Tower #1. 1810
Daniel Wadsworth (founder of the Wadsworth Atheneum) built his home on the mountain in 1809. His luxury estate, “Monte Video,” had gardens, a 12-acre lake, and a boathouse. The following year, he built a wooden tower nearby, 55 feet high (about 1/3 of a mile south of the present tower), and opened the tower and his park-like grounds to the public. The 5,000 square mile view stretched to Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Long Island Sound, and New York State. The tower blew down in 1840.

Tower #2. 1840
Daniel Wadsworth immediately built a new tower, this one 10 feet higher. When it came up for sale in 1848, The Hartford Daily Courant noted on August 16 that “It has so long been a place of resort for the public that if it should fall into the hands of an individual who will close the gates, the privation will be…felt.” The tower had several subsequent owners and burned down in 1864.

Tower #3. 1867
Matthew Bartlett bought land to the north of the old Wadsworth Tower and built a new wooden tower in 1867. It became a popular destination for the public, with a restaurant, telescope, dance platform, picnic area, croquet, swings, and boating on what is today called Hoe Pond.

Mark Twain hiked to the Bartlett Tower from his home in Hartford, and wrote in his magazine article, A Literary Nightmare (1876), “…Here we are at the Tower, Man! Look at it! Look at it! Feast your eyes on it!” The next year he gave a book to Matthew Bartlett, writing on the flyleaf, “To Mr. Bartlett, who has robbed the historical command ‘Away to the Tower!’ of all its terrors.” Twain often walked to the tower on Sundays with his friend, the Rev. Joseph Twitchell, walking nearly nine miles from Twain’s house to the tower. It was on one of these walks to the rock outcropping that Twain coined the phrase, the “Royal View.”

In 1888, Robert Hoe (hence the name of Hoe Pond on the mountain) bought the Wadsworth/Bartlett estate and tower, closed it to the public, and then tore the tower down.

Tower # 4.  Tariffville. Matthew Bartlett, the former owner, sprang into action. He responded to Robert Hoe’s destruction of the popular tower by building another tower in Tariffville. The new Bartlett Tower was 70 feet high, with bedrooms and an observation deck. Designed for visitors, there was a pavilion with tables and chairs, a form of binoculars, croquet, bowling, a dance floor, and a piano. In 1898, after admission fees were no longer able to support the tower, Bartlett sold it to Antoinette Eno Wood. She turned it into a private family retreat, to the regret of the public. The Hartford Courant wrote on January 19, 1898, that “the thousands who have enjoyed the scene from the top of the tower will always remember it and feel grateful to [Matthew Bartlett] for having given them the opportunity.” Antoinette Wood’s tower was destroyed by fire in 1936. Today, hikers can access the Tariffville site by using the Mountain Road trailhead on the Metacomet Trail (junction of Routes 189 and 215; limited roadside parking).

Tower #5. Gilbert Heublein had kept his eye on Robert Hoe’s property on the highest point of Talcott Mountain since at least 1875. One day, hiking nearby with his fiancée, he promised to build her a castle there one day. He purchased part of the Hoe property in 1911. Robert Hoe, still owning adjacent property, did all he could to block Heublein’s construction of a new tower.

Construction on the Heublein Tower began in 1911 and was completed in 1914. The two additions were built in 1921 and 1929. It was the summer home for Gilbert and Louise Heublein and their family. At age seven, Gilbert Heublein had immigrated to the U.S. from Suhl, in the German state of Bavaria, in 1856. He grew up to be a Hartford restauranteur and hotel owner, an innovator in gourmet food and liquor, co-founder of Heublein, Inc., and developer of A-1 Steak Sauce.

Gilbert Heublein’s tower design is reminiscent of the fanciful architecture he knew in Bavaria. The architectural firm of Smith & Bassette designed the tower with reinforced concrete and a riveted iron frame that went deep into the rock. It is 165 feet tall, 875 feet above sea level on the highest point of Talcott Mountain, and built to withstand winds of 100 miles per hour. The family used the tower as their summer home from 1914 to 1937, from when the first phase of construction was completed until Gilbert Heublein’s death.

The Hartford Times newspaper purchased the tower in 1943. It was called the Times Tower and was the location of Hartford Times social gatherings. Guests included Ronald Reagan and Frank Lloyd Wright. Area Republicans entertained General Dwight D. Eisenhower at the tower at an event in 1950, where they asked him to run for President in 1952.

In 1962, the “Save Talcott Mountain” organization blocked the development of the tower into a restaurant, with houses and apartments along the mountain ridge.

In 1966, the State of Connecticut purchased the tower and 557 acres of surrounding land, and opened it to the public in 1974 as Talcott Mountain State Park. The Friends of Heublein Tower, Inc., established in 1984, works to restore the tower to its 1914 appearance and maintains the Heublein Tower and grounds for the public. The tower and its 4.5 acres are on the National Register of Historic Places and are part of the Talcott Mountain State Park (located in Avon, Bloomfield, and Simsbury).

A quick note on geography: The Farmington Valley is located along the Metacomet Ridge, a single geologic feature, 71 miles long. The Metacomet Ridge begins at Long Island Sound at Branford, CT, and goes to Belchertown, MA. The Heublein Tower and points north are on the portion of that ridge known as Talcott Mountain; the Avon Mountain portion of the ridge runs south of the tower.

Access to the Heublein Tower is by a trail (1.25 miles long) from a parking area on Route 185; the walk takes about 30-40 minutes. The Metacomet Trail also leads to the tower. The Tower is open to the public in the summer months. For more information, visit: https://friendsofheubleintower.org/