If you ever find yourself in Willimantic Connecticut, I can almost guarantee that the frog bridge will make you smile. It opened in 2000 and features four large frogs perched on spools of thread. A tribute to the area’s past as a hub for thread manufacturing and the battle of the frogs. The Frogs have been Named, Willy, Swifty, Manny and Windy. Nicknames for area attributes:Willimantic River, Swift Water, Manufacturing and Winding Spools of thread. They were created by Leo Jansen, who was a circus performer and rodeo rider in his childhood. See his biography below.
The Battle of the Frogs is a local legend based on a June 1754 incident in Windham, Connecticut , which is now part of Willimantic. The loud croaking of thousands of bullfrogs in a nearby pond that was drying up, led citizens of the town to panic and assume that Windham was under attack. Mistaking the croaks for shouted words or the beating of drums, that they only heard in the night, armed townsfolk ran to the rivers edge ready to protect their turf only to discover Bull Frogs in Distress.
There is also a pedestrian bridge across the river that has been transformed into a garden by a local garden club – See their link below.
Garden Club of Windham Website
New York Times reports on the opening of the Frog Bridge in 2019.