1. Collins Creamery
City: Enfield, CT
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (860) 749-8663
Address: 9 Powder Hill Rd.
Description: Standing outside the Collins Creamery, someone remarked, “Why is all the best ice cream made at farms?” Let’s hope it was a rhetorical question. Farms are so clearly the best place to get ice cream, for five reasons at once, but we’ll answer it in the way it was at the time: freshness. The Collins Creamery makes over 20 flavors at their small dairy store at Powder Hill Farm, and you can get them in waffle cones, sundaes, and milk shakes, along with a variety of other vehicles. But, of course, what you want is the delicious, creamy substance that has made gluttons of us all. They also have yogurt, sorbet, and fat-free and soft-serve ice cream. In Connecticut, many dairy farms were not able to compete with giant corporate farms out west that are as big as our entire state. Many, like Collins, have turned to gourmet ice cream, and we can all be glad they did.
2. Enfield Historical Society
City: Enfield, CT
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (860) 745-1729
Address: 1294 Enfield St.
Description: The Enfield Historical Society operates 3 museums, all open to the public for free. The Old Town Hall Museum at 1294 Enfield St. was built as the third meeting house of the First Ecclesiastical Society of Enfield in 1774, and became the town hall. Today it is a museum of Enfield history, where you’ll learn all about the Thompsonville carpet industry, the Hazardville gunpowder industry, and the Enfield Shaker Community, on Sun from 2 to 4:30 p.m., May through Oct. The 1782 Martha A. Parsons House at 1387 Enfield St. houses one of the best and most complete family collections in the state, also open Sun 2 to 4:30 p.m., May through Oct. The Wallop School at 250 Abbe Rd. was built in 1800 and remained in service for almost 150 years. You can visit one Sun a month, June through Sept, 2 to 4 p.m.