Crystal Lake, Tolland County

Crystal Lake lies between the towns of Tolland and Stafford on a five-mile-long triangular strip of land extending from the northeastern corner of Ellington. Attracted by the lake's sandy shore surrounded by forests of oak, chestnut, pine, and maple, early families of settlers called the lake Square Pond. In the 1890s, Crystal Lake became a destination resort. Its popularity extended through the advent of the interurban trolley and Depression-era auto trippers who stayed in the lake's hotels, cottages, and roadside tourist cabins. In the 1930s, the Sandy Beach Ballroom attracted the big bands of Duke Ellington, Guy Lombardo, and Cab Calloway. The ballroom also served as a roller-skating rink where young people from Ellington, Stafford, Rockville, and surrounding towns spent their leisure hours. Today Crystal Lake remains a popular getaway for fishing, swimming, and boating.

Lynn Kloter Fahy, a member of the Crystal Lake Historical Society and a librarian at Trinity College in Hartford, is the author of Ellington. The vintage photographs in Crystal Lake, Tolland County have been compiled primarily from private collections, and many have never before been published.