 About
Connecticut
Getting
Around Connecticut
Exploring
Connecticut |
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There Now |
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Hotel
Reservations Hotline: 1-800-780-5733
When calling
this number to reserve a room, please
refer to the following discount code: 87482
in order to ensure
the lowest possible discount rate.
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| About
Connecticut |
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| CONNECTICUT
was named Quinnehtukqut by the Native Americans for the "great
tidal river" that splits it in two before spilling out into the
Long Island Sound and washing the old whaling ports of the coast.
This small and densely populated state is a sort of conservative,
high-rent suburb of New York City, enabling commuters to earn Big
Apple salaries while avoiding New York state and city taxes. Its first
white settlers arrived in the 1630s: refugees from Massachusetts seeking
liberty, good farmland and trading opportunities. Connecticut soon
became a center for " Yankee ingenuity ," prospering through
the invention and marketing (often by the notorious and not always
honorable Yankee peddlers) of many a useful little household object.
Although hit very badly by English raids in the Revolutionary War,
its role in providing the war effort with crucial supplies made it
known as "the provisions state ." After the war, the original
charter of Connecticut's first colonists was used as a model for the
American Constitution and gave rise to another nickname: "the
Constitution state ." It continued to prosper during the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries, with steady industrialization and lucrative
whaling along the southeastern coast. Today, much of the old industry,
especially in the north, has withered away, leaving areas of green
countryside, untroubled by noisy interstates, many verdant forests
and the idyllic rural villages that typify New England's PR image
- but also unemployment and poverty. New Haven in particular, home
to Yale University, faces distinctly urban problems like drug wars,
homelessness and violent crime, which belie New England's myth of
rural tranquility.
The linchpins
of Connecticut's economy - insurance companies, medical research
and military bases - hardly make for pleasing aesthetics, as demonstrated
by the rather dull capital city, Hartford ; and even the historic
and other wise attractive coastline is marred by some unfortunate
stretches of sprawling gray concrete.
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| Getting
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a few isolated areas in the north, Connecticut is well connected with
major roads : I-95 is the main interstate, running from New York to
Rhode Island along the shore of the Long Island Sound. I-91 travels
north from I-95 at New Haven, weaving its way along the Connecticut
River to Vermont. However, in Connecticut, as with the other New England
states, it's a shame to miss out on the quiet countryside scenery
along the side roads, so it's worth getting off the interstates if
you have the time. While the back roads can be poorly labeled, the
distances involved are so small that you're not likely to run into
major problems if you get lost.
All of the major
east coast airlines fly to Bradley International Airport near Hartford,
and Greyhound, Bonanza (tel 1-800/556-3815, ) and Peter Pan Trailways
(tel 1-800/237-8747, ) buses run to most of the main towns. Connecticut
Transit buses (tel 860/525-9181 or 1-888/BUS-RIDE) serve the inland
area around Hartford. Metro North (tel 1-800/638-7646) trains carry
passengers between New Haven and New York City, with connecting
services to numerous other towns; Amtrak's line runs between New
York City and Boston with various stops along the shore and a connection
to Hartford.
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| Exploring
Connecticut |
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Central
Connecticut
Though central Connecticut is dominated by Hartford , the state's
largest city is possibly one of the nation's dullest destinations.
There's not a great deal of point in straying away from the coast,
where New Haven is a whole lot more interesting.
Southeastern
Connecticut
The
much-visited southeastern coast of Connecticut spans fifteen miles
from Stonington in the east to Niantic in the west, bisected by
the Thames (pronounced Thaymz ) River. Each of the handful of tiny,
picturesque colonial communities and old whaling villages along
the Long Island Sound is a mere stone's throw from the next. No
longer are they the iniquitous and rumbustious ports that so inspired
Melville, but they're still keen to preserve a sense of their history.
The restored nineteenth-century Mystic Seaport justifies at least
a day's visit; nearby are the less lovely US Naval submarine base
at Groton and the pretty fishing harbor of Stonington Borough.
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