An Underrated Pit Stop In Connecticut Will Leave You With A Full Belly And A Good Book

While Connecticut has certainly garnered the reputation of being a "drive-through" state on most road trips across New England and the Northeastern United States, there's a charming neighborhood restaurant at the northern tip of the state that will make hungry drivers want to take an exit off the highway. Road trip explorers, bookworms, and readers of all kinds will discover a pit stop that offers a unique parting gift to its dining customers: free books. Traveler Food and Books, or the Traveler Restaurant, is a family-style diner off Highway 84 between Union, Connecticut, and Sturbridge, Massachusetts, just south of the state line. It's perfect for a pit stop on a road trip or a visit after you spend a long day enjoying Connecticut's great hiking spots.

The restaurant has a very simple and practical deal for each dining customer. With every meal purchased at Traveler, customers can select (and take home) up to three books from the restaurant's immense collection. The books are shelved both downstairs between tables of the restaurant and in their upstairs and basement libraries. Some books are free with a meal while others are for sale, but all the restaurant's shelves are available for browsing during business hours.

The slogan "Great Food & A Free Book" is just as advertised at Traveler, where the staff and ownership have created a bookworm heaven that allows collectors and readers alike to find something new to enjoy. The restaurant's casual dining homestyle menu is underrated and filled with the classics. Choose from breakfast staples like a loaded breakfast burrito with sausage, cheese, eggs, and a creamy sauce that Tripadvisor reviewers love. 

Later in the day, the Traveler Restaurant serves a full lunch and dinner menu with sandwiches and entrees for all tastes. Roadside diner favorites like mac and cheese and gourmet pizza and burgers are especially popular amongst guests and reviewers. There are even literary-themed entrees on the menu like the Firestarter burger with jalapeños and habanero-jack cheese, the David Copperfield wrap with turkey and stuffing, and the Wizard of Oz sandwich with bacon, avocado, and cheddar. Once you've ordered your meal, you're free to browse and wander the thousands of books the restaurant boasts in-house.

The Traveler's current owners, Karen and Art Murdock are locals to the area. They are avid readers and inherited the restaurant and its original book collection from the previous owner of the property, Marty Doyle. Doyle's bloated collection of books spanning three generations needed to be offloaded, and thus the birth of the restaurant's "free book with your meal" concept was born in the 1980s. 

The Murdocks told the Hartford Courant that they had been regularly soliciting donations from local libraries and friends and family in the community to fuel their restaurant's book collection. These days, the Murdocks estimate that they give away somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 books per week to dining customers, and they repeatedly go on "book runs" across New England with their 16-foot horse trailer in continuous hopes of restocking inventory at Travelers. If you're obsessed with food destinations and want to continue your travels, visit Rhode Island to dine at America's oldest restaurant.