We're Everywhere, Part 7

Over the years, I've posted about Connecticut's small rural synagogues. (Hebron; Lisbon; Ellington; Columbia.) In many cases, these modest buildings are the only visible legacy of the Jewish farming communities that thrived here from the late 1800s through the mid-20th century. Until now, the shuls I've written about were all located in the eastern half of the state.

Adath Israel Synagogue on Huntington Road in Newtown, above, is the only known example of a rural synagogue in western Connecticut. It was built in 1919 on a farm owned by Israel Nezvesky. An article on Connecticut's rural synagogues in Connecticut Explored (also published in the book A Life of the Land: Connecticut's Jewish Farmers), states that so many Jewish farmers once lived in this neighborhood that the area was known as "Little Palestine."

This little shul was used by the local Jewish community until 2007, when a new, larger synagogue was constructed nearby.

Naming Names

This little brick school in Newtown was built around 1850, and called Land's End.

It stands on Obtuse Road, which is not far from Toddy Hill Road and Button Shop Road and Sugar Street and The Old Road and Johnny Cake Lane.

There are wonderful street names all over this state, from Coventry's Bread and Milk Street to Killingworth's Roast Meat Hill to Glastonbury's Old Maids Lane. But for sheer number of smile-inducing street signs concentrated in one area, I think Newtown may be the winner.