In anticipation, perhaps, of the Autumn equinox just a few hours later, we enjoyed a bracing fall day on Saturday with temperatures in the high sixties with a slight but steady breeze.
My wife and I celebrated the shifting of the seasons by traveling cross-town for one of the kickoff events of Walktober 2018, a hike (actually more like an amble) along the Shetucket River a visit to a working hydroelectric station, including a peek at the Greeneville Dam fish lift, all operated and maintained by Norwich Public Utilities.
For those of a more historical bent, “Walking in a Traitor’s Footsteps” at the Leffingwell House Museum, was an opportunity to explore the early years of Norwich’s most famous infamous son, Benedict Arnold (and his wooden leg) and to learn about other significant colonial and Revolutionary War era Norwich personalities.
Actually, there were fourteen separate Walktober events on Saturday, in locations from Woodstock and Chaplin through Pomfret and Willimantic and over half a dozen more on Sunday as well.
There are, by the count of The Last Green Valley, under whose auspices our regional Walktober activities are conducted through mid-November, some two hundred and one events in cities and towns across Eastern Connecticut and Western Massachusetts, with many events being offered more than once.
But you needn’t take my word on the event count and variety, go online to The Last Green Valley Walktober calendar and see for yourself what the 28th Annual Walktober has to offer.
We had a little more than a dozen with us on Saturday morning and had a wonderful and informative close to two hours' wander along the embankment that separated the old rail line from the Shetucket River at the 8th Street Bridge to the Greeneville Dam.
And I imagine those who took part in the return of Arnold’s Leg at Leffingwell would say the same for their day. All in all, across the region, Walktober is a chance to experience the same history you can read about, but without the reading and with far more impact and effect.
The vast palette of attractive selections is a guarantee of finding probably a dozen or more activities to your liking with your biggest challenge being which one to choose first and when. I tend to grab our kitchen calendar and a printout of the Walktober calendar and mix and match familiar favorites like “Ye Antient Burial Grounds of Norwich” on Saturday, October 6, or on that same day, head to Lebanon to trace the history of the New York, Middletown & Willimantic Railroad (known as the Air Line) on the Air Line Trail.
One event I’ve promised myself to not miss this year is The Golden Clock Tower, a tour through Norwich City Hall but you may want to enjoy the Gray Ledge Tree Farm Leaf Hunt in Plainfield, and so much more than I can tell you about in this space. Each and every event hosted by neighbors and friends for neighbors and friends.
-bill kenny
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