Finally he leaves Bridgeport proper... but city never really ends. The Traveler is starting to think that it's going to fee like "city" all the way to New York and beyond.

After a long stretch of strip malls and taking a wrong turn through quiet dead end streets, He finally reaches the "heart" of another town, Fairfield, the county seat of Fairfield county . Here the town center still has the original layout from when it was first built.

Many early colonial American towns didn't follow the European model with a small cramped "square" or plaza right in the middle. Instead they were built around a "green" a large grassy area which could be used for gatherings, public punishments--and grazing animals when not otherwise in use. It gave the towns more of a spacious, countryside feel, rather that the fortress feel of European towns, built tightly together to defend itself from the endless wars and invasions the were a way of life in Europe. Once the fighting with Indians ended (with what we would call today ethnic cleansing or genocide), American colonists didn't really think much about war any more...

The green here in Fairfield is still preserved, and next to it is a museum for which the Traveler decides to cough up a couple of bucks.

It tells a bit about the history ... the Indians... the early farmers... how the railroad made it a "tourist" destination for well to do New Yorkers escaping the city...

A display with the claim "First To Fly" catches his attention. It claims that Gustave Whitehead, not the Wright Brothers was possibly the first to fy in 1901. But he didn't document it as well as the Wright brothers, so this claim is still debatable. I guess the lesson is, if you're doing something for the first time in history, makes sure you've got proof...

But what really catches the Traveler's eye is a list of peculiar "laws" during early colonial times, with their punishments, such as...

- Not going to church... 5 shilling fine....
- Interrupting the minister at church... fine or public shaming
- Not teaching your children to be Christians... losing custody of your children (and you thought social services these days are overreaching!)
- Going to live with the Indians ... a year in prison.


Hmmm... all those "Noble Principle on which this nation was founded of Freedom of Religion... Freedom of Speech... respect for all cultures..." not seeing much of that here... So folks what think we should go back to "how America used to be" is this what they have in mind?

And then, of course, were the "sink or float" test to see if a woman was committing witchcraft (if she was innocent she would sink... kind of a lose-lose scenario). I suppose if you were to question this method of "testing", you would be fined as well for insolence...

Another law gives an interesting insight into culture back then:

- Young man living by himself (or family hosting an unmarried young man)... 20 shilling fine a week...

So a young man who wanted to come to Fairfield to look for work... couldn't do it. Gotta get married first (and have 10 kids--remember, no family planning back then...) Not taking any chances of hanky panky going on...

It is interesting to note, though, that unlike many conservative cultures these days, the restrictions to avoid pre-marital hanky panky was put on the MAN rather than the woman.

... Anyways, I for one am grateful for "progress" and that all these laws have fallen by the wayside...