#Middlebury #Rochambeau
By BRIDGET HENRY
“On the 28th, we were very weary before we got to Breakneck. It is rightly named for the stony roads and the endless mountains intersecting this area make it very disagreeable for travelers …”
Although this quote on the National Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route Association Inc. website could certainly be something I might be thinking as I attempt to jog up the infamous Breakneck Hill here in Middlebury, these words in fact do not belong to me. Instead, these words belong to a man by the name of Baron Closen, a young military officer who found himself in our neck of the woods (literally) one June way back in 1781. A special confidant to General Rochambeau during the American Revolution, Baron Closen wrote the words above to describe the geographically unfriendly Middlebury he and Rochambeau experienced on their way to the Battle of Yorktown.
I am more than sure that I learned about Rochambeau in school, but to be honest I was never all that into history as a child. By the time high school came, history was by far my least favorite subject. However, as a resident of Connecticut, it was hard not to acknowledge and appreciate the history that surrounded me every day. When learning about early American history as a child, it made the boring information a bit more exciting to know that much of what I was learning happened right outside my door. And so, despite my distaste for reading about history, I did develop a curiosity and love for the Colonial homes, the old roads, and the crumbling stone walls that told the stories of those who lived here long before I did.
Because of this, when I first moved to Middlebury, our classic little Connecticut town with its own Colonial homes, old roads, and crumbling stonewalls, it was fun to learn that my very neighborhood had its own special page in the history books. When my early jogs along the greenway brought me past the Campsite Marker across from Fenn Pond on Middlebury Road, I was a kid again, in love with the idea that history happened right outside my door. A quick Internet search later I was fascinated to learn that marker is one of 27 markers placed along the very route the French troops took through the state of Connecticut as they headed to the battle of Yorktown.
And so, with Memorial Day just behind us and the month of June ahead of us, what a perfect time to reflect on the words of the young Baron Closen written many summers ago. I totally agree with his assessment of the stones and the hills.
The ground is certainly rocky. If you didn’t know that, come and try to dig a hole in my garden. The roads are certainly hilly. Just ask any runner in town.
But the young Closen was very wrong about the disagreeable part. Thanks to those who came before us, we get to choose our own travels through this little town with its big history, and I find nothing disagreeable about that. Even with its rocks and hills, Middlebury agrees with me. And as always, I am happy to be Somewhere in the Middle (of a history lesson) with you.,
