My best friend Emma and I have many things in common, including (but not limited to) our love for books, children’s literature, Bruegger’s Bagels, the Anne of Green Gables mini-series, paper, pens, touring the homes of dead authors, bookplates, Crazy Bread, James Taylor, John Mayer, popcorn, road trips, Ireland, hooded sweatshirts, and tacos.
But by far one of the biggest pieces of our friendship is our love (obsession?) of the show Gilmore Girls. Between us we’ve watched the entire series over and over again an alarming number of times. We quote lines from the show at every opportunity. Luke is our dream man, and we are firmly pro-Jess.
So when we were planning a summer road trip from NYC to Boston (we were headed there for the James Taylor & Carol King concert, which was incredible), we knew a visit to the town (Washington Depot, Connecticut) that inspired Amy Sherman-Palladino’s creation of Stars Hallow was an absolute must. For those who do not know: Stars Hallow is the fictional town setting of the show Gilmore Girls. It was like planning a visit to our Motherland.
We started off the weekend by staying Friday night in Litchfield, Connecticut, a town about 20 minutes away from Washington Depot. We stayed at an adorable inn called Tollgate Hill. Our room reminded us of Lorelai and Rory’s room at the Cheshire Cat (see photo below). However the floral motif is where the similarities ended, the Tollgate Hill inn was very lovely.
The next morning after breakfast we packed up and drove to Washington Depot, or what we now mainly refer to as “Stars Hallow.” We started our visit at The Hickory Stick Bookshop. It is a completely adorable independent Bookstore, and in our minds it is, of course, Stars Hallow Books, run by Andrew.
After a decent amount of book shopping, we began to walk through town and were immediately charmed by the group of signs advertising upcoming town festivals and events. At that moment Emma and I looked at each other and we knew: we were in Stars Hallow.
We then walked toward the center of town and saw the adorable Town Hall.
Here’s Emma by the Washington sign near Town Hall:
Next up was the discovery of Washington Food Market, which of course is Doose’s Market. We went inside and bought several necessities including Whoopie Pies and Havarti Cheese.
Inside Doose’s Market:
Next door to Doose’s Market is the Post Office:
We then noticed Gypsy’s Garage:
A little ways up the road is the Gunn Memorial Library:
We explored the library thoroughly, because we’re pretty nerdy and love visiting libraries in other towns, even if we can’t check out any books. The main floor is full of windows that look out into the leaves of the trees in the back, and on that sunny Saturday morning provided the loveliest shady light to browse books in. It has a wonderful children’s section in the basement. But the most spectacular part of the library was the top floor. It was a reading room & events space, and it was one of the most beautiful & peaceful rooms I’ve ever been in. Here are some photos:
We didn’t find an exact match for Luke’s Diner, although there was a cafe with a similar yellow sign. It had a completely different feel inside though. We plan on looking more for Luke’s next time we visit. :)
We reluctantly left town Saturday afternoon, we had a lot more ground to cover that weekend including a reunion with the third member of the Red Shoe Cult and a date with James Taylor & Carole King that evening. It was a fabulous visit though, and we can’t wait to go back someday.
