Burlington, CT Hiking Trail Home To A Revolutionary War Hideout

Everywhere you turn in the state of Connecticut there is always something with a story behind it and the Tory Den at Tunxis Trail in the Burlington area definitely has a story behind it.

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I don't know a lot about the Revolutionary War, so this was a nice opportunity to learn a little bit about what it was like in this area during that turbulent time. The Tunxis hiking trail has a hiding spot located on its grounds that was used by loyalist colonists, known as "Tories" in the late 1700s. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, a loyalist, or Tory, was still loyal to the British crown and usually had some kind of interest in maintaining the British hold on the colonies. Needless to say, the colonists who wanted to free themselves from British rule were not fans of the Tories.

A group that called themselves The Sons of Liberty would hunt them down.

It was known that the first president of the United States, George Washington hated the loyalists, saying as early as 1776 that...

"they were even higher and more insulting in their opposition than the regulars"

George certainly had a way with words, didn't he? But, I digress, these Tories were constantly hounded by the "patriots" and my thanks to Walls of Time from YouTube for the heads up on this whole thing. According to him, if you were a Tory and found, you would be arrested, tarred and feathered, whipped, tortured, and harassed publicly.

So the Tories needed hiding places and one such hiding place is near the Burlington area on what is now a hiking trail. YouTuber Walls of Time mentions a book written by E. Leroy Pond that recounts events surrounding the Tory Den, at the time "Chippeny Hill" and the people who used it to hide from the American Revolutionaries.

Tunxis Trail home of Tory Den is about a 4.6-mile loop in Burlington. Check out the pics and YouTube video and thanks for hanging around with me.