STOP EIGHT: WINSTED – The Winchester Hotel – 406 Main Street
High Roads and Low Roads: Tour 3 – Route 44
- Salisbury – library building and town hall – spring bowl
- Over the Housatonic River, next to Blackberry River
- Norfolk – beautiful hills
- Winsted – described as “never, never land” – back in the 30s, manufactured pins, scytes, and a whole lot of other things.
About the ride: This ride from Lakeville was gorgeous. Right outside of Salisbury Center, the Appalachian trail crossed and I saw several hikers heading towards Salisbury Center. The speed limit was pretty fast, so I would pull over so that I didn’t have the stress of someone on my tail and the ability to admire the scenery a little more. Unlike my ride from New London to Thomaston, where there were multiple gas stations, this ride featured very few gas stations. I found a gas station in Canaan, a town that was advertising a train festival going on. The mountains, rolling fields of corn and the brilliant blue sky were spectacular. It was 25 miles from Lakeville, that took me about 50 minutes (also stopping for gas and pictures). I stayed in Winsted for 67 minutes.
About Winsted in the 1930s:
Winsted is the principal village of Winchester and it became a city in 1917. The city is described as being “in a well watered valley below rounded ridges covered with a dense growth of evergreens and mountain laurel.” Winsted is described as “never-never-land, where the unusual is expected to happen and it usually does.” Some of the unusual tales described in the guidebook include “5-legged cows, talking owls, tame trout and even a wild man.” Irving Manchester wrote a story called the The Winsted Wild Man. At the time when the book was published, it said that Winsted still holds a Laurel Festival and the buildings are “strung along a seemingly endless main street.” It also described Winsted as having a variety of building types and that there were many French Canadian millhands that stand outside the doors of the many taverns found here. The population was 7883 people when the book was published.
About the Winchester Hotel:
Hotel Winchester was built on the site of the former Hotel Andrews. The name was selected from a contest that was run by the Winsted Evening Citizen. In 1990, it was bought at a foreclosure sale and renovated. It was bought again in 2005. There was a fire there in December 2010, which was arson. In an article about that, this building was called “the anchor for downtown.” Now, Rooted, a health food market is located in part of the building. There was a mortgage office and other general offices on the first floor.
Notes from letter:
February 26, 1930, Winchester hotel in Winsted, Connecticut
Here I am all alone in this little town of Winsted with a population of about 4000. It has been three years since the last time I was here and to me it seems to grow smaller and smaller every time I get here, but this time does not worry me, dear, for I worked until 6 PM, put in seven displays, eaten, and here I am in my lonely room. The only thing that is cheerful in my room is your photograph, for I am far from being in a cheerful mood. I have just 30 minutes to make the train in order to your receiving this letter tomorrow. It has rained all day long and it is still going strong. I have just five minutes left to catch the train and from the Conley end, I shall write you a longer one tomorrow evening. So my dear, I will close once again until tomorrow, and always love and have faith in my little angel yours for keeps Davey.
Coffee shop and notes Railway Cafe, 580 Main Street. Winsted was a really funky little town, full of antique stores, old mills and the roaring Mad River. There was a natural food store where the Winchester was located, as well as other small businesses. The upstairs was housing . I had a great breakfast at the Railway Cafe and then walked a rail trail(Winsted Rail Trail) that ran parallel to the Mad River. There was one mill building that had been rehabbed but another one that had not but had some interesting murals on the outside. The 2020 population was 6504, a drop from when my Grandfather visited it.
Waiting 