Did colonial Connecticut really enforce all kinds of bizarre 'blue laws' that made it illegal to cut your hair in the wrong way, or to walk in your garden on a Sunday?


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this is very interesting. i grew up in harwinton, conn. back in the late 60's-70's. on sundays, my grandmother always would comment on the"blue law" meaning you couldn't purchase alcohol until noon.sure enough you couldn't. in the stores, it was always covered,until noon.
Posted by kathy mahoney  in  canoga park ca  on  Thu Jul 08, 2004  at  08:25 PM
You can't buy liquor on a Sunday in Ct at all. CT and mass both have many,many blue laws. One massacussetts blue law makes it illegal for a horse to graze on the front lawn on a Sunday. The only time and pace I saw this was in Mass on a Sunday! Needless to say these laws are generally forgotten or ignored by most.
Posted by pfd  in  ct  on  Sun Feb 13, 2005  at  04:53 AM
Alex, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss claims of water moving a crowbar. You are welcome to visit my home on the Pike Creek, where you can watch a small east coast creek (~8' wide in the narrows) push Victorian-era cast-iron steam radiators down stream whenever it floods. The rains that followed hurricane Jeanne (?) recently pushed one about 40 feet! I've never visited the Connecticut River personally, though, so I can't testify to the volume or speed of the water. However, some fairly respectable authorities claim it to be a rather large river that runs over 400 miles and crosses the fall line of the east coast, and that it normally moves quite a few multi-ton objects (called hydroelectric generators) without a lot of fuss. That whapperknocker, though, I think that's a hoax.
Posted by CHarlie  on  Fri Mar 04, 2005  at  01:57 PM
On Wensdays and Friday we couldn't bark at dogs or we would be fined $100
Posted by Tasha McKenna  in  Torrington CT  on  Wed Apr 27, 2005  at  06:39 AM
I am in a class and i need as much information abuot the blue laws of connecticut. ASAP
Posted by honor student  in  TN  on  Mon Aug 22, 2005  at  02:45 PM
Wonderful piece on the CT Blue Laws and how history is often "written by the victors", if you will. I am curious, however, why 3 out of 4 of the Google ads on the page are for "sex offense lawyers" in Texas & Arizona. I'm not offended, just curious as to why those ads are on your pages for a colonial hoax. It seems like quite the non-sequitor. Cheers and thanks again for the great work. K-
Posted by kch  in  Cambridge, MA  on  Mon Dec 05, 2005  at  04:44 AM
The google ads are automatically placed by google's computer. It scans the text on the page and decides what ads to place. Sometimes it makes strange choices.
Posted by Alex  in  San Diego  on  Tue Dec 06, 2005  at  08:43 AM
I grew up in CT. The one blue law I remember was that it was illegal to drive a car barefoot. It was still illegal when I moved in 1980, though they may have repealed it since then. Maybe this is why I like to drive barefoot on long road trips!
Posted by Chris  on  Thu Apr 06, 2006  at  10:58 AM
I have a book from the late sixteen hundreds. It is called Connecticut Blue Laws.It lists all sorts of strange crazy laws I bet you would like to see it .Very very fragile....
Posted by John  in  Blackstone Ma.  on  Mon Dec 18, 2006  at  03:49 PM
We sure would like to see it! SCAN THAT BABY! You may have the last surviving copy of that book, so you ought to put it on the web where others can see it without physically handling it.
Posted by CHarlie  on  Tue Dec 19, 2006  at  06:41 AM
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Museum of Hoaxes the Book
A History of Outrageous Pranks and Deceptions