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3 States
Members of Putnam’s Boy Scout Troop 21 hiked part of the Air Line State Park Trail in Thompson, ending up at the Tri-State Marker where Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island come together. Scouts Brendin Adams, left, and Raihden Albino, along with Troop 21 volunteer Richard Watson, stood next to the marker. Photo: Peter A. Lombardo
Scouts hike
Air Line
Trail
THOMPSON — Most people don’t visit three states in one day. Recently however, members of Putnam’s Boy Scout Troop 21 visited three states in a matter of seconds, when they hiked through Thompson to the Tri-State Marker, at the northern end of the Air Line State Park Trail.
“It’s great to get outside in the fresh air and get some exercise,” said Troop 21 Scoutmaster Peter A. Lombardo, of Putnam. “We hiked over five miles. Troop 21 usually gets out for a hike, a camping trip, a service project or some other Scouting activity once a month and in August we wanted to take a hike up to the Tri-State Marker.”
The Air Line State Park Trail stretches 50 miles, starting in E. Hampton and heading northeast through a dozen towns, including Hampton, Pomfret and Putnam. It ends in Thompson at the marker where Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island come together. There are actually two markers: The three states erected a small granite obelisk in 1883, but that turned out not to be in the right spot. Later, the federal government put a small metal disk embedded in concrete in the ground about 50 feet away, exactly on the border. For information about joining the Scouts, call 860- 963-0171
Operated by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the trail includes a section of the bed of a former railroad line that ran from New York to Boston. Started in 1873, freight and passenger service declined sharply after the disastrous 1955 flood destroyed parts of the line. It was finally put out of business in the 1960s by competition from the region’s new interstate highway system. Graded and built for trains, the trail is nearly straight and flat in many places.
“It’s a great day out,” Lombardo said. “It’s an easy hike and it’s very pretty.”
The Air Line Trail hike comes on the heels of Troop 21 spending a fun week at Camp Mattatuck in Plymouth in July.
Holding its meetings at St. Mary’s Church on Providence Street, Troop 21 is open to any boy aged 11 to 17. They do not have to be Catholic or be members of the church. Also, boys with special needs are welcome and Troop 21 does not turn away any boy for financial reasons.
The hike was all part of Troop 21’s monthly schedule through next June. Among other activities, in September, Lombardo said the Scouts will pitch their tents and help out on-site at the annual weekend “Circle of Fun” carnival at St. Mary’s, followed by a rifle-shooting weekend, a wilderness camping trip, a snowshoe hike, a winter camping trip, a food drive for local needy people, a weekend at an archery range, camping with the National Guard, and the troop’s annual fishing trip.
Troop 21’s Scoutmaster noted that a Boy Scout troop’s operations are run by the boys, with the adults guiding and teaching them as needed, overseeing transportation and making sure everyone is healthy and safe.
“Our Scouts made up this year’s schedule and are responsible for planning and carrying out what they’ll be doing,” Lombardo said. “They decide what they want to do; they raise their own money to do it. Scouting builds self-reliance, responsibility and character that way. We’re very proud of our guys.”
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