A series of entries designed to capture the ongoing adventures of NINA! See how we came to be where we are today, and follow along as we enter the new century of social media!
Page: 18I began our inspection of street signs today – this is an outgrowth of our Safe Growth program, which began as an analysis of crime statistics that included Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) techniques and then turned toward an examination of the environment in the neighborhood. I began with streetlights, and in the last couple of years those were almost entirely replaced by LED lights, but along the way I started to notice that some street signs, which are often attached to streetlight poles, were looking pretty shabby. What I didn’t expect was what I found today: almost every street sign needs to be replaced!
These photos are some of the worst I spotted today, in a walk along Sargeant Street between Garden and Sigourney. Basically, two blocks. I’m not sure which counts as my favorite: the warning sign about construction ahead (there’s no construction, and there hasn’t been for years), or the three street signs on Huntington obscured from view by the new streetlight pole.
I’m finally making some progress on our neighborhood history website, which is where the walking tours will go to live when I’ve made even more progress, so I thought today of all days would be a good day to head up to Spring Grove Cemetery to identify the graves of some Asylum Hill luminaries. The trip also proved educational:
Henry Green – three of his children and one daughter-in-law are buried with him and his wife Annie. His children all lived into their 70s, and his daughter-in-law, Grayce Morgan, lived into her 100th year, dying in 1998.
Lydia Sigourney – she of the square park, and she was not Charles Sigourney’s first wife. That would have been Jane, who died in 1818. I’m sure this is well-known, but it was news to me.
William H. Imlay – I’m pretty sure this is William of the Imlay Farm, more commonly known as Nook Farm. Once the wealthiest man in Hartford, he’s buried by himself.
Frederick Mahl – he who built numerous houses on Ashley Street, and his wife Marion died in 1886. That’s really, really interesting to me, because I have an article from the Courant that reported that his wife spoke to Frederick at a séance, which means that wasn’t Marion – and I have no idea where his second wife is buried!
I’m putting together a map of the cemetery to aid in locating these Asylum Hill luminaries, and that will be posted on the new history website. You know, when I finish it. One hundred years from now.
Inside, there are stairs, newly painted walls, preparations for bathroom tiling, and kitchen cabinets.
The new(ish) homeowners at 88 Hawthorn Street graciously agreed to help us out by posing for a key conveyance ceremony. This is only the third time we've done one of these, the others being at 33 Sargeant and 207 Garden (and strangely, it doesn't look like I posted a photo of the actual key conveyance at that ceremony!).
Front walks and back walks poured, and work inside the front doors, as we get ready for the doors and the stained glass transoms.
Now that we’re getting near the end of this project, we’ve been able to repair the sidewalk around 80 Hawthorn. I won’t lie, we did make the sidewalk a little worse, especially along South Marshall Street, with our construction equipment, but the sidewalk was a mess long before we got onto the scene. We’re awfully glad to have reached this point, both because we’ve been eager to repair the sidewalk and because this signals we’ll soon have these houses on the market.
Also, the hardwood floors are being installed. This is just a good day for walking at 80 Hawthorn!
The rotary at Park Terrace, Sigourney, and Russ really would have had only a minor effect on those of you who commute to Asylum Hill, but this new project will impact lots of you. ConnDOT has begun work on the Sigourney Street bridge that goes over the train tracks and over (and under) Interstate 84. From the looks of it, the project will take a long time: note that the new traffic patterns around the construction have been painted into place.
The details. You can still get off 84 onto Sigourney Street, but the offramp is now one lane at the end. You can go both north and south, but again, only one lane until you’re fully off the bridge. The light at Hawthorn now rates between north and south – as in, northbound goes while everyone else has a red, and then southbound goes. This is to prevent someone wanting to turn left from Sigourney northbound blocking everyone behind them. As for southbound, you can still get onto 84 going east, but you can only get there from the southbound lanes. Northbound Sigourney is closed entirely between Park Terrace and the highway offramp.
What does this have to do with that new rotary? They deliberately held off on the bridge project until the rotary officially opened.
