America site.

The camp was "originally property of the Wells family, for whom Wells Pond is named," per Wikipedia. "The camp includes old stone foundations of the buildings once comprising Well's Mill, and also includes a small Revolutionary War cemetery where, among other soldiers interred, lies a brother-in-law of Benedict Arnold. The burial site is thought by some to be haunted."

I did not tarry long at the camp, so did not find said supposedly haunted cemetery. Nor the old stone foundations. The camp operates year-round, and even though I didn't see anybody as I drove around a little bit, I saw a few cars and just didn't feel right poking around too much on private property.

Still, the barn and house at entrance to the camp were plenty photo-worthy for me.

Hope you enjoyed this little jaunt through Union. Who knows what town I'll explore next!