Our drive here was foggy and rainy but
by the time we arrived, the weather had cleared and the campground
was beautiful. Rich and I both were under the weather for a couple of
days – a summer cold, perhaps.
As we drove through Hartford, I was
impressed with the state capitol building and although we never got
back to visit, I found out the design had been chosen after a
competition between two men: Upton and Batterson. Upton's design won,
but Batterson was named contractor. During construction Batterson
kept revising the design which slowly began to resemble his own
design more and more closely. Because of his extensive elaboration of
the plan, the cost of the building more than doubled to $2,500,000.
Originally, there was a 17 foot tall bronze statue atop the dome but
after being damaged in the “great hurricane” of 1938, it was
removed. There was a drive in 2002 to have a statue recast, and in
2009 it was completed. The new statue is still waiting for an
additional $200,000 to have it mounted on top of the dome.
We made a quick trip to Hartford to
visit the Penzeys' store to resupply our spices and have lunch and
had a couple of breakfasts at Bill's Bread and Breakfast (their in
house baked English muffins and bagels were great and they did a good
job on eggs but I tried a waffle and a pancake and sent both back.
Needless to say, I ordered eggs the next time we stopped.
Our next stop is Rich's sister's house
in Massachusetts.
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