New Haven - Saturday Sept 1

This was the Labor Day long weekend in the USA, so the suites were busy. After breakfast we loaded the car and headed east on the I95, turning off at the Connecticut River and taking route 9 a short way to Essex. Essex is one of the oldest towns in the New England region, with some beautiful houses and shops lining the main street. 

The river is quite big here, and these few miles upstream would have provided a safe haven for overseas shipping. 

One of the industries in the early days was a rope making facility, which was powered by a horse to twist the fibres into various thicknesses of rope. We had lunch at one of the oldest continuously operating inns in the country - Griswold's Inn (see http://www.griswoldinn.com ) - which dates from 1776. 

After a fine lunch we took the back roads west to New Haven. Route 153 took us south to Westbrook where it joined Route 1 through Clinton and Madison. Sue had found in the region's tourist book that there were several jewellery shops there, and one that she had highlighted was on the main street, probably the widest main street we've seen in the State. Sue bought a new watch, some earrings and a bracelet!!

We then headed further west, stopping at Guilford, which has a large green in the centre of town. On two sides of the green were some historic shops, with both tourist memorabilia and local needs. 

From Guilford we drove through Branford and East Haven to the suite, where we dined on leftover gnocchi.