Kent is number 21 in my project to visit all the small towns in CT.
Kent borders NY state, in Litchfield County. It is my first town of over 3,000 residents, with 3,019. The Native American name for Kent is Scatacook. Kent was founded in 1739, and covers 48.47 square miles.
The downtown is a very nice, walkable area with a mix of shops, restaurants, and art galleries. The charm is undeniable, and I would rank it high on a list of town centers in the state.
Kent is the birthplace of Seth MacFarlane.
I have actually been to Kent many times, either for hiking in the area, or riding through on my motorcycle. My first stop was to grab a couple of pics at Kent Falls, mostly because I think it’s a pretty well known landmark in the state. In spite of how nice the waterfall is, it’s not really a favorite spot for me. I prefer a waterfall that I have to work a bit to get to. It keeps the riff-raff out. This is the little covered bridge that crosses the stream before you get to the falls.
Here are the falls. I think there are more upstream if you are willing to take a walk, but I really wasn’t feeling it.
My first significant stop was at the Connecticut Antique Machinery Museum. I’ve driven by here a thousand times, and always seen this train, but never thought to stop in. It’s a funny museum, because there are two sub-museums in the museum: The Mining Museum, and the Cream Hill Farm School Museum. I’m not sure how they all ended up together, but they make for an interesting experience. I’ll start with the machinery.
This is Hawaii #5, a train that used to work the sugar plantations in Hawaii. She burned bunker fuel, which is a fuel oil with a tar-like consistency. As I recall, they told me she burns diesel now.
I don’t know why, but I have always found the inside of a caboose to be fascinating. Maybe because I only ever saw them from the outside, like they were a big secret, until I was an adult. Now you too can share in the mystery.
I’m told that all of the larger steam powered machinery here does work. They have three huge fixed steam engines, of the type that would have been used to run a mill or some kind of manufacturing facility.
In another building, they have a selection of antique tractors, and some steam rollers, from when steam rollers actually used steam. They also have some steam powered agricultural tractors, which were gigantic, but I failed to get any pictures of those.
Shockingly, this sign was not in the bathroom.
For reasons that aren’t entirely clear to me, there is also an old one-room school on the property, called the Cream Hill Farm School. It was a small boarding school, with the dormitories upstairs. I can’t imagine it housed very many students.
Next up, the Mining Museum. This place is, in a word, fascinating. It’s clearly a labor of love. From what I could tell, it was created pretty much by one man, and this man has a gift, because I have seen major museums that were less well put-together than this place. You have to see it for yourself. It has everything. Well laid out and labeled display cases filled with all sorts of minerals. Dioramas in both miniature and life-size. A dinosaur. Lessons on not only minerals, but also geology, plate tectonics, and paleontology.
This fellow here has the face of the man who built the museum.
Look at these guys!
Here’s a diorama he built of the old Mine Hill furnace. I have actually been there and seen the ruins of the furnace, so it was cool to see what the associated buildings would have looked like.
A selection of historical bricks made by different companies in Connecticut.
I never knew that beans were called miner’s strawberries! This place has everything!
Even a dinosaur!
This is just a tiny fraction of the minerals on display here.
I really thought that this museum was dynamite!
After having my mind blown at the museum, I went to the Fife & Drum Restaurant for lunch. I won’t be going back.
Finally, on to Kent Falls Brewing Company. As far as I know, they have a pretty good reputation among the beer crowd, but they have never really blown me away. I don’t think there is anything wrong with what they make, it’s perfectly fine, it’s just not someplace I would ever make a special trip to visit. I will admit to being the outlier though–most folks seem to really like this place.
They tell me they are “the home of the short pour,” whatever the heck that means.
With previous towns, I have struggled to find something interesting to do for my visit. With Kent, I feel that I just scratched the surface. It’s a great little town, in one of my favorite parts of the state.
Were I to do this one again, I think I would have spent some time walking around the center of town, which I have never really taken the time to do. However today I had to get home at a reasonable time to walk the dogs, so the clock was ticking on another great day in Connecticut.