Uncovering a Treasure – October 3, 2012

With a dismal weather forecast for the day and the prospects of spending more time being cold and damp, we decided to look for some indoor activities.  We tracked down a drug store and got our flu shots and then decided to head into Connecticut to see some of that State (Granville is just over the Mass/Conn state line).  Mystic Seaport sounded way too cold, so we started reading the small red print on the Atlas and something that sounded like it would be an acceptable way to spend the afternoon.

To our amazement, we found a hidden jewel.  Bristol, Connecticut turns out to be the clock building capital of the country and houses the American Watch and Clock Museum.

Clock museum – Bristol, CT

Eli Terry was a young clock maker living in Bristol in the 1700’s and actually was the first one to mass produce clocks, which had all wooden parts at that time.  This historic building displays hundreds of watches and clocks dating from Eli Terry’s time to the modern-day, including the CBS worldwide clock used by the TV station for all its broadcasts in the world from 1962 into the mid 1980’s.  There are huge grandfather clocks and shelf clocks made with intricate detail and artistry in excellent condition considering their age.  There are even several steeple clocks, including one still working that sits on the first floor with the pendulum and weights hanging into the basement.  Each week a Board Member and the Executive Director wind the clock to keep it working for one more week.Display of the wooden parts in a clock and how they were made, starting at the outer edge and working towards the center.

They have an incredible collection of old pocket watches, character watches, novelty watches and even a video of John Cameron Swayze and the Timex that “keeps on ticking”.   The oldest time piece was from London England made in 1630.  We took a picture of this one for you.

All in all, this was one of the highlights of the trip and I would recommend anyone in the area to spend the time going through the collection.

Not far from there is the Carousel Museum and Fire Museum housed in the same building.  It was getting late so we only went into the Carousel Museum but it has an impressive collection of carousel animals and horses from the 19 century when carousels were the amusement of choice of many people.  There were just a few noted artists creating these masterpieces with very different styles.  We learned that the carousel was originally created to train knights to joust and grabbing the brass ring was a deviation of putting a lance into the gold ring.  There are only three positions for carousel horses; standing, prancing or jumping and the biggest surprise for me was to see that they were not a single piece of wood but pieced together.  What a great companion place to the clock museum that can make the trip worthwhile from nearby places.

Sorry no pictures of the horses from the carousel  as  we were not allowed to take any pictures in this museum.