Hartford and a (bad?) Goldilocks analogy
Our Hartford date was an add-on based on a friend’s recommendation, plus it was on the way to a super random Memorial weekend reservation on Cape Cod. As we rolled into downtown, Jim commented that his first impressions were positive. I mean this in the nicest way, but after living in mostly bland Texas, the architecture in these parts and seeing all the effort to preserve it is really refreshing. As an aside, CT served as SallyMae’s 25th state and has now traveled over 21k miles!
The downtown street art was stunning and the capital building, numerous museums and surrounding parks made for a nice meander about. Hartford is also home to Mark Twain’s house and museum and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Center for Literary Activism – both of which regularly host educational seminars, authors and art exhibits. Twain’s home and story were worth every minute and I was super disappointed that we screwed up scheduling and didn’t get to enjoy the Stowe Center…next time! It’s obvious that in and around downtown are in the midst of a cultural shift that will be exciting to watch, but there was virtually zero housing in the area.
Just outside of downtown, the diversity of the food scene is super fun and is home to rich immigrant populations throughout the neighborhoods – Albanian, Peruvian, Puerto Rican, Columbian, Bosnian, African, etc. There is a familial feel to many of these neighborhoods. Our “walkability” criteria became a little harder in these areas and the housing was hit and miss with some needing WAY too much work and others being too big, etc…it just wasn’t quite right. We were warned about some of these hoods being sketchy, but we felt like it was no different than any area where there are socio-economic divides coupled with a bit ‘o gentrification.
We should note that West Hartford is super adorable with a great walkable downtown area. While the houses were affordable, the condos were north of what we wanted to spend and it had slightly more of a ‘suburb’ feel to us. As we hone our personal criteria, we are realizing that we are looking for a bit more urban/traditional downtown feel. Oh, we also made a pilgrimage to Cedar Hill Cemetary to see Katharine Hepburn’s grave. For those of you who don’t know, I was a theater kid back in the day and was sorta obsessed with her. She was strong, independent, funny, smart and had the red hair to go with it. After my grandfather passed, I found my high school graduation picture (very glamour shotty). On the back I wrote, “You’re looking at the next Katharine Hepburn!” I like to imagine I got a few of her qualities and had to find her grave when I found out she was buried there. I also think my arrogance was funny as heck.
So, I felt a ‘lil like Goldilocks looking for the perfect mattress on this journey, except we never found the hood that was “just right.” Great city, just not the one for us. Next up – Providence and playing with the liberal elites in Cape Cod over Memorial weekend!!!!
