“And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.”
Those lines, from the poem, “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” by William Wordsworth, are inscribed on a stone marker at Laurel Ridge Farm in the Northfield section of Litchfield.
It rings true to visitors who go to see the more than ten thousand daffodils and narcissus that were planted at Laurel Ridge Farm beginning in the early1940’s. The bulbs were planted in a field considered too rocky to plant crops. The stone marker that holds the poem by Wordsworth also explains: “These daffodils were planted for all to enjoy by Virginia and Remy Morosani, 1941.”
Since then, the Morosani family has maintained the daffodils and set up a foundation for their care. More bulbs were planted over the years. Maintenance includes digging up and separating bulbs when they become over-crowded.
A visit on April 10 found that only a few daffodils were in bloom. A couple who goes yearly and had come to check predicted, “Maybe a week or two more until peak.”
The daffodils at Laurel Ridge Farm in Litchfield. Photo by Robin Roraback
From about mid-April to early May, thousands of visitors are welcomed to see the daffodils. There are three rules: No dogs, no picnicking, and no picking or stepping on the flowers. They also ask that no one park on the east side of the narrow road so that emergency vehicles gain access if needed.
It is a magical experience to walk the more than ten acres of meandering paths, with woods and ponds, surrounded on all sides by daffodils and narcissus in shades of yellow from pale, almost white to golden yellow.
The Visit Litchfield CT Facebook page (www.facebook.com/VisitLitchfieldCT) posts updates and will post when the daffodils peak. Laurel Ridge Daffodils Facebook page also posts updates on when the peak is expected.
Laurel Ridge Farm is located at 66 Wigwam Road, 1.3 miles south of the intersection withRoute 254. A sign for Laurel Ridge Farm is at the beginning of Wigwam Road. There is no admission fee. It is open from sunrise to sunset while the daffodils bloom. After that, it is closed until the next year.
The annual Millerton Fire Company Easter egg hunt returned to Eddie Collins Memorial Park on Saturday, April 4.
Tyler Dehoff discovers a piece of chocolate in a plastic egg at the zero to two-year-old egg hunt area.Nathan Miller
Families crowd into hay wagons for a parade down Main Street to the park before the egg hunt.Nathan Miller
Bob Stevens, right, enjoys the swinging sounds of country and western music during a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, with his son, Robert Stevens Jr., not pictured.
Stevens’s only son, 39-year-old Robert Stevens Jr., along with employees at the town garage and others in the community, remembered Stevens as a dedicated man with a singular passion for highway maintenance.
“It was an absolutely huge part of his life,” Robert said.
Robert Jr. said Stevens was as supportive as a father as he was dedicated to his work for the town. He recalled a week-long BMX biking trip to Camp Woodward in Pennsylvania that his father drove him to and from, making the round trip twice without a complaint.
“It didn’t matter how little or how far we were going,” Robert said. “If it was to support me, he was on. Always.”
Road crew foreman Shawn Morrison said that supportive nature extended to Stevens’s role as Highway Superintendent, where he prioritized the safety of workers and drivers above all else.
“He always said to me, ‘If you don’t feel safe doing it, then we’re not going to do it,’” Morrison said.
Morrison praised Stevens’s dedication to his post, saying he often worked long hours and weekends out of a love for the job. Winter was a favorite season, as Morrison said he was obsessive about clearing the town’s roads during snowstorms.
“A lot of people had nicknames out there for him — calling him ‘Bare-road Bob,’” Morrison said. “He was anal about his roads in the winter.”
Stevens rarely missed a day of work, for sickness or for pleasure, road crew employees and Town Supervisor Chris Kennan said. Joshua Schultz, a road crew member and Stevens’s godson, said he could remember one notable absence. “He took his son to Nashville,” Schultz said.
Photo providedBob Stevens, right, and his son, Robert Stevens Jr., pose for a photograph together. Robert remembered his father as a caring and supportive man following his death on Monday, March 30.Photo provided
Robert Jr. said he and his father traveled twice to Nashville, Tennessee — among the few trips they took together — but a third visit was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Other travel opportunities often depended on Stevens’s work at the town garage. “If it was wintertime, he’s here,” Robert said. “He’s taking care of the town.”
Sickness didn’t keep Stevens at home either. Morrison said he would work from his well-known orange pickup truck to keep from spreading colds to people.
The orange pick-up truck was a fixture around town, Supervisor Chris Kennan said. Stevens was often spotted inspecting roads across town in the recognizable truck, when it wasn’t parked at the town garage while he worked in his office.
Kennan said the town will begin a search for a new Highway Superintendent, with a committee expected to form at the Thursday, April 9, Town board meeting. He also expects the board to install a plaque at the town garage on Route 22 honoring Stevens’s service.
Kennan proposed the plaque at a special meeting of the Town Board on April 1, saying a modest display would respect Stevens’s private nature.
“I’m excited that we’re going to put a plaque on that building,” Kennan said. “It’s appropriate that there be some reflection of what he put into it.”
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