To the Editor:

This Saturday, July 13, we can extend the spirit of Independence Day to celebrate the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route (aka W3R). When I moved here almost five years ago, I had forgotten the gallant French general who brought his troops from Rhode Island through Newtown to Washington’s encampment in New York and marched with him to victory at Yorktown. After all, he wasn’t a fun character in Hamilton like the Marquis de Lafayette! But there was a sign at the front of the library, and the I-84 bridge on the way to Southbury is the Rochambeau Bridge. And now a developer needs to own the part of the General’s trail through Newtown that still evidences the 18th Century landscape — all so that he can escape that pesky one acre per home zoning rule and build a “gated community without the gate.” Saturday morning at 10:30 at the Bench Overlooking the Town, on Old Castle Hill Road, there will be guided tours of the trail, speakers on the history and importance of the trail, and CT’s 5th Regiment will be in full Revolutionary soldier glamour for the kids — and fashion mavens! The DAR, National Park Service, and history buffs galore are on board. Newtown Conservation Coalition Facebook page has more details. Learn why Rochambeau is worth remembering.

Pat Hirsch

Newtown