Community Corner

Hidden Gems Of Hartford And Tolland Counties

This week's Gem once served the the horses in Frog Hollow. Now is serves as a piece of history.

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Alfred E Pope Horse Trough and Fountain.
Alfred E Pope Horse Trough and Fountain. (Stanley Sullivan)

HARTFORD, CT — The latest trip to a Hidden Gem takes us to a place inside a park with a sometimes-forgotten history in Hartford.

Welcome to the Alfred E Pope Horse Trough and Fountain, located inside the park that bears his name, along Park Street the in the city's Frog Hollow neighborhood. It no longer serves horses, which gave way to a more modern means of transportation, but it's a reminder of a classic time for the city.

Connecticuthistory.org tells us that, in 1894, Col. Albert Pope, of Columbia Bicycle and Pope Manufacturing fame, donated the land to the city of Hartford for a park. Pope had originally purchased Bartholomew Farm close to his business campus to expand his factories and to create 1,200 homes for workers, but for economic reasons, he abandoned the plans and instead hired landscape architects the Olmsted Brothers to design a park for his workers and city residents to enjoy, CT History tells us.

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The Olmsted brothers completed the park design in 1898 and, in its original form, it contained ponds, recreational open space, tennis courts, and outdoor gymnasiums, the organization tells us.

The horse trough still stands today.

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The Pope Park Horse Trough. (Stanley Sullivan)

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The Hidden Gems series features out-of-the-way mom and pop restaurants, small specialty stores you may have never heard of, little-known historical markers or beautiful nature spots that may be a bit off the beaten path, all located within Hartford and Tolland counties. Do you have a favorite "hidden gem" in the area that you wish to see featured in this column? Email your ideas to Chris.dehnel@patch.com.

Other Gems in this series:

2022

2021 and earlier:

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