At this point we return to Litchfield, for a side trip through some of the towns farther west. Warren, formerly a part of Kent, was settled about 1737. The parish of East Greenwich was organized in 1750. In 1786, a town was incorporated and named for a Massachusetts man, Gen. Joseph Warren, the Revolutionary hero, who lost his life at Bunker Hill. The town consists of a high plateau, bordered on the south by Lake Waramaug.
Leaving Litchfield on R. 25, the traveler may enter Warren by R. 341, or take the more scenic Route 45, along the eastern shore of Waramaug and across the hills to Cornwall Bridge. On R. 45, about a mile above the Lake, a dirt road leads northwest to Above All State Park, 1456 feet elevation, with a fine view to the west. About 12 mile south of the highway junction, we cross an attractive hemlock ravine. The tiny village of Warren has an interesting Congregational Church, with pilastered pediment, a good tower, and fine interior woodwork. It was built in 1818, during the pastorate of Rev. Peter Starr, who served for 57 years. The church sent 16 young men into the ministry, including Charles G. Finney (1792-1875) the famous evangelist, associated with the early history of Oberlin College; and Julian M. Sturtevant (1805-1886) a member of the Illinois Band that went out from Yale, and founder of Illinois College. About 1 1/2 miles north of the village, a road turns west, 1/2 mile to a brick school house, built around 1793, one of the oldest in New England in continuous use.
The blue-marked Mattatuck Trail runs from Prospect Mt. along abandoned roads to Flat Rock, where connection is made with the Appalachian Trail coming east from Kent Falls along the northern boundary of the town. (Flat Rock may be reached at some seasons by car, on road to east just beyond Cornwall line.) The signboard reads: "New Haven, 62 miles; Mt. Katahdin, Maine, 619 miles; Mt. Oglethorpe, Georgia, 1439 miles."