West Cornwall’s September challenge

Each of the Northwest Corner towns has its own challenges and benefits, with each one’s individuality making it a destination and good place to live for its own reason. The Cornwalls are culturally rich, with many artists of all kinds calling them home, whether full time or part time. And West Cornwall, with its historic Covered Bridge across the Housatonic River that is especially lively in this stretch, has a charm that draws residents and visitors alike year round. 

But for the month of September, it will be harder to find a way into this town, where Pearly’s Farmhouse Café, the Wish House, the post office (one of three for the Cornwalls, for anyone who doesn’t know) and more are remaining open during long-planned and needed construction on the Covered Bridge. 

It will mean a big change for this bridge, which had clacking wooden boards as its bed up until now. This newspaper even had a letter to the editor that encouraged area residents to drive through the bridge one more time before the new construction began, to hear the sound of those boards under one’s tires. Anyone who didn’t heed that call has missed the chance, and will, once the bridge is open again, drive over a smoother and more silent surface.

Construction is underway, and according to reliable sources, running ahead of its planned work schedule. Let’s hope that’s true now and stays so, for the sake of all those who live and work in West Cornwall and usually need to travel over the bridge as part of their regular schedule. But until the construction is done, there are alternative routes that are not too far out of the way, suitably scenic, and especially for the dirt-surfaced River Road, easily passable even in inclement weather. 

For a good description of the detour routes, go to www.wishhouse.com and scroll down to see two sets of directions, one from the north on Route 7 (Coming from the north on Route 7,  at the traffic light take a left onto Lime Rock Station Road and then follow onto River Road. Coming from Route 112/Lime Rock Road, take Route 7 North to same traffic light and take a right onto Lime Rock Station Road) and one from the south on Route 7 (Coming from the south on Route 7 or west on Route 4, continue onto Route 4 east, take a left onto Route 125, follow to Route 128 east and continue right into downtown West Cornwall.)

There are useful maps on the Wish House website as well that can make it even easier. Don’t count on GPS to give you the best route in this unusual situation, but if you do find that helpful, by all means share your information with your neighbors in a letter to this newspaper.

As the construction proceeds, all West Cornwall’s neighbors will be watching and waiting. And for those merchants who feel less visited in September, remember that all your neighbors across the region will want to cross over the new bridge once it’s done. That should make for a doubly busy October.