My Czech grandparents owned property in the Rocky Hill Road/Lake Bashan area of Moodus from 1930s onward. A relative still owns the property. Sent there as a child from Michigan in the 1940s (w/o parents).
I remember Weinstein's drug store in Moodus Center (where fireworks were purchased) as well as the Grand Union store in the village, a local doctor (could his name have been Dr. Horsefeathers?) who came up one day to examine me thoroughly in what much have been a concern about polio.
Czech relatives owned a boardinghouse (possibly Julia Budka's from your photos) where my older cousin & friends went to help prepare meals, including plucking feathers from the place's freshly killed chickens. Also remember that the evening's activity frequently was a walk to Mr. Bailey's ice cream store at a reservoir. Day events including swimming & soapy baths in Lake Bashan as our farmhouse had an unreliable water supply.
-Rhona Neuwirth
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