There's nothing quite like New England in autumn. Falling leaves, hot coffee with a pumpkin spice bouquet, hayrides, scarves, peacoats, and long, meandering conversations about Paul Anka, Doris Day, and Christiane Amanpour. 'Tis the season for Gilmore Girls! But, let's be honest, every season is the season for Gilmore Girls. If you're like me, you've enjoyed your fair share of GG binge-fests, complete with candy, pizza (and in my case copious amounts of alcohol), and glitter nail polish.
As much as I love Lorelai and Rory's delicious banter and manic-pixie-dreamgirl-esque shenanigans, I've gotta say, my favorite character on the show, is the town. That quintessential rural New England town of Stars Hollow. I mean, who didn't want to go to Stars Hollow High or hit up one of those adorable Town Hall Meetings? Well, unlike other fictional locales that are too good to be true (ahem, Rivendell), Stars Hollow is actually based on a very real place.
In fact, here's Kirk (jack of all trades, literally all trades, master of none), giving a tour of the fictional Stars Hollow:
While showrunner, Amy Sherman-Palladino was staying at the The Mayflower Grace on vacation she fell madly in love with Connecticut. For two days she drove through various towns and began conceiving the fictional Stars Hollow, a fairytale town, grounded in actual, real places.
Welcome to Washington Depot, Connecticut. Size: 38.7 square miles. Population: 3,578. This rural town in Litchfield County, Connecticut served as inspiration for the town of Stars Hollow. It's where the Mayflower Grace Inn is located, and thus the starting point for the idea that would become Stars Hollow. As a side note, it was also used for filming parts of Friday the 13th, Part 2, so that's pretty rad.
Washington is your standard white picket fenced, church steepled, one-stoplight town (Okay, I don't know if it has one stop light, but remember that episode of GG where the town installed a stop light and Lorelei and Rory were stuck at it for, like, ever, right after Lorelei decided she didn't want to marry Max? Whatever, he was kind of a jerk when he started pressuring her into changing for him, I'm glad they broke up.).
Anyhow, near the Berkshire Mountains and only 80 miles north of NYC, lots of wealthy New York City folks call Washington home, so it comes as no surprise that the town has oodles of charm by way of Colonial-period homes. Many of the families in fact have descendants that date back to Colonial times. I bet loads of residents are members of the D.A.R. (like Rory and Emily). Fun fact: I almost joined the D.A.R. because of Gilmore Girls. Then, decided against it cause it like required a ton of paperwork, and you couldn't apply online. Lame. Oh, and interestingly enough, according to the town's Wikipedia page, there's a sizable gay community that calls the place home.
Even the town's government helped inspire an important feature of the show: “Washington has a traditional New England town meeting form of government, which operates under the Connecticut General Statutes. Town meetings serve as Washington's chief legislative body, and several specialized boards and commissions, run by volunteer residents, tend to municipal business.”
And in case you were curious, the system works:
“Washington has a culture of volunteerism and active civic engagement. Many residents give freely of their time and resources to operate town government, provide emergency services, and support local community organizations. The town has unusually high voter turnout rates, and, in several elections, has had the highest level of voter participation of any municipality in Connecticut. Washington's voter turnout rate in the 2004 presidential election was 93.08%” - Wikipedia
A little bit of Washington's history:
Before the colonists arrived, the Wyantenock Native American tribe lived in the area. Then in 1734, Joseph Hurlbut established a homestead and called it Judea Parish. In 1746, an iron ore was mined, and ironworking became a major industry in the area. In 1779, Washington was incorporated and named after George Washington. Allegedly, the founding father spent the night in New Preston in 1781. But, then again, places where Washington slept are as ubiquitous as places where Elvis spent the night.
The 19th century brought the Industrial Revolution to Washington, Connecticut and factories and mills started sprouting up along the Shepaug River, which was known as Factory Hollow. Aww. In 1861 America's very first summer camp was opened in Washington by Frederick Gunn, an abolitionist. Washington was also a stop on the Underground Railroad. The actual railroad came in 1872, connecting Washington with New York City. The Washington Green was transformed at the end of the 19th century “into an idealized version of the quintessential New England village.”
Many of the houses were built before 1950, and reflect such historic architectural styles as Georgian, Greek Revival, Italianate and Shingle. There's also loads of 19th century barns, mills and other buildings, which are also remarkably well-preserved.
Washington, however, is just one source (albeit a big source) of Stars Hollow inspiration. Other towns that contributed fairytale New England vibes include New Milford, Litchfield and Kent.
So, there you have it Gilmore Girls addicts. Go forth and proudly binge-drink coffee, crank up your Bangles CDs, consume unconscionable quantities of pie and for the love of god, banter your little hearts out!
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