“as
in almost every other direction a turnpike-road; for these roads being
here made objects of private gain . . . they are established with
avidity, on the smallest prospect of advantage.” - See more at:
http://connecticuthistory.org/early-turnpikes-in-connecticut/#sthash.65axpDJe.dpuf
“as
in almost every other direction a turnpike-road; for these roads being
here made objects of private gain . . . they are established with
avidity, on the smallest prospect of advantage.” - See more at:
http://connecticuthistory.org/early-turnpikes-in-connecticut/#sthash.65axpDJe.dpuf
Tolls were paid at the toll houses dotting the routes. A pike, mounted on a post, prevented travelers from passing by without paying. After they handed over their fare, the toll keeper would turn the pike, allowing them to continue. Not everyone had to pay all the time; the state of Connecticut exempted "persons travelling to and from public worship, funerals, society, town, or elector's meeting; all officers and soldiers going to and from military duty, by order of law; all persons going to and from grist-mills; or on their ordinary farming business, and not travelling more than three miles" on the road from payment. The toll roads are gone now, though whether or not to reinstate their modern equivalent is a frequent topic of debate. But their memory lives on in the many Connecticut thoroughfares that never dropped the "Turnpike" from their names, as well as in Cromwell's Shunpike Road, named for those travelers who chose to go around the long way rather than pay the toll.
As it turned out, running a turnpike was usually not a profitable venture. Connecticut's private toll roads were all gone before 1900. The Connecticut State Highway Department, formed in 1895, continued to collect tolls on certain roads to help pay for their maintenance, a practice that continued in some form until 1989. As for the toll houses, few are clearly identifiable. Aside from this one in Plymouth, there is one other that I know of, in West Cornwall near the covered bridge; it houses a Shaker furniture showroom. But others do survive, standing unnoticed on unremarkable roads where once, in order to pass by in your sulky, you would have had to stop and rummage around for spare change.
never been there , but sure is pretty.
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