Preface

Recently, the complete files of the Hartford Courant were made available in conjunction with newspapers.com.  I browsed the papers from 1820 to 1840 to find transportation related articles.  The following article was written to review the transportation options at the time in Hartford, which saw the peak of the stage coach era and the start of the railroads in Connecticut.  This may give some clues on why no direct rail route was constructed in northeastern Connecticut from Hartford to Worcester and Boston.

Background

After the Revolutionary War, transport of people and goods to the cities utilized sailing ships because the cities were located on the coast.  Overland travel generally consisted of short distances within a town by walking, horseback or with horse- or oxen-drawn wagons owned by farmers. The roads were at times so hard and rutted that they threatened to shake a vehicle to pieces and at other times, so muddy as to be virtually impassable. Travel over long distances was seldom made and required extensive planning. It took a week to go between New York and Boston.

Turnpike corporations formed and worked with the states along assigned routes to create roads suitable for improved travel. Connecticut chartered 77 turnpike corporations between 1790 and 1840 with the peak decade 1801 to 1810.  The large number of turnpike corporations resulted in the first large scale road building that linked cities overland in the new country.  More than 1,600 miles of turnpikes were built in Connecticut during this period and included the first bridge over the Connecticut River.

The most profitable turnpikes were from New Haven to Hartford, Hartford to Worcester and Boston, and Hartford to Albany.  By 1825, more than half of the turnpike ventures in the country were either partially or totally abandoned. In these cases, the town became responsible for maintaining the turnpikes. Most Connecticut turnpike corporations ceased before 1840, but most turnpikes remained open to the public. Many of the current state routes are closely aligned with the turnpikes.

The improvements in roads created a demand for better wheeled vehicles and allowed stagecoaches to become more regular during the early 1800s. The turnpikes allowed increased pleasure travel and commercial travel for farmers and allowed the textile industry to develop on inland rivers.  The building of the turnpikes significantly improved the comfort and speed for overland travel. Benjamin Silliman wrote in 1819 about his travels on a turnpike as: “The fine turnpike we commenced our journey was but a few years since a most rugged and uncomfortable road; now we passed it with ease and rapidity, scarcely perceiving its beautiful undulations.“

One of the earliest textile mills was built by John Warburton in 1795, powered by the Tankerhoosen River in Vernon, to make stocking yarns and threads.   Peter Dobson, a manufacturing genius who emigrated from England, settled in Vernon, set up the first cotton spinning machinery in the state in 1810 and it made a variety of cotton yarn to sell to farmers’ wives to be woven into cloth on hand looms. The women made bed sheets, and other types of cloth were made into clothes.  Later factories made finished linen products. When the factories were built on the rivers in eastern Connecticut, it was easier when they were located near a turnpike to obtain supplies and to send the final product to the population centers using heavy wagons drawn by four, six and eight horses or oxen.

Hartford: Hub for Water and Land Transportation

Hartford was a major harbor for schooners, sloops and steamboats that traveled to New York on a regular basis via the Connecticut River carrying freight and passengers. By 1835, some lines had their sailing ships towed up and down river when necessary to maintain the schedule. All travel on the

Connecticut River ceased when the river froze over in the winter for several months each year.  When the river closed, teams using covered wagons provided for the delivery of goods to Boston and New Haven. 

Active stagecoach lines came from New Haven on a daily basis via the Berlin Turnpike.  Most lines east to Worchester, Boston or Providence originated from Hartford because of the bridge over the river.  Other well-traveled stagecoach routes went to Albany and Massachusetts.   Hartford became a major junction for the land and water routes between New York and Boston. Hartford had hotels for food and relaxation, such as the Hartford Hotel, the National Hotel, and the United States Hotel.

The Courant listed nine Schooners and 16 sloops that arrived in Hartford in one week in 1835 with  25 departures.  (7 /27/1835).  The larger ships took up to 100 passengers and freight on their trips.  From the advertisements in the Hartford Courant, one or more were departing each day to arrive in New York the following morning.  By 1830 two steamships also traveled between Hartford and New York.  In the 1830s, the number of steamships increased and competition was fierce for passengers with a $2 fare to New York.  (HC 11/25/1835).  In the long summer days, the steamships could travel in daylight by leaving at 6 AM.  In 1836, the Bunker Hill and Cleopatra both left Hartford on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 2 PM for an overnight trip to New York.  However, the Bunker Hill published a notice it would leave at two minutes past two “to prevent the reckless destruction of their property and to place the traveling community in a situation where they shall not be necessarily exposed to injury.”  (HC 9/26/1836).

The stagecoach routes to Worcester and Boston departed daily, except Sundays.  In the 1830s, there were routes from four companies thru Tolland to Worcester departing Hartford at 9 PM, 3 AM, 6 AM and at 7 AM with some continuing to Boston.  Fares were $2 to Worcester and $4 to Boston. (HC 1 /13/1834).  There was also a direct route between Boston and New Haven that connected with a ship to New York over the Middle Turnpike with an overnight stay in Ashford.

Occasionally, stagecoach accidents were reported.  A serious accident occurred in Ashford when the coach descending a hill covered with ice slid from the road and was thrown over a railing and down a steep bank.  Several passengers were bruised and the driver broke his arm.  The horses became frightened and ran off with the front wheels.  One horse was badly damaged. (HC 1/13/1834)

The stagecoach allowed communication of news with the outside world and with the government centers in Hartford and New Haven and the commercial centers of New York and Boston to the small towns. The taverns at which stages stop were well kept and furnished with every accommodation.   The stage passed “ the most beautiful villages in New England and through a part of the county known for its beauty.” (7/6/1835)

Railroad: Hartford-to Worcester 

In 1830, the first railroad to transport passengers opened in Baltimore. By 1832, investors in Boston started to build railroads to Providence, Lowell, and Worcester.   By 1834, the Boston to Worcester railroad was 2/3 completed.  There were 9 stage lines between Hartford and Boston.  One stagecoach line adjusted their schedule to meet the railroad so that riders could leave Hartford at 3AM and be in Boston by 5PM with the stage meeting the railroad.

A charter for a railroad was granted from Hartford to Vernon to Bolton Notch to serve the quarry at the notch and the Vernon mills.  The Hartford and New Haven Railroad was raising money to start construction.  The railroad estimated the number of passengers using the stages between New Haven and Hartford were 18,000 per year and by steamboats between New York and Hartford to be about 30,000.  The number of passengers by steamboat from New York to Providence was estimated to be 50,000.  The railroad estimated there would be 7000 tons of freight annually from Meriden and Wallingford.  The railroad estimated that the manufacturers in Vernon used 10,000 tons of raw materials and returned it in manufactured articles.

A letter to the Hartford Courant from ‘S’ on Nov 24, 1834 indicated he attended the opening of the second section of the Boston-Worcester railroad with the Governor and many officials in attendance.  It was indicated the railroad would be extended westward beyond Worcester.  The officials of the present Worcester and Boston Road see “so much in favor of the route through Tolland to Hartford, that nothing but opposition, or apathy, on the part of our citizens will prevent it from coming here. “

On Dec 15, another letter indicated the Massachusetts legislature might decide on a route in January.  In March, the petition to the Massachusetts legislature for the Hartford Worcester railroad was referred to the following session.  Several cities organized meetings to discuss details for proposed routes to Boston or Worcester

Jan 26, 1835, ’W’ wrote to the editor:

“It is astonishing that there is so much apathy and indifference on the subject of a railroad from Hartford to connect with the Worcester railroad.  Delays are dangerous and surely it is in the case before us:  for the citizens of Hartford may be assured that if there is not a united effort made to retain and improve the advantages that we process, they will be improved by others.”

A series of meetings were organized to present the merits of the proposed routes and the effects on the local citizen.  A meeting in Hartford wanted to connect the New Haven Hartford line by the shortest practical route to Worcester.  The proposed direct route went from Worcester to Southbridge, Sturbridge, Brimfield, and Wales in MA and Stafford, Tolland, Vernon, Manchester, East Hartford to Hartford. 

Delegates from all the affected towns met on March 16 in Hartford to consider the construction of such a line. It was stated that the work would increase the population, advance trade and commerce, and more fully develop local resources.

A meeting in Windham considered the route proposed from Bolton Notch through the Hop River valley in Coventry to Windham, Chaplin, Ashford, Woodstock to Southbridge to meet the railroad proceeding west from Worcester.   The meeting wanted the proposed route surveyed to develop a cost estimate.

Norwich on January 12, 1835 proposed that an existing charter from Norwich to Boston be changed to Worcester and go through Ward, Oxford, Webster and Dudley in MA and the Quinebaug Valley in CT. This could be combined with a new road from Norwich to Windham to Bolton to connect with the charter from Hartford to Bolton.  There were many manufacturers along these routes that benefit from the railroad. 

The fourth route was to have the road go through Springfield and connect with a road south to Hartford along the Connecticut River.  This route would be 75 miles, longer than the direct route of 50 miles.

A convention was held in Worcester on July 2^nd to discuss rail routes to Hartford with 300 delegates.  About 60 delegates were named from Central Connecticut for each of the towns that for which a proposed railroad line would transverse.  Hartford named 34 men.  Nine men represented Vernon and Stafford and six represented Windham.  (No delegates were named from Tolland.)  Additional delegates represented the Norwich proposal and Massachusetts towns.  Reports were presented for each of the routes.

The convention decided that “it is inexpedient to express any opinion as to the best mode for extending the railroad from Worcester towards New York.”  Reports were given for each of the routes.  One resolution recommended the terminus of the Norwich line be Worcester, instead of Boston.  The supporters of the direct route had few particulars on the route compared to the other routes but seem to have the most support. (HC 7/13/35).

‘Charter Oak’ wrote a lengthy letter (HC 7/20/1835) extolling the virtues of the direct route to Hartford from Worcester.  He wrote “Citizens of Hartford!  Are you willing to let the other projects go forward and you remain silent?”

The rail line was completed to Worcester from Boston in the spring of 1835 with the total trip, including stops, taking three hours. 

The final Route from Worcester to Springfield was decided at the end of the year and the work was put under a contract for construction.  It was completed in 1840 to Springfield and Albany by 1842.  The Norwich and Worcester railroad was completed in 1840.  The road from New Haven to Hartford was completed in 1839 and extended to Springfield in 1840.  The Hartford, Bolton, and Windham route was completed as part of the Newberg to Providence Railroad in 1850.

However, neither the direct route from Vernon to Worcester or the route south from Southbridge to Windham were started.  Why were these routes never built?  One may have been the apathy of the investors and citizens of Hartford and the towns along the route.  The other was the opposition from investors that were making money from the continuation of the stages.

At the time, Tolland had a large political influence on state politics and none of the leaders attended the Worcester Convention.  And opposition came from the tavern owner, Elijah Smith, where at least two stage routes changed their horses.  In 1836, the Hartford and Worcester Railroad Turnpike Corporation was formed to develop a turnpike from the Centre Turnpike in Willington or Ashford to the Worcester Railroad Station. Elijah Smith, the tavern owner was a founder of the corporation and Loren Waldo was on a committee to determine the final route. This was an effort to continue traffic on the Centre Turnpike with connections to the Worcester rail line. The turnpike was never built.

By 1851, the last stagecoach traveled from Hartford to Worcester and travelers transferred to the railroads.

In 1838, Tolland was enjoying its Golden Age.  It was a vibrant and prosperous county seat for Tolland County on the junction of several turnpikes that connected to the major cities in Southern New England and beyond.   Tolland had a central commercial area along the Highway (now called the Green) and farms in the surrounding areas with few woodlands. Numerous lawyers at the Court House and travelers maintained a constant flow of people.  Stagecoaches traveling between Hartford and Worcester-Boston or Springfield and Norwich transporting travelers and mail were a common sight on the roads.

The ‘Highway’

Merchants, taverns, churches and fine homes by the town’s professionals (physicians and about five attorneys), including the home of Senator Calvin Wiley (now called  the Tobiassen House),  surrounded the central ‘Highway’ (the Green today). During the period of 1820 to 1838, the central area of Tolland developed to provide the availability of most items that were needed to live in relative comfort. 

Three general stores surrounded the ‘Highway’ including Richmond’s, Smith’s, and Piken’s.  Danford Richmond opened a general store near the jail about 1829 (now the Tolland Red and White store). He advertised an amazing variety of “Dry Goods, Groceries, Crockery, Glass and Hard Ware.”   The items listed include English silk, Cashmere and Persian shawls, lace, bonnets, gilt clasps for men and ladies, silk, flag and bandanna handkerchiefs, and numerous varieties of shoes and boots. Hard drinks included rum, cognac, brandy, gin, port and several wines. Snuff and tobacco and the ink powders made locally by John Bliss were also sold. He listed garden seeds of an astonishing variety and grass seed.

Ira Marvin offered carriage making and repairs (his place was near the present Preschool of the Arts).

Henry Noble, a plough and wagon maker, offered wagons “constantly at hand” plus repairs to carriages at his “old stand opposite the Courthouse.”   J. Hewlett offered to make secretaries, sideboards, bureaus, desks, and bedsteads and made-to-order coffins.  Luther Eaton was a tailor.  There were also hatters, shoemakers, and a blacksmith.  Two taverns providing lodging, food, and drinks were located on the ‘Highway’. Smith’s Tavern was next to the Court House and the County House was in the front of the jail.  Steele’s Tavern was nearby on Old Post Rd.

A new Court House was built in 1822 in the Federal style and was the meeting place for the Superior Court and the Court of Common Pleas. Many of the prosperous lawyers came to the Court House with fancy carriages. Horse sheds were located to the rear of the building.  The Tolland County Mutual Fire Insurance Company (located on the end of the current Cider Mill Road) was chartered in May 1828 and began issuing policies in January 1829. The Tolland County Bank was built in 1829 next to the Court House.  The Baptist church was built in 1832 north of the Court House and Smith’s Tavern.

The newest building on the ‘Highway’ was the Congregational Church of Tolland with an interior balcony. The old church was removed from the Highway (near the flag pole on the Green today).

]

Travelers

Tolland was on the junction of turnpikes to Hartford, Springfield, Stafford/Worcester/Boston, Ashford/Boston/Providence, and Windham/Norwich that were built in the early 1800s. While the turnpikes were crude by modern standards, they demonstrated many improvements over the earlier roads. Most turnpikes were two-way thoroughfares, about 24 feet wide. To avoid muddiness and road erosion, drainage was provided by giving the road a convex surface to shed the water by digging ditches on both sides and piling up the dirt to crown the center of the road, leaving a road without shoulders.

The turnpikes allowed increased pleasure travel and commercial travel for farmers and the textile industry to send their goods to the nearby population centers or to the coast for trading. Large number of heavy wagons drawn by four, six and eight horses or oxen passed along the turnpikes laden with produce for the market and returned with merchandise for the country stores. The improvements in roads allowed stagecoaches to maintain a regular schedule.  

Tolland was the center of the transportation system in northeastern Connecticut. About ten stagecoaches arrived and departed six days a week with passengers, news, and mail between Hartford, Worcester, Boston, Springfield, and Norwich. The Hartford-Tolland-Worcester route had the heaviest travel with 30,000 passengers per year. The presence of several stagecoach routes through town provided prosperity to the taverns and to the nearby farmers.

Stagecoach taverns at endpoints of the stages (about 18 miles long) , which included Smith’s Tavern, were usually run by a man of some standing in the community where horses were changed, watered, fed and rested.  Oil was rubbed on the harness and the wheels greased. If a meal were being served or the stagecoach stopping for the night, the tavern owner would be at the entrance with a smiling face greeting the passengers as they entered the tavern. Four new horses were attached to continue the journey to the next stage end point. Where meals were not taken, teams were changed as quickly as possible, and the vehicle hurried onward to its destination. Generally, only one stagecoach company would regularly stop at a tavern.

The travelers had ample time to enjoy the scenery while traveling many hours in the stagecoach. In the Puritanical era renowned for its propriety and formality, perfect strangers, men and women, might have to interlock knees in the crowded space or rest a weary head on another’s shoulder. Some passengers may drink too much alcohol and others may form impromptu songfests. The public seldom complained of the uncomfortable and weary condition of the stagecoach journey. Yet the happenings of a stagecoach journey were endured with fortitude.

Smith’s Tavern was renowned for its cuisine that was artfully prepared and generously dispensed. Most of the food was purchased from the local farmers including beef, veal, pork, turkey and chickens. Apples were generally purchased for pies. Bread and gingerbread were often purchased from nearby households. Potatoes, beans, root vegetables and salad greens might be from the owner’s garden or nearby farms. Apples, potatoes, and various vegetables often were stored in pits in the earth in the fall for winter use, protected from freezing by straw heaped above. When the contents were taken out, they were as fresh as when buried. By mixing shelled lima beans with corn cut from the cob, an Indian food called succotash was produced. All of the cooking was done over an open fire. Potatoes were baked in the ashes, meats were roasted by the blaze or boiled in a kettle, and bread was done to a burn over the fire or baked in a “Dutch” oven. Tea and coffee were generally served. Most taverns took great pains to keep the bar well supplied. Hard liquors included brandy, Holland gin, and New England rum. Milder alcoholic beverages included Lisbon wine, strong beer and locally pressed hard cider. And ‘cegars’ were available for the patrons. A frequent feature of the meal time was the speed in which the meal was consumed because of the haste of the stagecoach travel.

Bathtubs were unknown in early taverns. No one thought of taking a bath even from a pail or small vessel during the winter and most persons refrained through the greater portion of the year. In early taverns, the face and hands were washed in a small tin basin at a wooden sink.

Stagecoach drivers were larger-than-life figures generally with large physical stature and often had a quick wit. Going over the same roads, they grew deeply versed in the local lore and history and the traditions and tales of each locality. They had great influence in the community and their word was law. They kept the passengers in a jovial mood with their observations and friendliness. The drivers were responsible for the horses and their care and for countless errands entrusted to memory. The stage drivers were universally kind and careful of all children placed under their charge; even young children, boys and girls, were entrusted to their care.

Events in 1838

On “Court Days,” Tolland was busy with persons from the entire county in attendance such that the taverns, shops and the general stores hired extra help and Smith’s Tavern and the County House had a lavish dinner. (In the 1830s, the mid-day meal was called dinner and the evening meal was called supper.)

The most memorable event was when Reverend Abram Marsh first led his flock to the new Congregational Church of Tolland on the eventful dedication day, Thursday October 25, 1838.  The congregation and friends wended their way from different quarters of the village, some driving with horses from outlying farms.  The men wore their Sunday dress clothes.  For women, it was the day of full skirts often ruffled to the tight waist-line, of hair looped up under the ears and gathered in a twist low at the back of the neck, sometimes in a net. The beautiful wide collars, hand embroidered, adorned some gowns, no doubt, and were fastened with brooches, cameos in twisted gold setting or perhaps made from the hair of some “dear departed one.” 

The new church was 55 by 38 feet and was built using wood from the old church. A belfry replaced the steeple for the bell from the old church. The congregation sat in buttoned-up pews looking up to the preacher in the high pulpit with its red velvet cushioned top upon which lay the big Bible.  Two tall brass oil lamps were located on each side of the pulpit.  At both sides, there were woodburning stoves with long stove pipes far up on the high walls in the front supported by a wire arrangement.  Music was provided by bass viol and melodeon and “the singing was beautiful.”  The congregation listened for more than an hour to the Dedication sermon. 

The major holidays were Independence Day and Thanksgiving. On July 4^th, residents went to a church to hear a sermon by one of the ministers. Afterwards, they congregated on the center of the ‘Highway’ to hear the reading of the Declaration of Independence and speeches by prominent residents. Thanksgiving was celebrated in April.

Taverns served as meeting places where friends engaged in casual conversation or gathered for celebrations. Dancing became popular after the American Revolution. A tidbit published in a newspaper said, “Forty youths of each sex attended an elegant ball at Elijah Smith’s Tavern on March 12, 1801.”  This was an early indication for the use of leisure time by the young residents and that earlier religious constraints were lessening. Numerous balls celebrated different events such as Independence Day, birthdays and exhibitions at close of a school term. Student balls occurred during the year with cotillion parties in private homes.

No organized sports were held at the time because the Puritan perspective was that sports were a waste of time. Organized sports also led to rough behaviors and gambling, which were frowned on. Many young men went hunting or fishing as they were viewed as productive uses of leisure time. Militia training days were a source of local amusement. The militia mustered on the ‘Highway’ in front of spectators with various displays of firing in the morning and a staged battle of the units in the afternoon. Wrestling matches and marksmanship were held afterwards and were accepted as beneficial on the field of battle.

Sleigh rides in the winter were a popular activity for the young people. In the summer, walking would be a favorite activity for the young people to socialize among themselves. Many typical locations exist nearby, such as a running brook or one of the ponds, that will be well remembered by the persons in their later years.

The above selections are based on Stagecoaches and Railroads in Tolland, Vernon and Rockville 1807-1863 by Marshall A. Atwater. 2018, 85 pp.

TURNPIKES, WAGONS, AND STAGECOACHES: TRANSPORTATION IN CONNECTICUT IN EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY

 Transportation in Connecticut after the Revolutionary War was in poor shape.  Travel generally consisted of short distances within a town by walking, horseback or with horse- or oxen-drawn wagons owned by farmers. The roads were at times so hard and rutted that they threatened to shake a vehicle to pieces and at other times, so muddy as to be virtually impassable. Rain and ice in New England were enemies of the country roads. The best travel conditions of the year were by sleigh after a winter storm.

Repairs to town roads were often done by the farmers when they were available and not when the roads most needed repairs. Town roads allowed the residents to go to the gristmill, sawmill or the meeting house and were generally kept in good repair. In 1795, the towns were given the authority to levy taxes to pay for road repairs.

The construction of country roads between towns were problematical because most towns were self-sufficient with little interest in roads to nearby towns.  For example, Tolland, near the center of the county, lacked major roads to connect with other towns in the county or the state government at Hartford and New Haven when it was named the county seat. A petition to the General Assembly for a direct road connection to Hartford was rejected in 1797.

Travel over long distances was seldom made and required extensive planning. Travel by wagons and coaches was slow, difficult and dangerous with few vehicles on the roads until the 1790s when most travel was by horseback.  The thirty-six miles from Pomfret to Providence was a half days journey by horse back, but 2 days by wagon[i].   The need for better roads and vehicles was apparent to any traveler.

Turnpikes

The first private turnpike in the United States was the 62-mile Philadelphia to Lancaster turnpike in 1792. The success of the turnpike led to the formation of corporations in other states to build or improve specified roads and to collect tolls for investors seeking a return on their money.

For the next 40 years, turnpike corporations worked with the states along assigned routes to create roads suitable for improved travel. Connecticut chartered 77 turnpike corporations by 1830 with the peak decade 1801 to 1810 with 37 charters. Connecticut companies tended to spend less money for turnpikes than other states because many turnpike corporations simply improved existing public roads and avoided heavy expenditures for rights of way.

The large number of turnpike corporations resulted in the first large scale road building that linked towns in the new country. The idea behind most designs was to connect the end points in a straight line without many deviations. The turnpike routes are the basis of many state routes today and the names of many streets often refer to an earlier turnpike.

While the turnpikes were crude by modern standards, they demonstrated many improvements over the earlier roads. Most turnpikes were two-way thoroughfares, about 24 feet wide. To avoid muddiness and road erosion, drainage was provided by giving the road a convex surface to shed the water by digging ditches on both sides and piling up the dirt to crown in the center of the road.

Tollgates were typically placed about every 10 miles.  Typical fees charged at each tollgate include 25 cents for four-wheel carriages and stagecoaches, 12.5 cents for two horse chaise, sulky or pleasure sleigh, 9 cents for wagons drawn by four animals, and four cents for horse and rider. Horses, cattle and mules were charged one cent and sheep and swine were charged one third of a cent. Free passage was given for persons going to or from church, a town meeting or the grist mill.

Copies of a map of Connecticut turnpikes by F. K. Wood in his 1919 book are available.

The early northern road from New York to Boston ran through New Haven, Hartford, Springfield, and Worcester. The southern road ran along the coast using ferries to cross the major rivers. The Boston Turnpike Corporation was formed in 1798 to develop a turnpike from East Hartford to Bolton, Coventry, Ashford, Pomfret and Thompson with connections to a Massachusetts turnpike that went to Boston. The current Route 44 follows the route to Ashford after which the turnpike takes a path north of route 44. East Hartford opposed the turnpike in its town and was able to prevent the turnpike until 1812. Tolls were collected in Bolton, Mansfield and Pomfret.

In 1802, Connecticut issued a charter to the Hartford-Tolland Turnpike Corporation to upgrade existing roads from East Hartford to the Tolland Court House. The route was along Tolland Street in East Hartford, Tolland Turnpike in Manchester, Hartford Turnpike (Route 30) in Vernon and Route 74 in Tolland.

The Stafford Mineral Spring Turnpike from Tolland to Stafford Springs, Staffordsville, and Holland Massachusetts was chartered in 1803. It ran on a path from Route 74 in Tolland to the center of Stafford Springs to Staffordsville to New City Rd to Holland, Mass., Sturbridge, Charlton and continued to Worcester and to Boston.  When this road was completed in 1807 in conjunction with the Hartford-Tolland Turnpike, most of the traffic on the northern route from Hartford to Springfield to Worcester was diverted to this much shorter route. This road was an important road serving a prosperous territory and heavy traffic was reported for many years.

The turnpikes through East Hartford needed to connect to Hartford by crossing the Connecticut River. Since early times, Hartford had a charter to provide ferry boats to cross the river. After much opposition, Connecticut chartered a corporation to build a toll bridge across the Connecticut River in 1802. It took eight years to build because of continual opposition from ferrymen. The bridge only lasted eight years before being swept away in a flood in 1818. It was replaced by a 150-foot covered wood bridge of six arch trusses, which remained until it burned in 1895. Tolls were collected on the bridge until 1879. The bridge was located where I-84 now crosses the Connecticut River.

More than 1,600 miles of turnpikes were built in Connecticut between 1795 and 1830. Over 5000 miles of turnpikes were built in the first road building projects in the United States. Many turnpikes were financial failures because the cost of building the turnpikes exceeded the revenues collected from tolls. By 1825, more than half of the turnpike ventures in the country had been either partially or totally abandoned. In these cases, the town became responsible for maintaining the turnpike. Most Connecticut turnpike corporations ceased before 1840, but most turnpikes remained open to the public.

The building of the turnpikes significantly improved the comfort and speed for overland travel. Benjamin Silliman wrote in 1819 about his travels on a turnpike as:

The fine turnpike we commenced our journey was but a few years since a most rugged and uncomfortable road; now we passed it with ease and rapidity, scarcely perceiving its beautiful undulations.[ii]

The improvements in roads that resulted from the building of the turnpikes created a demand for better wheeled vehicles and allowed stagecoaches to become more regular during the early 1800s. The turnpikes allowed increased pleasure travel and commercial travel for farmers and the textile industry to send its goods to the nearby population centers or to the coast for trading. Large number of heavy wagons drawn by four, six and eight horses or oxen passed along the turnpikes laden with produce for the market and returned with merchandise for the country stores. To give an indication of the amount of traffic on the turnpikes, the first year for a railroad to the seven Rockville textile mills, there were 17,000 tons of freight.  However, I am going to concentrate on stage coaching and the start of the travel industry from about 1810 to 1850.

 

Stagecoaching

The first stagecoach company in New England was established by Levi Pease of Enfield in 1783 with one-way trips between Boston and Hartford taking three and a half days each way and stopping for the night at taverns. The stagecoach departed from Boston on Monday morning and stopped for the night in Northborough, Brookfield and Enfield to arrive in Hartford on noon Thursday. It connected with a stage to New York that arrived on Saturday.   Other stagecoaches traveled in the opposite direction. Springfield was added as a stop a year later. In the beginning, there were few passengers.

In 1792, the U.S. Postal Service was created. At that time, there was one mail delivery a week between Hartford and Boston and that was carried on horseback or in a one-horse sulky. The Postal Service then decided to use stagecoaches to move mail between cities. In the following years, many stagecoach companies were created to carry the mail and passengers.

After 1800, stagecoach construction improved with egg-shaped coaches hung from the frames by leather strapping, which created a forward and backward motion of the coaches, which was more comfortable for the passengers. The entrance was on one side with the front seat facing backwards. The three seats had broad leather straps for seat backs. A foot stove within the coach radiated heat for a   considerable time when filled with hot coals in the winter.  The driver was on the outside of the coach unprotected from the weather. The luggage rack in the rear was covered with leather curtains.

Stagecoaches provided transportation for the public by traveling in ‘stages.’  A stage was the distance one team of horses traveled before they were changed for a new team of horses. Most stages were 10 to 18 miles in length, depending on the terrain, and ended at a tavern where the driver and passengers obtained refreshments and the horses were fed and given water and teams of horses were available for the next stage.  These taverns were generally larger and fully equipped by the owner with a bartender, stable hands, and cooks.  The stage routes became the arteries of communication between the city, hamlets and villages by carrying mail and newspapers. Stagecoaches allowed travelers access to near and distant cities.

Stagecoach drivers were larger-than-life figures. Going over the same roads, they grew deeply versed in the local lore and history and the traditions and tales of each locality. They had great influence in the community and their word was law. In the summer, they kept the passengers in a jovial mood with their observations and friendliness. The stage drivers were universally kind and careful of all children placed under their charge; even young children, boys and girls, were entrusted to their care.

Drivers often announced the arrival and departure of their coach by blowing on an English-style trumpet and usually ate their meals with passengers, a custom that class-conscious travelers from abroad were quick to take as a sign of the new nation’s democratic principles.

Most stagecoaches carried nine passengers inside and could accommodate one passenger next to the driver. If women were in the stagecoaches, they were seated in the rear seat with the gentlemen in the front. Four horses pulled the coaches and traveled 4 to 6 miles per hour. In 1827, the Concord stagecoach became the pre-eminent stagecoach and was similar to those seen in western movies. The stagecoach was a democratic vehicle that was not made for any class of society. Rich rode with poor, men with women, and visiting English gentlemen with American laborers and the American people had a vehicle for the people.

The travelers had ample time to enjoy the scenery while traveling many hours in the stagecoach. In the Puritanical era renowned for its propriety and formality. Perfect strangers, men and women, might have to interlock knees in the crowded space or rest a weary head on another’s shoulder. Some passengers may drink too much alcohol and others may form impromptu songfests. The public seldom complained of the uncomfortable and weary condition of the stagecoach journey. The overturning of a stage was not too disastrous. Nevertheless, it provided plenty of thrills. Yet the happenings of a stagecoach journey were endured with fortitude.

Stagecoach travel became faster with overland transit times reduced by 75% from 1800 to 1830. In 1814, a stagecoach route left Hartford for Boston at 9 a.m. and arrived in Boston at 5 p.m. the following day.  In 1832, the Hartford-Boston trip was completed in one day with 3 a.m. departure and arrival in Worcester about 5 p.m. and Boston about 11 p.m.

With the completion of the Blackstone Canal, Worcester became a hub for stagecoaches in eastern Massachusetts with daily routes to Boston, Lowell, Northampton or any of 12 other nearby cities. By the 1830s, Southern Mail (which also ran on Sunday), Tremont, Citizens, and Telegraph operated daily stagecoaches in both directions between Worcester and Hartford. The most popular route was through Charlton and Holland, Mass, Stafford, Tolland and Vernon. Hartford routes carried the largest number of passengers at Worcester with about 30,000 passengers estimated on these routes a year in 1836. These routes had 50 stagecoaches a week. [iii]

Long distance stagecoaches between Hartford and Boston had gone through Tolland since 1807.  During this period, Tolland prospered.  By 1840, there were three General stores, a tailor shop, shoemaker, a blacksmith shop, two large taverns, two carriage and wagon makers and a furniture maker that included made-to-order coffins, a bank, an insurance company, three new churches, a new Courthouse and a jail surrounding the Green and about 5 attorneys.  Many of the buildings remain today.  For a few years, there was a Tolland Academy with about 60 students, about half from out of town, that gave an academic flavor. And the town would be crowded on Court days with extra help in the stores.

Boston investors-built railroad lines to Providence, Lowell and Worcester that became operational in late 1836. By 1842, ten passenger trains a day were leaving Worcester for Boston for a three-hour trip that took seven hours by stagecoach. By 1850, one could travel from Hartford to Boston by railroad effectively ending long distance stagecoaches in Connecticut.  Stagecoaches were used on local routes in rural Connecticut until the end of the century.

Stage coaching was a large-scale enterprise and culture. It was a source of livelihood for a significant number of individuals: proprietors, drivers and ticket agents, coach manufacturers and blacksmith, tavern owners and stable hands, and the farmers who raised the horses and grew the oats, corn, and hay that kept them running. Stage coaching was America’s first transportation system and allowed the nation to become readily mobile and better informed when travel and communication were one and the same. During this period, most of the land was occupied with farms and cities were small.

Stagecoaches, wagons, and turnpikes determined the pace of life during the beginning of the 19^th century and provided an overland transportation system and a communications system for the new nation.  It allowed small towns to thrive and set the stage for cities to develop.  It provided the basis for the railroads, trolleys, automobiles and airplanes that followed in the next 200 years.  The old turnpikes, wagons, and stagecoaches did their job well.

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[i] DeLuca, Richard, 2011, Post Roads & Iron Horses: Transportation in Connecticut from Colonial Times to  the Age of Steam. Wesleyan University Press. P42.

[ii] DeLuca, Richard, 2011, Post Roads & Iron Horses: Transportation in Connecticut from Colonial Times to  the Age of Steam. Wesleyan University Press. P77.

[iii] Lincoln, William, 1837. History of Worcester, MA, Moses Phillips and Company, 317-321.

 

Stagecoaches and Railroads in Tolland, Vernon and Rockville:  1807-1863

by

Marshall A Atwater

The first road building spree in America occurred between 1790-1830 in which turnpikes were built in New England with Tolland as the hub for turnpikes in northeastern Connecticut. Stagecoaches became the first transportation system for long distance overland travel. In the 1830s, more than 50 stagecoaches a week traveled between Hartford, Worcester and Boston through Vernon and Tolland.  The Golden Age of Tolland in the 1830s gave prominence to the county seat and a good economic basis for the area.

Building the railroad from Hartford through Vernon to Willimantic in 1849 led to the demise of long distance stagecoaches through the area by 1851.  The textile industry formed in Vernon about 1810 and expanded in Rockville section of Vernon in the 1840s. Sufficient water power provided energy for many textile mills.

A railroad connection between Vernon and Rockville in 1863 ended the stagecoach era in the area.  Rockville became known for fine woolens and the county courts moved from Tolland to Rockville.

The book is available at the Tolland Historical Society, the Red and White store in Tolland and the Vernon Historical Society.

 

 

A new book will be published in December or January entitled The Stagecoach Era in Vernon and Tolland: 1807-1863 by Marshall Atwater.  The book describes the development of turnpikes and taverns in northeastern Connecticut with the hub of many turnpikes in Tolland.  One could travel by turnpike from Tolland to Hartford, Springfield, Worcester, Boston, Providence and Norwich.  Stagecoach routes that changed horses at taverns on the turnpikes formed with the heaviest travel between Hartford, Tolland and Worcester with 50 stagecoaches a week.  Tolland became prosperous with the travel and its location as county seat.  The stagecoach era ended when the railroads developed and took over long distance travel.  This allowed Rockville to be developed with many woolen mills and a direct connection with the railroad.  To order a copy, send the request to atwaterm@comcast.net

It has been a few months since I last posted on the blog.  I undertook a project that may result in a book on  the Stagecoach Era in  Tolland and Vernon from 1807-1863.  This has been supplemented by several one day trips around Southern New England.  We took two trips to Abbotts Lobsters in Noank and one to the Fish Market in Niantic.  We went to Norfolk and the surrounding area for the first time in about 50 years.  We took another trip to Webster MA and Thompson CT.  We also took our first trip to Narragansett RI for the first time.  At the end of August, we took nearly a week to return to Cape Cod and saw a play.   And there were many trips exploring the area nearby for a couple of hours.  The weather was generally comfortable with very few hot days.

Hubbard Park in Meriden was developed in 1900 and consists of 1700 acres.  It contains a 4 acre lake near the entrance and a tower on the a 1000 ft mountain with views from Long Island Sound to Massachusetts.  My earliest memories of the park was going to the park with my grandmother and eating at the restaurant that was adjacent to the lake.  A few years later, the family would go to the park for ice skating in the winter.  And it was a good location for a proposal, as I’m sure many other couples have also appreciated the location.  So it was nice to drive thru the park on our recent anniversary and see minimal changes in the park since my youth.