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| Even frogs get cold |
In a Damned Connecticut story one of the more intentionally unusual structures in Connecticut is The Frog Bridge of Willimantic, also known as the Thread City Crossing. Spanning the Willimantic River, the nearly 500-foot bridge was completed in 2000 at a cost of $13 million and connects routes 66 and 32, and would be fairly unremarkable if not for the four 11-foot frogs sitting atop giant spools of thread.
Why frogs, you ask? (And why wouldn't you?)
Well, rather than the birthplace of Kermit or an area with a high French population, Willimantic is known as being home of the infamous “Battle of the Frogs” of 1754. The spools, that our frog friends call home, come from Windham's mill industrial history. Willimantic Is known as "Thread City."
Windham went and got "hoppy" with it's bridge and put the town’s unique stamp on it. Hence, the frogs and hence an out of the ordinary bridge. A bridge that tourist come to see, not just to cross. As the word spreads (See links) more and more tourists forgo the interstates for Willimantic's Thread City Crossing and a bridge that makes you smile.
As unusual as the bridge is, much of its interest is hidden from every day view. One must work to appreciate what's beneath its roadway and our frogs watching over it. The engineering. the steel work, stone work and nature. The falls and gates that control the water flow to the hydroelectric turbines under Artspace. Our frogs are only half the story.
nice
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