So where does Route 195 end? I'll show you: Willimantic, CT.
Willimantic has a frog bridge. Four 11 foot tall frogs perch on spools of thread at the corners to a bridge leading as nearly as I can tell to nowhere. It gets nowhere remarkably fast, too.
A little googling tells me that Willimantic used to be a major thread factory area. When the US Dept. of Traffic Cones agreed to build a bridge, the residents didn't like their design. Too "bland," they said. So the DoT hired an architect, something of a rarity on these projects. And, voila! she is ART!
They are quite impressive.
And here the Ithacans are proud of a few murals and lamp posts on their bridges. Pfagh! In CT, they know how to spend taxpayer money!
3 comments:
Hey!! I've been there! David's cousin lives in Willimantic and we went there for Thanksgiving break our first year in Ithaca. His cousin works at the local library and knew ALL the local history. She gave us a nice tour, and the frogs and the spools they're sitting on represent something. I wish I could remember the story! It's a cool town. My favorite part of the visit was trying some authentic New England potato pizza. It was ridiculously good.
Yeah, the tale of the frogs is kinda like the LDS tale of the seagulls and the crickets, from what I recall of it. For someone who has spent significant time in Utah, that makes the frogs not seem quite as odd, eh?
Not sure if I could ever pass though a bridge protected by frogs like that, looks like something straight out of alice in wonderland !
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