Scenic Foliage Drives →
Connecticut Foliage Driving Tour
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Pick up Route 66 east again, turning right after the Exxon station onto Route 14 east (which joins Route 203 south for a while) into the town of Scotland. If you happen to visit the town during Columbus Day Weekend you'll most certainly come across the annual Highland Festival held in October (always the Sunday of Columbus Day weekend). The festival features bagpipes and folk music, Highland dancing, sheepdogs, and Scottish food, all in honor of the motherland.
Next take Route 97 north (it will cross Route 6), with Pomfret as the evening's destination. A good place to stop for a stretch along the way is Trail Wood on Kenyon Road, which is maintained by the Connecticut Audubon Society and was formerly the property of naturalist, birder, and author Edwin Way Teale. The 156 acres feature three miles of walking trails. It's located about a mile north of Hampton.
Pomfret is home to the ivied and preppy-filled buildings of the Pomfret School. In the hills outside town, stop for a sandwich at the yellow barn that is Vanilla Bean Cafe. Pick up one of the local tourism association's excellent brochures from the rack by the door to plan your own side trips for antiquing, bicycling, or hiking.
If you're a gardener, don't miss Martha's Herbary. Martha Gummersall-Paul lived in the Quiet Corner for 15 years and impressed neighbors with her gardens. Her husband runs her shop of unusual garden accessories, books, wreaths, herbs, specialty plants, clothing, and jewelry.
Sharpe Hill Vineyard has won Tasters Guild International gold and silver medals, and you can sample their wine or tour the vineyard Fridays and Saturdays. They also serve lunch in the wine garden in good weather, or fireside in the cozy tavern, where you can smell cassoulet simmering on the hearth. Or, for a delicious dinner, try the Harvest. Located in a renovated 1785 homestead, it offers eclectic international fare that will wow you every time -- from filet mignon to pistachio-crusted salmon.
A good night's rest is yours at this local B&B. Cobbscroft is a B&B with a gallery and furniture store. Here you can enjoy (and/or buy) watercolor, acrylic, and oil paintings by Thomas McCobb and a wide selection of pine furniture colorfully painted and stenciled.
Day Two
The spine of the Quiet Corner also happens to feature one of the prettiest roads in all New England. Route 169, officially sanctioned as a State Scenic Highway, weaves south from Woodstock through Pomfret and on to Brooklyn and Canterbury. Travel its curves and hills to dig deeper into this green region's past.
Start your day by leaving Pomfret via Route 44 for a detour through Putnam. Putnam, part of Pomfret until it broke away in 1855, has been the site of textile mills since 1807. Until just ten years ago, it was a place to drive through quickly on the way somewhere -- anywhere -- else. But then Putnam began to attract antiques dealers into the large empty spaces of its brick downtown. Today it's a changed place. The Antiques Marketplace, progenitor of the shops, is a multidealer store with some fine mission-style furniture, ticking wall clocks, fine china, jewelry, and hundreds of other collectibles. Well over 200 individual dealers are represented on four floors of 350 booths and cases.
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