The Frog Bridge

Robert Byron (see yesterday) got to see the Dome of the Rock, the Friday Mosque at Veramin, the Mausoleum of Uljaitu, the Dome of Sheikh Lutfullah and the Shrine of Khoja Abu Nasr Parsa, among other marvels. Odds are slim that I will see any of them, except maybe the Dome of the Rock.

It’s more likely that someday I’ll be able to see the Frog Bridge. I learned about it by a chance mention, the second-best way to learn about something like that. The best way is to chance across it in person, like my correspondent in Connecticut, MT, who brought the Frog Bridge to my attention in the following e-mail exchange.

I sent her this message:

In a tangential way - the Internet was made for tangents - I ran across a picture of a statue in Cheshire, Conn., associated with the House of Doors. I figured you might know if it was still there. I hope so. See this link for more on this giant plus others around the country: http://www.agilitynut.com/giants2.html#Ham.

She answered:

YES! it is still there. I not only go by there occasionally by car and bike, but I also buy doors there. (A giant selection.) I do have an interest in figures like him, so I enjoy seeing them depicted regularly in the Zippy comic strip. Do you read it? The creator, Bill Griffith, is a Conn. resident (transplanted from San Francisco), but most of the Yankee folks around here have no idea what he is getting at in Zippy. The public is always trying to get the Hartford Courant to drop him. He has featured the House of Doors guy, as well as other local sites such as the Frog Bridge in Willimantic, Conn.

One fall day about five years ago, I was lost going to a deposition in Willimantic, and I came upon the Frog Bridge (decorated with four giant frogs atop giant spools of thread -- these are emblems of local history). I was delighted to see it, as I had seen it in Zippy, but had never seen it reported on in any other news medium.