Happy Birthday, New England Bloggers!

A year ago I began the New England Bloggers, a loosely-knit group of bloggers from the six New England States of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Our membership has grown to over 120 members with active blogs, and we have had a few carnivals and blog games among ourselves. To celebrate our one year birthday we are having a carnival of posts that relate to our interesting region.
LITTLE EAST GRANBY

Although I currently live in a Boston suburb, I grew up in the extremely small town of East Granby, CT, population 3,500. There were 53 people in my graduating class, 1 of whom is now my BIL. The thing that puts East Granby on the map is Old Newgate Prison, the oldest State Prison in the United States.

Originally a copper mine, the tunnels were first used to house dangerous prisoners in 1773, and during the Revolutionary War it held Tories and other Loyalists.
In 1827 it was no longer used as a prison and was once again exclusively a mine. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1972.

As a child, field trips with the Girl Scouts and class groups brought me down into the dark and damp tunnels, where even short adults have to bend over to walk around.

Imagining being held down there for years could still terrify me, and I'm not even claustrophobic!

East Granby was a great place to grow up. At the time we had no stop lights, the volunteer firehouse horn blew at noon every day to tell the time, and we could always ride our bikes to A.C. Petersen Farms for ice cream.  The Dunkin Donuts that opened in the late 1980s was just allowed to install a drive-thru last year! Until the early 1960s East Granby was mostly agrarian, but has slowly become suburban as farms have given way to subdivisions. There are many beautiful historic homes, a volunteer library and a Congregational Church.

I hope you'll visit some of the other posts and see why New England is so special to us!