Telegraph Road, Center Turnpike

Abutments for the bridge over the Willimantic River on the "Telegraph" road from Boston to Hartford over which the "Boston and Hartford Telegraph" coaches traveled.

The bridge site is down stream from the traditional ford over the Willimantic which is just below the outlet of Roaring Brook. The ford is identified in land records from the early 1730s. A little over a half mile southwesterly on the path from the ford on the west side of the Willimantic River is a traditional Salmon fishing place noted on John Chandler's 1705 map of Mohegan Sachems Hereditary Country.

Early bridge sites favored locations that provided raised abutments and were not necessarily the exact site of ancient fords.