The ‘Lectric Road

They’re goin’ to build a ‘lectric road, this is no idle dream

Along Green River, Pine Brook Glen an’ Hop Swamps shady stream.

It’s goin’ to cross ol’ Lizzard Crick an’ tech my daddy’s farm,

An' fill each polecat fox an’ coon with wonder an’ alarm.

It’s goin’ to break the silence which for centuries hez laid

It’s hand upon the mountain an’ the valley’s peaceful shade.

It’s goin’ to link town unto town, an’ prosper them, I say,

An’ give us neighbors by the score, a dozen miles away!

They’re goin’ to build a ‘lectric road, that sounds most awful sweet;

They’re goin’ to build a ‘lectric road, I must, I must repeat.

They’re goin’ to build a ‘lectric road, from Hampton down to here,

To Johnsonville an’ Moodus town – why don’t you jump and cheer?

Then it’s “all aboard for Hampton,”

Or it’s all aboard for here!

Git aboard the Moodus trolley,

    Walkin’ is too awful dear.

Take your aigs an’ whiz to market,

    Sell your ol’ hoss well as not;

For this Salmon River trolley

(An’ this ain’t no bloomin’ jolly)

    Is a goin’ to help your lot.

They’re goin’ to build a ‘lectric road, kin hardly b’lieve it’s so;

But saw it in the paper an’ the paper ought to know.

I knew the time wuz comin’ when the ol’ stream, swift an’ strong,

Would hev a harness round itself to help the world along.

I knew the time wuz comin’ when its beauties rare an’ sweet

Would ope before the people who admire a cool retreat.

An' here an’ there a cottage on its wooded banks will rise

An’ people from the city will ne whirled to paradise.

They’re goin’ to build a ‘lectric road, how good it sounds to me,

They’re goin’ to build a ‘lectric road – O quickly let it be!

They’re goin’ to build a ‘lectric road, from Hampton down to here –

Please don’t talk to the motorman, he knows enough to steer.

Then it’s all aboard for Hampton,

Little girls an little boys;

Tell the man to watch his trolley

When there comes a Moodus noise.

Jump aboard an’ take a journey

    When the weather’s dry an’ hot,

For this Salmon River trolley

(An’ this ain’t no poet’s folly)

    Is agoin’ to help your lot.

         

   

July 15, 1900

From the 1913 East Haddam swing bridge grand opening program

(http://www.simonpure.com/bridge.htm)

“This sketch shows that the town has been growing and prospering during the last century, and now that we are connected with the other half of the state, and will soon be connected by trolley with the nearby cities, it is only necessary to say that ‘history repeats itself,’ and in this progressive age, East Haddam will come to the front as one of the leading towns in the Connecticut valley.”


I does not appear to have ever been built.

Green River is in East Hampton, Ct, and flows into Pine Brook (going south), through what is now called Hop Swamp Ice Pond into the Salmon River. Lizzard Creek is a fictional name.