Desperado

americanguide:

ALL ROADS LEAD TO NEWTOWN

…this route passes through level country to Danbury, winding up hills to Newtown with its fine views over valleys and rolling hills from the hilltop main street.

— Connecticut, A Guide To Its Roads, Lore, and People (WPA, 1938)

In the days after the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary the whole world seemed to be streaming into Newtown, Connecticut, as fast as they could. All roads led there, like a network of veins feeding a heart.

Waves of people and intensity broke over the hamlet. Traffic from every direction was a one-lane parking lot of cars at a dead stop.

I’d been through Newtown years ago and there was no particular attraction that would have warranted my return except maybe its quaintness and its general store, so the enormity that was now dwarfing this town was a striking reminder of how small Newtown really is. That flagpole you can see at the top of the hill is the best example of this: there are few towns in America that could have a flagpole literally in the middle of the road in the center of their town at a four way intersection that has no stop signs. On a normal day there is so little traffic it’s effortless to navigate this landmark, but now it was gridlock.

In contrast with that old flagpole, which has stood since 1876, was the makeshift one freshly planted in the middle of a farmer’s cornfield. It was there because nobody knew what to do with their grief. So to compensate, there were temporary memorials wherever you looked: in the town center, on the side of the highway, in front of the tall pine tree in Sandy Hook. Piles of flowers, mounds of stuffed animals, handmade signs to pray. And those signs were everywhere: “Pray for Newtown” — “Pray for Sandy Hook” — “Pray.” 

Editor’s note: Pictures were taken in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 16 and 17, 2012.

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Maine State Guide Brett Klein lives in Connecticut and works in New York, but prefers small town life and his homestate of Maine. Any chance to get rural is a mental vacation. Follow Klein on Tumblr at The Coast is Clear. His curatorial collection of Americana, rural life, other artists and ephemera can be seen on Tumblr at Tons of Land.