Finding the nooks and crannies of every town

SALISBURY — If you enjoy exploring two-lane roads and visiting towns you’ve never heard of, you might as well join the Connecticut 169 Club.

The brainchild of historian and author Marty Podskoch, the club members explore all of the state’s 169 municipalities. Once a year, they have a banquet.

There’s a book that goes with it. “The Connecticut 169 Club: Your Passport and Guide to Exploring Connecticut,” has short entries for all 169 towns.

Podskoch was at the Scoville Memorial Library in Salisbury on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 2, to sell books and promote the club.

Podskoch said 183 writers contributed to the book, which he called “a monstrous undertaking.” The entry for Salisbury was written by Lou Bucceri.

His approach to finding contributors was straightforward. 

“Hey, what town are you from? How’d you like to write 500 to 600 words?”

Club members bring the book along with them in their travels and have people sign them, or affix the town seal, or otherwise provide some indication that the traveler has been to the town.

The signatories can be anyone — the first selectman, a waitress, a business owner.

On his way to Salisbury, Podskoch stopped in Norfolk, got an impromptu tour of Infinity Hall, and got the manager’s signature.

He also investigated the Great Falls Brewery in North Canaan.

Podskoch organized a similar club in New York’s Adirondack Mountain region. That one is called “Adirondack 102.”

He got the idea from the “Vermont 251 Club,” which has 6,000 members.

Podskoch said there is a historical antecedent for the various clubs. In the 1920s, a group of prominent men went on road trips complete with tents and explored the country.

They were Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, naturalist John Burroughs and Harvey Firestone, the tire and rubber man.

Naturally, with Edison along, the tents were wired for electric lights.

Podskoch showed slides of Connecticut landmarks that people might not be familiar with: a small, stone Orthodox chapel in Southbury; the unusual architecture at Grace Farm in New Canaan; the ornate town hall in Norwich.

One lady in the audience had purchased the book and embarked on her explorations a few weeks earlier.

She said she had visited 24 towns in Litchfield County, venturing forth twice a week since Jan. 1.

At the banquet, club members who have achieved the goal of visiting the 169 towns receive a patch.

The Adirondack 102 club calls its version the Vagabond Award.

Podskoch said he tried out a few ideas for the Connecticut award — notably, The Nutmeg.

But then he learned about The Leatherman, the mysterious tramp who made a 365-mile circuit around western Connecticut and parts of New York state in the mid and late 19th century.

He was known as The Leatherman because of his clothing, which was pieces of leather sewn together.

So the Connecticut 169 Club award is known as the Leatherman Award.

To learn more about the club and to buy the book, go to www.martinpodskoch.com.