The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-08-21
HISTORY TAUGHT
 BY TROLLEY TRIPS
ccEN UP HISTORICAL
 scENcEs-rHE CONNECTICUT VALLEY AS A CHARACTERISTIC ExAMPLE-TnE THE TROLLEY IN THE ORIGINAL OF ss
The Els

song of t..o -. ...,5.. r.ar'' The Els worth mansion still stands, a su35ean- tjal. vhite-painted. wooden country ! lse, siaded by venerable elms and surrounded today by fields of luxuriant tobacco. This house has been brought by the Daughters of the American Revolution. and is maintained by them as their clubhouse and museum of antiquities, having been brought with in the reach of a great number of in- terested people by means of a recently constructed division of the Hartford and Springfield Street Railway. This new diviSion, which is only about ten miles long, serves as the last connect ing link to bind the whole Connecticut valley together with its system of elec- trio cars.
 Hartford. Conn, and Springfield, Mass, are the two Transportation cen- tres of the Connecticut valley. Be- tween them on both banks of the Con- necticut River, a distance of thirty miles, lies some of the most interest," Ing territory of New England. Into Hartford come the trolley travellers from all points of the compass. Bristol being within easy reach and New Hav- en a prospective connection. The an- cient town of Windsor Is, like Hart ford. on the west bank of tho Connec- ticut. and Is reached by a half-hour trolley ride through a beautiful and picturesque country. This Windsor means what Is locally known as Wind sor Street, the central village of township. fine, old, elmshaded houses being lined up on both sides of an elon- gated green. Windsor Street is near the junction of the Pennington River with the Connecticut, and it was on hn cid h, of the Pennington that the earliest set- clement was made. The old wooden covered bridge and the new iron bridge of the street railway cross the Farm ington River side by side, and the Palisade, although it presents some of the marks of ago, does not look like place which had to be fortified against Indians.
 Through the tobacco fields, per- haps two miles further off, the new trolley line. which has just been built from Windsor Green. passes many. handsome old places with elms of Her mansion is nearest to Hayden Station, where Sergeant Sam Hayden's tavern was for long time a popular resort one at which travellers between New York and Boston were wont to finger more willingly than wisely. Then the trolley runs close to the bank of the Connecticut to Windsor Locks, one of the first settled mill towns in New England. which is connected with the ancient settlement of Warehouse Point across the river by an iron bridge re- puted for many years to be the largest of its kind in the United States This bridge is l,525 feet long and cost $265,- Ooo to build. The engineer, James Laurie, a Scotchman, drew the plans in 1862, but on account of the Civil War the bridge was not completed un- til 1866. The iron bridge was put to- gether in England in order to make sure that no mistake had been made in It's construction. Then 1t was taken apart and erected in its place over the Connecticut with the help of 100 workmen imported from Great Britain "a marked contrast to the present time when American workmen erect bridges of American steel over the rivers of distant continents.
 The old canal at Windsor Locks js still used for some odd boats of small tonnage. and along it's banks are many quaint factories which were built 10 utlnze the water power. Most Of these factories are situated on q strip of land between the canal and the riv4 er and unique style of drawbridge is used. one end of the bridge being held by pivot and the other foated on fat-bottomed punt. and as the punt floats down the stream the bridge opens like a door. From Windsor Locks the new road runs to Suffield Street. where there is a village al- most as old and even more beautiful than that at Windsor Leaving Sunield, (which is on high ground, the traveller gets an extended view both east and west, and the way through Agawam to West Springfield is typical of New England. with shaded roads and an occasional striking vista. At West Springfield is another ancient dwelling called the Day House. which dates back to Washlngton's time and has re- gently been made the subject of much study by local historians. It Is low gabled. and very much like the famous old John Adams house in Quincy. Mass. except that 1t Is of brick and is literally covered with vines.
 The trolley traveller who has started