I moved to Scottsdale, Arizona when I was thirteen years old. And while I’ve lived here ever since and consider it my home, I was born and raised in Connecticut. Our house was in Scantic—a small community near East Windsor with not much more than a church, a cemetery, historical society, State Park on the Scantic River, along with several home-run businesses like a construction company, art studio, and auto repair. The only new additions since I was a child are a few Airbnbs and some more houses. Otherwise, it’s pretty much the same picture-perfect heart of Colonial New England all these decades later.
Just to give you an idea of what old and quaint Scantic was and continues to be, our house was built fifteen years post the end of the civil war. The original property consisted of many, many acres with the main crop being tobacco—specifically a broad leaf variety used for cigars. Some of you may have heard of the book by Mildred Savage called “Parish” which was made into a 1961 movie of the same name starring Troy Donahue, Connie Stevens, Claudette Colbert, and Karl Malden, among others. Much of the movie was filmed in East Windsor and featured vivid scenes of shaded tobacco fields. Of course, the tobacco industry has died off since then, but there were still some fields when I was a child and one of the original tobacco drying barns on our property remained standing, although it was in great disrepair.
I was able to return for a visit about a year-and-a-half ago. Both my parents are buried there And while it’s far from where I live now, I honored their wishes as they were so happy during the time we lived there. It seemed only fitting they are resting in the cemetery, not far from the graves of Colonial settlers who lived in Scantic during the 1700s.
When I visited, I brought with me and donated a collection of painted primitive art that was done by a friend of my mother’s, Jean Dewey, to the historical society. The scenes on the items are from Scantic and depict the idyllic life from then and now. Small tidbit. Jean Dewey’s adorable son Christopher was in my class at school, and I had a terrible crush on him. In the third grade, he gave me a kiss on my cheek, and after promising not to tell anyone, I proceeded to blab to every girl in my class the following day.
One last note of interest. Scantic was so small, we didn’t have a school and were bussed to Broad Book, the next town over. While considerably larger, Broad Brook is still as charming as ever, and when I visited recently, I was delighted to find that some of the original buildings, like the opera house and general store, were much like they were in my youth.
Thanks for taking this trip down memory lane with me and visiting my hometown. Tell me something memorable about where you grew up and if you ever return for a visit.
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Cathy McDavid has been penning Westerns for Harlequin since 2005. With over 55 titles in print and 1.6 million-plus books sold, Cathy is also a member of the prestigious Romance Writers of America’s Honor Roll. This “almost” Arizona native and mother of grown twins is married to her own real-life sweetheart. After leaving the corporate world seven years ago, she now spends her days penning stories about good looking cowboys riding the range, busting broncs, and sweeping gals off their feet — oops, no. Make that winning the hearts of feisty, independent women who give the cowboys a run for their money. It a tough job, but she’s willing to make the sacrifice.
My hometown has a quintessential Main St. It used to have a classic movie theater. We cruised down the street. Also home to the university I attended. Classic red brick colonial buildings.
Sounds lovely, Denis 🙂
In December of my 4th grade year our family moved houses (we lived in MD). This meant changing schools. The public school took us on a field trip to a tobacco barn that spring. 4th grade being the year to study the history of one’s state, we also had a field trip to Annapolis, the state capitol and home to the Naval Academy.
Tobacco was a cash crop in MD at that time; I’m not sure how much, if any, is still grown.
Tobacco was a huge industry for that part of our country for literally centuries. A lot of us never realized it as it mostly died out before our time.
Good morning Cathy! I grew up ten miles from our hometown on a farm with my two younger brothers. So, much to do on a farm in those days. But, the life was good. My parents would dress us in our pajamas in the evenings and we would eat cheese burger baskets with tator tots in the back windshield of the car at the A&W Drive-in. Yes, the place where you parked, took your order, and brought it back on a tray that hooked on the door of the window.
Sometimes we would then head to the drive-in theater. I remember most was watching Mary Poppins on the big screen! As a teenager, I saw “Carrie” and “Rocky” just a couple of the many! Yes, we had The Alamar theater too. It was located downtown. It had been around since my mother was a child. A long time! But, both are gone now.
Thanks for taking me down memory lane today Cathy! Good memories! Precious times!
Oh, my gost, Tracy! I remember going to the drive-in in our pajamas and also seeing Mary Poppins 🙂 In those days, they’d show a family movie first and then a more adult movie second, which we kids were supposed to be sleeping through. I would try to stay awake but the boring drama like Dr. Zhivago usually put me out 🙂
I grew up in a small town in northern Ohio. Today that town is a slightly larger, but most stores have been torn down or have changed. From what was a gravel pit, it is now a lake with houses built around it. As I live in southern Michigan now, I could go back to visit, but I don’t as nothing is the same.
It’s hard when things change, Karijean. It’l like that for me where I live now. The differences are astounding. It’s like a strange new place.
Sounds beautiful!!!
It was, Carrie. A perfect place for a kid to grow up in. I was fortunate.
My home town is still pretty much the same.
How nice, Bridgette.I hope you’re getting the opportunities to go back and visit.
I still live here almost 65 years later!
Oh, Teresa! I can’t imagine all the changes. That must be something.
I was born and raised in Alma, Arkansas, and still live here on the same 20 acres I’ve lived on all my life! My mom, my sister, my oldest daughter and I all graduated from Alma High School, and my youngest daughter will graduate from there in 5 years. I’m also a substitute teacher for the Alma School District, and right now I’m sitting in the same classroom that used to be the home ec room when I was in school (it’s now the marketing class). Alma used to be the Spinach Capital of the World, until the canning company shut down, and we still have a statue of Popeye in our downtown park.
I love that, Kim. What a wonderful story you have to tell. You are truly connected to your hometown 🙂
I grew up in a small Dutch community. Back when bumper stickers first became popular, our town put out one that said, “You ain’t much if you ain’t Dutch”.
What a cute saying, Rhonda. I love it!
I lived in many different places but raised my daughters in one place. It really has not changed since I moved from there.
How sweet to have such a strong connection to a place, that of raising your daughter.
Loved reading your post today Cathy. I grew up in Iowa until the age of ten where corn fields grew and snakes were everywhere it seemed! Ha! I do not like snakes to this day. Then we moved to central Minnesota where I have lived the rest of my life. The area now is very populated and tourists have built huge homes on the smallest lakes. To me, my town has lost its charm to development after development. But, I still love it here. The trees, lakes, four seasons is still attractive to me.
I can imagine how beautiful that must be. I do miss the trees and four seasons here in central Arizona where it’s just summer and winter.
I still live in the city I grew up in! It’s changed a lot over the years, and has grown a lot, too!! A shopping mall took the place of one of the cattle pasture and orange groves, and another shopping center took the place of another pasture. The two lane road between the two is now a four lane.
Sometimes those changes are hard to see, Trudy. Growth is something we just can’t avoid.
I grew up on our family farm in Wyoming. It was about the five miles from the tiny town of Hillsdale, Wyoming. It was named for a man, Mr. Hillsdale, who was killed by Indians while building the railroad.
What an interest, and tragic, story, Barbara. I bet it was a beautiful place to grow up.
Good afternoon, I grew up in a small town, actually when our dad was building the house when we moved there, there was just one other house. We moved from a city to a very small town . Other people starting building house there eventually. Everybody knew everybody when I was growing up there. We had very nice and memorable growing up years. As our town grew there wasn’t a church there, so my parents would bring a priest from a town nearby and he would give Mass on our carport. Later on my parents and other couples from our town would have fund raisers and a Church building was built. My parents sold the house to one of my brothers after all us 6 kids had moved away and had our own little families . And yes I have visited my brother and his family, our brother still lives there and the town has really grown alot, nothing compared to when we were growing up there.
Sounds like a great childhood, Alicia. And how cool that your brother still lives there. I love hearing about bringing in a priest and having mass on the carport. Thanks for sharing.
I grew up in a small town in the Northeast corner of New York State on Lake Champlain across from Burlington, VT and not far from the Canadian border. Our old farmhouse, built before the Civil War, was on the side of a mountain in the Adirondacks. From our house, we could see the lake, the Green Mountains of Vermont, the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Mount Washington, and several peaks in the Presidential Range. I loved time at our camp on a small lake in the mountains. I would hike in the woods to the top of the mountain any time of the year, and canoed on the lake. The hiking was wonderful no matter the season. We enjoyed skating on ponds and lakes, ice fishing on the lake, walking in the snowy woods, and picking apples in the Fall (we lived across the road from a friend’s orchard). There is a lot of history in the area starting with the earliest French and English explorers. It was an active area in the battles of the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, and the War of 1812. One of the naval battles on Lake Champlain was a significant battle of the War of 1812, helping to end it. The Underground Railroad ran through our area, with many escaped slaves heading to Canada. I do miss the area, but the area in TN where we now live is similar. We live in an 1898 farm house on the top of a hill in the foothill of the Blue Ridge Mountains with a nice view of the mountains. It is just a bit too hot and humid for me here.
Oh, Patricia. What a beautiful part of the country you’re from. I’ve driven through that area, and it’s breathtaking. Don’t you just love all the early American history? I took it for granted as a child, but now I’m just in awe. Thanks for sharing.