My goal is to visit every small town in CT. Number four on my list is Colebrook.
Colebrook was incorporated in 1779 and has a population of 1,361. We’re well into four digits now! I seem to find myself in Colebrook quite often when I’m out for a ride on my motorcycle. All roads seem to lead to Rt. 8 through Colebrook. Whether I’m riding West on Rt. 57 from Granville, MA, or riding out Rt. 20 from Granby, CT, or riding up Rt. 44 from Avon, Rt. 8 is always there.
If you find yourself out that way for a motorcycle ride, you should definitely take a ride up Sandy Brook Road. It’s a 4.4 mile stretch that winds along a pretty little New England stream for almost its entire length.
Today I stopped at Norbrook Farm Brewery, which is at 204 Stillman Hill Rd. I’ve been here a couple of times now, and would definitely come back. I appreciate the diversity of their beer menu. While they do have the obligatory four different IPAs, they also have lot of other styles to choose from. This is in contrast to many breweries where the menu is like, “Here are our sixteen IPAs.” The only thing missing for me was a sour.
This is one of their outdoor seating areas. They also have a much larger seating area in the parking lot next to the brewery. I don’t know if that started out as a covid innovation, but I usually sit over there because it’s near the food truck and the outdoor taps.
Their indoor seating area is really nice as well, with a collection of games to play. Around the corner from here is the bar, which I somehow failed to photograph. I really need to get better with the pictures.
Barnstormer’s Burgers & More is their resident food truck, on site Wednesday through Saturday. I’m not normally impressed by food trucks, but their burgers are really good. The beef patty was thick, and bigger than the bun. This is not your grandfather’s measly quarter pounder. In spite of what my friend Jairo likes to say about my capacity for food, I was not able to finish this beast. The fries were good too.
While Barnstormer’s seems to be the truck with which they have a long-term contract, they do bring in a guest truck on Sundays. It can be anything from grilled cheese to lobster to pizza.
My place of interest in the town was supposed to be the Colebrook River Lake, but for some reason they weren’t letting vehicles into the area, which in my experience is unusual. I’m having to recycle a picture I took a few years ago, of what they call the ghost bridge. This bridge is from the old village of Colebrook River, which was flooded when they built the dam. Normally it’s under about 50 feet of water, but can make an appearance in times of severe drought.
We are in a drought right now, so I was surprised to see that the lake does not appear to be as low as I have seen it many times in the past. The old road that runs along what was once the riverbed (but which is now the lake bottom) will surface first, before the ghost bridge, and that road is still flooded.
The Metropolitan District Commission began buying up land around the river in the 1940s, originally with an eye towards providing future water resources. It took until 1969 for the project to be completed, having been taken over by The Army Corps of Engineers by then, for the purposes of flood control. As far as I know it has never been used for its original purpose as a reservoir for drinking water, although there is some power being generated by the dam.
I have erroneously referred to the lake as Colebrook Reservoir in the past, but I think that is technically incorrect because it is not used for water resources. You’ll find it on the maps and official sources as Colebrook River Lake, unlike Barkhamsted Reservoir to the east, which is used for water resources.
Having been thwarted in my efforts to visit the lake, I headed home after another fine day in the great state of Connecticut!