Wolcott History – Biking in Wolcott

I was born in 1948. When I was growing up in Wolcott in the 1950s and early 1960s the terms “helicopter parenting” had not yet been invented, smart phones and computer games were the stuff of science fiction, and people didn’t get paranoid about their kids being snatched by strangers. So it was a society where children played outside whenever possible, invented new games that usually had a lot of physical activity, and everyone’s mother kept an eye out for whomever happened to be playing near their home that day. In my earlier years, my activities were usually within a block or so of our house (although that included all the roaming in the woods behind them). As I got older, my world expanded and I would sometimes walk up to friend’s houses that were farther away. That could mean to see Jimmy Lafrance and Gary Booker up by Cedar Lake, Jay Piekel down Route 69, Roger Norton up on Beecher Rd, or the Wilsons down Woodtick Rd. All these were within a mile of home. But my world got much bigger once I bought my first bicycle.

Now, instead of walking 20 minutes to go to a place only a mile away, I could travel many times farther in those same 20 minutes. Essentially, the entire town of Wolcott was within easy travel distance. I still spent time with those same school friends, but other friends were now equally easy to visit. So I would bike down to see Don Thirkelson on Center St (about 2.5 miles), or others ever farther away. When I got into 8^th grade and we were at the high school with others from all over town, instead of just those from the north end at Alcott School, I added destinations that were even farther away.

Eventually I made it my goal to bike over every mile of road in the entire town (some 20+ square miles). While there were not as many roads back in the early 60s as there are today, there were still a lot of miles to cover. I don’t recall when I reached that milestone, but there were no roads in Wolcott that I did not know intimately – you can see a lot more from the seat of a bicycle sailing quietly along than you can from the inside of a car with a noisy engine propelling you!

I made it a point to know where every one of my classmates lived and went by their home at one point or another. From Lancewood Lane (Marie Elena Lanosa), to Garrigus Court (my cousin Bruce Hill), to Catering Road (Jan Lindsay), I knew every nook and cranny in town. I went the full length of every dead end street (Finch Road, Midwood Avenue), around every looping road (Pineridge Drive), and to the far corners of the town (Allentown Road, County Road, Grilley Road). Nothing was beyond my reach.

I also made occasional visits to my relatives in town or out of town (my Aunt Vi and Uncle Tony on Midwood Road, my grandparents on East Main Street in Waterbury, and even my Aunt Trudy and Uncle Dick in Prospect (although the trek up Summit Road was a bummer)). On a few occasions I went down the hill into Bristol, including a heart-stopping ride down Willis Street, and circumnavigated Cedar Lake by going down into Bristol and coming back via Witches Rock Road.

Wolcott is full of hills, and living in the north end of town meant that it was mostly downhill to everywhere else (and uphill on the way home). That meant some nice easy coasting down the hills but leg aching uphill climbs on the way home (I only had a one-speed bike). When coasting down Woodtick Road, there was one problem I had to deal with. The Atwood’s (Clarence Atwood) owned a home right in the middle of the hill and at the time had a dog that did not take kindly to bicycles riding by. He would come out snarling and biting at your feet, forcing you to dismount and putting the bicycle between you and him until you had walked past their property. That was a bit of a bummer as you lost all the momentum of coasting down the hill. So one day I decided I’d had enough and instead of wearing my sneakers I wore my heavy hiking boots. When he came at me that day, instead of dismounting I planted my boot firmly in his open mouth with a kick – he never bothered me again!

I used my bicycle all the way through high school, in fact I used to ride it back and forth to school in the fall and spring instead of taking the bus. It was only a little over two miles each way and I could park it alongside the auditorium where they had a [little used] bike rack. I even took it with me to college for my undergraduate years. I didn’t own a car until I was in graduate school.

Alas, the town has gotten bigger, and the speeds are definitely higher than they used to be. So it’s not as safe to use a bicycle as it used to be. And the pervading parenting style doesn’t allow kids the freedom that it used to. But if you live in town and still have access to a bicycle – get out and use it sometime. Feel the wind in your face, pedal down some of the dead-end roads, wave to the neighbors, enjoy yourself. You’ll be glad you did!