Unique Memorials In Hartford And Tolland Counties

On Memorial Day 2019, we take a look at some unique memorials and testimonials in Hartford and Tolland counties.

It's only a sampling ... and readers are invited to mention more in the comments and even throw in a picture or two.

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In February, 2011, a pair of steel columns from the first building hit in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks arrived in Enfield in dramatic fashion. Local fire officials accompanied the pieces from J.F.K. International Airport, where they had been stored in a hangar for the previous nine years.

The pieces, which came from the north face of the north tower, were incorporated into the existing 9/11 Memorial Garden, which stands in front of the Enfield Fire Department's station at 199 Weymouth Road.

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One of the best-kept secrets in Vernon also happens to be one of its most significant contributions to history. But just finding it is half the battle.

Mt. Hope Cemetery sits in the Talcottville section of town, an area off Route 83 just over the Manchester line whose roots run deep in the town's history of manufacturing.

The Talcott family owned one of those mills and in 1867 set up a cemetery tucked into a corner of the village near what is now 100 Main Street.

Trouble is, the tucking was done so well it can take several swoops in a car to figure out where it is, even though a historical marker designates the spot. The driveway to Mt. Hope runs between two houses, but then opens up to green pastures, rolling hills and monuments — a lot of monuments. And one monument stands out — the Civil War memorial, erected in 1869. It is one of the oldest in the nation.

The four soldiers whose names appear on the stone structure represent a Civil War textbook from the bloodiest day in American history to the most infamous prison camp of the conflict.

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There is a small tract of land near the Main Street side of the Pratt & Whitney plant in East Hartford. It serves as a memorial to someone who served long before jet engines were a staple of America's military, a time when, well, America was trying to become America.

The plot is the final resting place of Heman Baker, a sergeant in the Lexington Alarm Company who fought in the Revolutionary War. Baker was captured by the British early in the war, came down with smallpox, and was released.

He tried to make it back to his home in Tolland but, after a month-long journey, never made it. He was buried in a lone plot near what is now the the Pratt plant.

Tolland Town Council Chairman Rick Field, along with Ron Usher and Esther Jagodzinski, who worked at Pratt for many years, took an interest in his story and spearheaded the efforts to restore the grave in 2004. The monument at Pratt serves as a testament to Baker and the birth of a nation.

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In Storrs, at the University of Connectiut, Hawley Armory was built in 1914 and named for Willis N. Hawley, who enlisted in the Army after graduating in 1898, along with three of his classmates, just as the Spanish-American War was starting.

Hawley died of typhoid fever in a Red Cross camp in November of that year.

The armory was the center of campus life in the 1920s and 1930s – basketball games were played there, and dances, commencement ceremonies, and other major events were held inside – and today is home to a number of fitness programs and sports clubs.

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Patch Editor Tim Jensen contributred to this story.