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Traveling the globe from my home base in beatuful Connecticut

Saturday Farmers Market in Washington Depot CT

Washington, Connecticut: The Town That Inspired Gilmore Girls [Itinerary]

December 31, 2019 By Elizabeth Larkin Leave a Comment

Some days, you just gotta get in your car and drive to a new town and see the sights. Washington, Connecticut is a really good town to drive to. It’s got a rustic-chic vibe with its mix of locals and weekenders from New York City. There are rolling hills, sprawling farms, and very nice restaurants to eat and drink in.

Washington Connecticut Day Trip

Bryan Memorial Town Hall in Washington CT

You can park your car at the Hickory Stick bookshop and spend an hour or two wandering it’s little “downtown” area. There’s the bookshop, Marty’s Cafe for coffee, some clothing stores and on Saturdays in the spring, summer and fall, a small farmers market.

Washington is famously the setting for the TV show show “Gilmore Girls” and while it doesn’t exactly resemble Stars Hollow, it does have all the trappings of small town life: lots of community activities, a folksy vibe, and tons to do (see my list below). As I say in my Gilmore Girls Guide to Connecticut (coming soon!), Washington is way more rural and outdoorsy than Stars Hollow.

Saturday Farmers Market in Washington Depot CT

The point of traveling to a town like Washington is to just be there, to soak up the small-town atmosphere.

Park at the Byran Memorial Town Hall. There’s a farmers market on Saturday mornings in the spring, summer and fall where you can stock up on local produce. Then hit Marty’s Cafe for a coffee before browsing the Hickory Stick Bookshop. There are other small retailers to dip into as well.

The day I visited I spent about an hour checking out the scene in town before wandering down route 47 towards the intersections of Kirby Road, Whykeham Road, and Parsanoge Lane.

There’ll you’ll find another little town center but this one looks like time forgot it. The buildings are still well kept and blindingly white, but there’s one lonely store and what looks to be an old town square.

I parked my car on a side street ear the intersection, grabbed my camera and roamed the area. There you’ll find the The First Congregational Church, the Gunn Memorial Library and the Gunn Historical Museum.  I didn’t see many people, but there was a fairly regular flow of vintage cars out for a weekend drive.

From there I continued North on Route 47 (enter Hopkins Vineyard into your GPS or Google Maps app) and enjoyed some of the most beautiful scenery Connecticut has to offer: rolling hills, gentleman’s farms and finally, a view of Lake Waramaug on the approach to Warren and the winery.

This would be a beautiful day trip year-round.

PLACES TO VISIT IN WASHINGTON, CONNECTICUT:

Averill Hill Farm
250 Calhoun St.
Washington, CT 06794

For apple picking, pumpkin picking, pizza, apple cider and apple cider doughnuts.

Hollister House Garden
300 Nettleton Hollow Rd
Washington, CT 06793

The Institute For American Indian Studies
Curtis Rd
Washington, CT 06793

Mayflower Spa
118 Woodbury Rd (Route 47)
Washington, CT 06793

I am DYING to try this place. I plan to organize a day trip there with my girlfriends this winter

Gunn Historical Museum
5 Wykeham Rd
Washington, CT 06793

Hidden Valley Preserve
198 Bee Brook Rd
Washington Depot, CT 06794

PLACES TO EAT IN WASHINGTON, CONNECTICUT

The White Horse Country Pub
258 New Milford Turnpike
New Preston, CT 06777

British Pub Food in the Litchfield Hills.

GW Tavern
20 Bee Brook Rd
Washington Depot, CT 06794

The Pantry
5 Titus Rd
Washington Depot, CT 06794

Norimaki
4 Green Hill Rd
Washington, CT 06793

A local Favorite.

Marty’s Cafe
4 Green Hill Rd #1
Washington Depot, CT 06793

The Washington Pizza House
13 River Rd
Washington Depot, CT 06794

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Travel Writer Johnna Kaplan’s Favorite Places in Connecticut

August 2, 2012 by Elizabeth Larkin 2 Comments

Johnna Kaplan

Johnna Kaplan writes ones of my favorite blogs about Connecticut, The Size of Connecticut, and we’ve even taken some day trips together (to Simsbury and to Saltwater Farm Vineyard), so I was thrilled she agreed to participate in my favorite places series.

How long have you lived in Connecticut, and what brought you to the state?
What brought me to Connecticut the first time was that my family moved here (to Westport) when I was very young. What brought me back about five years ago (to New London, then Putnam, then New London again) was discovering and becoming completely enamored with this whole other Connecticut that I never knew existed growing up. I’ve lived here for over twenty years if you add it all up, though it doesn’t feel that way.

What is your favorite town or region?
Oh, so many. My favorite regions are the Shoreline, which I guess I’d define as the coastal towns of New London and Middlesex Counties; northern Windham County with all that beautiful farmland, and the Connecticut River Valley from Old Saybrook and Essex up to Middletown. There are other places I love too though.

Favorite place in Connecticut to be outdoors?
It’s hard to narrow it down, and the answer will probably change when I find some entirely new place next week. But a few of them are Harkness Memorial State Park in Waterford, the Fort Griswold Battlefield State Park in Groton, and any walking trail that combines a unique downtown with a history lesson. Coventry and Putnam both have trails like this, based on their old mills.

Favorite place to be indoors?
I’m usually more comfortable in new (to me) places, so I love going to a town or city and finding a coffee shop I haven’t been to. Most Connecticut towns, even the very small ones, seem to have good ones. For example I was in Stafford Springs recently and went to a cool cafe called Middle Ground, right by the railroad tracks.

The most amazing interior I can think of though, purely visually, is the Garde Arts Theatre in New London.

Restaurant you take out-of-towners to?
In New London this is tough because as soon as you find one, it closes! I usually use visitors as an excuse to go someplace different I want to try. But I always take them to Muddy Waters for breakfast, and they always demand to be taken back. In Putnam it was 85 Main or Bella’s or Victoria Station.

Favorite Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter activities to do in Connecticut?
In Winter, when it’s not too cold and snowy, I love the beach – any beach. Solitary, dramatic, and free.

Fall is for farm stands and apple cider, and just being out among the changing leaves. It’s also perfect weather for walking anywhere, either in the woods or along some pretty street full of shops.

In the Spring, just trying to figure out what the heck to wear every morning takes up all my energy. Seriously, if I’m forced to leave my apartment during a Connecticut Spring, I think waterfronts, like near the docks in port cities, are the only places that are really beautiful in the rain and fog, with the seagulls freaking out in the sky.

In Summer I love vineyards, long drives in rural areas, and ice cream stands at dairy farms. I also like that tense, baking feeling of cities in very hot weather – maybe I just miss New York!

Read more favorite places.

Johnna Kaplan is a freelance writer and compulsive traveler based in Southeastern Connecticut. Her work has been published in Newsweek, the Christian Science Monitor, and various online travel magazines. She blogs about her conflicted relationship with the Constitution State at The Size of Connecticut and has written columns on local history and covered local news and travel for numerous Patch.com sites in the state. Her essay “Flyover Country” was published in Travelers’ Tales The Best Travel Writing 2011. For more, visit Johnna’s website or follow her on Twitter.

Photo / Ruth Kaplan0

Filed Under: Connecticut, Travel Tagged With: beaches, favorite places

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Washington, Connecticut: The Town That Inspired Gilmore Girls [Itinerary]

Some days, you just gotta get in your car and drive to a new town and see the sights. Washington, Connecticut is a really good town to drive to. It’s got a rustic-chic vibe with its mix of locals and weekenders from New York City. There are rolling hills, sprawling farms, and very nice restaurants […]

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