A Week in Torrington, Connecticut

The town of Torrington doesn’t exactly make most people’s travel bucket lists and frankly it didn’t make mine either. So how did I end up in this quiet Connecticut town? Wanting to spend time with my good friend Beth, I came for a visit. As it turned out, Torrington is home to some historically significant markers, a vibrant art scene and gorgeous natural spaces.

One would expect that returning to an airport at which I had previously worked for 3 years would be nostalgic, but Hartford’s Bradley International Airport looked nothing like I had remembered. However, I enjoyed the 40 minute ride through the hilly landscape to Torrington. I loved spotting the white bark of my favorite trees, birch and was soon reminded how the sun sets at an early 4pm in December.

John Brown Birthplace

One of the most significant historical facts about Torrington is that John Brown, an avid and militant abolitionist considered quite radical in his day, was born there in 1800. While he dedicated his life to freeing enslaved persons, often violently doing so (like when he led the Pottawatomie Massacre in Kansas in 1856), Brown is perhaps most famously known for his failed attempt to raid the federal arsenal in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, where he was badly wounded. He was tried and put to death for his actions, but not before saying,

I have only a short time to live, only one death to die, and I will die fighting for this cause. There will be no peace in this land until slavery is done for.

The John Brown birthplace historical marker is just a couple minutes drive from Main Street up high on the hill. Turn left onto aptly-named John Brown Road and the marker is only a short way on the right. As there is no parking lot and very little traffic, people simply pull over to the side of the road to park and pay their respects and/or enjoy the short hike.

I loved the fresh brisk air on the 3/4 mile loop trail that was extremely well-marked (just follow the yellow Torrington Historical Society signs). The trail was covered in decaying leaves that had dropped a few months prior and was soggy in some places. I passed through beautiful deciduous forest with a mix of tall barren trees and young pines and about midway through was a boardwalk that had been recently made by a local Eagle Scout. I came across two women walking the opposite direction and I said hello and commented that it was such a beautiful day for a hike. “And no ticks” the woman responded excitedly. I had totally forgotten to even consider them. I likened this “tick comment” to that of mosquitoes (colloquially considered the state bird) in my home state of Florida.

Five Points Art Gallery

Only 350 feet away from the iconic Warner Theatre sign, Five Points Art Gallery is located at 33 Main Street and is open from 1 to 5pm daily except on Mondays. This corner building with big beautiful windows houses three small galleries: the TDP Gallery, the East Gallery and the West Gallery.

At the time of visiting, Five Points Art Gallery was featuring artists like Kim Sobel, whose paintings I rather enjoyed. I found her use of color coupled with shapes caused her pieces to jump off the canvas. They also offer workshops and the next time I’m in town, I will be sure to look at their schedule.

Howard’s Bookstore

Only a few steps away from the Five Points Art Gallery at 25 Main Street stands quite an interesting piece of Torrington history. The large faded letters spelling out Howards can still be seen at the top of the building. To be honest, I don’t know quite how to describe this place. It’s a bookstore, it’s a history museum preserving an era when the building was a shoe store, it’s a community musical stage…with some saddles sprinkled in.

“My name is John” the owner told me with a smile, clearly a people person, “but people call me Howard”, he continued proudly. He happily told me about the history of the building. It used to be a shoe store and the owners suddenly, and I mean VERY suddenly just left. “They left a cigarette in the ashtray and I don’t even know if they locked up when they left”, John explained. The owners reportedly left all the shoes, all the displays and the cash register still displaying $60.00. John kept it all and decided to incorporate the history into his store, making it quite an eclectic place with elegant chandeliers, comfortable sofas, shoe displays, an old Singer sewing machine and glimpses of boxes of shoes in the back room. John said locals sometimes bring him things related to the history of the building to help the collection grow. Much more than a bookstore, I got the distinct impression that Howards (open daily from 1-7pm) was a major source of Torrington pride. I noticed this even before stepping into the store actually. A woman setting up an event at the Five Points Art Gallery proudly told me that she had bought shoes there when I asked her to point me in the right direction.

John has created a community-based space that honors the past, but also looks to the future. Howards hosts African drumming on Thursday nights from 6-7pm, open rap mic nights, as well as open classical mic nights. When I visited, he was talking to a local townswoman who was considering bringing in her cello. He asked me if I rap in an encouraging tone. I must admit that this is a question that had never been asked of me before and since then, I’ve been wondering if I could. He proudly shared that people come from all over the state to participate in open mic rap night.

On the musical stage stands a quote from Freidrich Nietzche “Without music, life would be a mistake” above a black and white poster of Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday in concert. The slightly elevated stage has a harp and a piano on it and is covered in the type of rug you would see in a New England living room, giving it a very comfortable homey vibe.

Books of interest, for me at least, included an old copy of Grimms’ German Folk Tales and Dred Scott’s Revenge. I left Howards confident I would stop in whenever I’m in town.

Warner Theatre

First opened in 1931, it’s hard to miss the 50-foot vertical sign of the Warner Theatre in downtown Torrington. This historic theater, located at 68 Main Street, closed after the prevalence of television, but was later restored to its original art deco and now offers a large variety of entertainment to the public, including some big names, like Melissa Etheridge. They live stream opera from the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York City. Unfortunately, my visit did not coincide with one of the many performances of the Nutcracker or the Torrington Symphony concert. Next time I visit Torrington, I will certainly look up the Warner Theatre event calendar before booking the plane tickets.

Hotchkiss-Flyer House Museum

Operated by the Torrington Historical Society, the Hotchkiss-Flyer House Museum is located at 192 Main Street. While guided tours of this historical house featuring Chateauesque Victorian architecture are offered year round for $15, a $20 ticket will get you in to see antique Christmas ornaments and other period seasonal decorations in the evenings around Christmas time. This activity is so popular, however, that I was unable to get tickets to any of the three evening tours: 6pm, 7pm or 8pm as they were sold out.

Burr Pond

While visiting Burr Pond did not make my itinerary this time around, I enjoyed my time there when I visited in the summer a year and a half prior. It was the perfect place to swim with my friend Beth on a hot summer day, have a picnic, photograph the waterfall and walk through the woods. While I appreciate many aspects of living in Florida, I miss the deciduous forests of the north. So, the next time I come to the area for a visit, I plan to hike the 2.5 miles around the lake.

Vegan Food in Torrington

On my first visit to Torrington, I didn’t eat out much as the vegan options were quite limited. I had to settle for navigating menus that didn’t clearly mark anything vegan and I had to ask staff each time to ascertain vegan options. Frankly, it was simply easier to cook and eat at my friend’s house. But, I was delighted to discover that my most recent HappyCow search yielded a recently opened all vegan restaurant and a couple restaurants offering vegan options.

Love It Vegan

Arriving on a Monday night, I had to wait a day and a half to try Torrington’s newly-opened vegan and woman-owned restaurant, Love It Vegan, as their day of rest is Tuesday. This gave me plenty of time to study their menu, however, and I walked in on Wednesday quite eager to try this new eatery on Main Street directly across the street from the iconic Warner Theatre. I was immediately drawn to a picture on the wall of two beautiful pigs enjoying a meal together. Then, my eye caught the Pride flag in the back. I was reading the sign “Kale them with Kindness” as I heard a man (Pedro) say, “Welcome”. This was my kind of place and I did truly feel welcomed.

I slipped into one of the booths and was handed a menu, but I already knew what I wanted to try first in this family-friendly restaurant specializing in veganized New England fare: “clam” chowder. Even though my family is from New England and I lived for a time in Connecticut, I have never had clam chowder because I was raised vegetarian. So, this was quite a special event for me being the very first time I could enjoy this staple New England dish. Love It Vegan makes their plant-based clam chowder with oyster mushrooms, potatoes, onions, oat milk and coconut milk, topped with house-made rice paper bacon bits and chives. As I waited with anticipation, I perused the opposite wall featuring pictures of some of the residents at JP Farm Animal Sanctuary in neighboring Litchfield.

I also read framed newspaper clipping where I learned more about the restaurant and its owner, Amy Lovett, who opened the restaurant in March 2023, only a few months before my visit. I learned that Amy had been a chef at ION (It’s Only Natural) restaurant in Middletown, Connecticut, about 45 minutes away. A few years prior, my friend Beth took me to this vegan restaurant and I really enjoyed my experience there. My expectations of Love It Vegan, a clear play on the owner last name, grew.

Even with my raised expectations, I could not be happier with the clam chowder! This combination of ingredients worked so well together and a hot bowl of this hearty soup was the perfect way to begin my Love It Vegan gastronomical experience lasting a few days.

I was also happily convinced to order the salad special they were having with kale, pear, cucumber, pomegranate seeds, Vio-Life feta cheese in a honey-mustard dressing. I confirmed that the “honey” was actually vegan-friendly agave.

The crispiness and rawness of the salad was the perfect compliment to the claw chowder as was the monkey business smoothie made with bananas, peanut butter, spinach, cocoa and protein powder. I left wishing I were Klingon (they have multiple stomachs), but I knew I would be back. And I ordered an oyster mushroom grinder to go. A grinder is Connecticut’s answer to a sub or hoagie and Amy was kind enough to give me the grinder deconstructed to keep the bread from getting soggy. She gave me the grinder roll wrapped up in tin foil, the remoulade sauce in a small container and the fried oyster mushrooms with cajun seasoning, fresh lettuce and tomato. Later that night for dinner, I assembled the grinder and had great flavors bursting in my mouth with every bite!

I headed back to the restaurant the next morning to try their breakfast fare. I began my day with Love It Vegan’s fat vegan omelette which involved Beyond sausage, house-made rice paper bacon bits, onions, peppers, mushrooms and creamy original cheese from Chao (one of my favorite vegan cheese brands). It also came with home fries and an English muffin. I washed this hearty and delicious breakfast down with a glass of freshly squeezed mean green, made from kale, cucumber, celery, apple, lemon and ginger.

The very last stop in Torrington before heading to the Hartford airport to fly home was a meal at Love It Vegan. This time I brought my friend Beth, who was very eager to try their BLT. I ordered the steak and cheese grinder made with house made seitan steak, onions, peppers and mayo on a hoagie roll and sunny roots juice consisting of beets, orange, lemon, carrot and ginger. As expected, the food was delicious!

Love It Vegan is very community-oriented hosting game nights on Fridays and a Queer Community Craft Fair on the first Saturday of every month from 8am to 3pm where people can sell and purchase jewelry, baked goods, plant accessories and more. This eatery seemed to enthusiastically foster an environment of openness, kindness and camaraderie.

I will be back!

Salt 2.0

Located right next door to Warner Theater and across the street from Love It Vegan, Salt 2.0 offers some vegan options, including wraps, burritos, tacos and bowls. The menu is clearly marked as vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free making it easy to navigate. They were also advertising a comedy night and apparently often have shows and events, such as an ugly Christmas sweater contest.

For lunch to go, I ordered the Upbeet Power Bowl featuring romaine, brown rice or lentils (I got lentils), red beets, shaved Brussels sprouts, slivered almonds, lemon-herb chickpeas and edamame with blood orange shallot vinaigrette. I double-checked that the vinaigrette was void of honey and it was. The very friendly staff member told me that this particular dressing was not made in house, and she was happy to verify all the ingredients were vegan, even looking up the gum Arabic powder was indeed plant-based.

For dinner to go, I ordered the sweet potato and black bean taco duo (without feta): maple-roasted sweet potatoes, black beans, lettuce, smoky lime sauce, soft corn tortillas served with rice and beans with your choice of refried beans or black bean. I chose refried beans. The staff member informed me that they can make many of their dishes vegan simply by omitting the cheese. They do not have vegan cheese. I also ordered the chips (made in house and colorful) and fire-roasted salsa, which was very flavorful.

Vientiane

If you find yourself with a hankering for Thai food, Vientiane offers some vegan options on their menu of most of which can be made vegan. I was left scratching my head a bit trying to understand why a Thai restaurant would be named the capital of neighboring Laos, but it turns out that almost all the employees there were from Laos.

The staff seemed to understand veganism well and one employee explained that they could make most menu options vegan because each dish is made to order and they could substitute vegan oyster sauce et cetera. He also confirmed that with the exception of the penang curry, all the curries were already vegan (no shrimp paste or fish sauce) anyway. The staff member I spoke to also told me to make sure to specify that you want vegan and not vegetarian so they substitute egg noodles and other non-vegan ingredients.

I ordered scallion pancakes, which are already vegan, as an appetizer and tofu and veggie red curry with sticky rice for the main entree. The flavors were balanced well.

I left the unassuming town of Torrington already looking forward to my next visit. The small town vibe made me feel at home despite being a visitor. Upon return, I will happily go check out the latest art installation at Five Points Gallery, catch up with John at Howard’s and enjoy a delicious meal at Love It Vegan after a hike around Burr Pond and giving some piggy belly rubs at JP Farm Animal Sanctuary. I’m happy for my friends Beth and Terri, who call Torrington home.