| Connecticut |
| Like most of the states in New England, Connecticut is small and densely populated with lots of history. Only two states are smaller, but Connecticut has a higher population than 28 others. To me, Connecticut is a state that isn't famous for much, but on my short trip I discovered there are several interesting things to do out here and found myself needing much more time. |
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| Another surprise to me was that Connecticut has a very strong economy. In 2004 the capital of Hartford actually came in second in the United States for the highest GDP. The city alone actually had a stronger economy than 16 entire states. The biggest driver of the economy are the giant insurance companies that make Hartford their headquarters. On the left is the Travelers Insurance tower, one of the biggest insurance companies in the world. The Travelers Insurance was the first to offer car and airline insurance. ING headquarters is in Europe, but they still maintain a large building in Connecticut. |
| For starters, I think Connecticut so far has the best state capitol building that I've seen. The architecture of most of the state capitols are similar to Washington DC's, but Connecticut's looks more like a European castle than a government building. The old state capitol was built in 1792 and had a similar design to most other buildings at the time. The new capitol building was completed in 1879 after 8 years of construction. The building is pretty impressive with lots of statues and murals depicting historic events. |
| These two photos are examples of an old building that has been surrounded by modern structures and a new high tech building on the right. Above is the Webster Memorial building, I'm not sure exactly what it is for and had trouble finding information online. On the right is the Connecticut Science Center, this nine floor interactive museum was just opened in June of 2009. |
| The above museum is called the Wadsworth Atheneum; the largest art museum in the state and the oldest in the country. It was created in 1844, and led the nation with the first paintings from artists such as Salvador Dali and other famous Europeans. |
| Downtown Hartford is home to Bushnell park, the oldest city park in the nation. The park above has places for families to enjoy such as picnics, a carousel and several festivals that take place. The original park was actually built around a large river, but after the great flood of 1936, the river was naturally redirected underground and instead the city replaced the river with a man made pond. |
| I briefly stopped by a small trail in the woods that led to this waterfall. The state doesn't have anything that would really be considered mountains, but on the other hand it definitely isn't flat. The largest forested hills have hundreds of small waterfalls throughout the state, the some topping 75 feet, not too bad for a small state on the Atlantic. I was surprised to find that there are even ski resorts here in the winter and of course, plenty of long trails and places to go camping and hiking. |
| The city of New Haven may be the best city to visit in Connecticut. Located on the Long Island sound, New Haven has the benefits of small mountains behind it and the ocean in front of it. Above is a photo of New Haven's city line. On the right is a the 5 mile point light house originally built in 1805 to help ships enter the sound. |
| A good place to go hiking right next to New Haven is West Rock state park. It's only a few miles outside the city, and has elevations several hundred feet higher than the surrounding terrain giving some good views. I did find this large rock on the left known as judges cave interesting since it ties into England's civil war in 1642. After King Charles was captured and beheaded in 1649, his son fled in exile to France for almost a decade. Taking advantage of a period of political instability, he returned to England and assumed the throne as King of England and Ireland. One of his first acts, was 'Restoration' in which he quickly issued death warrants for all judges who had helped carry out the death of his father. Many of the judges were tortured and dismembered before being killed. Dozens of judges fled to other nations, two of them took shelter in the rock formation in the left. There they hid for several weeks from English officers living in America. |
| On the left is another picture of homes on the Housatonic river. The day I took these photos was on a Sunday, and there were hundreds of bikers together at a bar in the area. I'm not sure if it was some weekly event they do or if that day had been a special occasion. On the right is a photo of a small group turning on a windy road. I passed by almost a dozen other groups, some with over 10 bikers. |
| Above is the city's municipal building which acts as Hartford's city hall. A famous landmark in Connecticut is the Soldiers and Sailors memorial arch in Hartford. It is dedicated to the citizens of Hartford that fought in the Civil war, which numbered about 4,000 with about 10% of those killed in combat. |
| One place I really missed out on was Center Church on the Green. It is a church built several hundred years ago that has an underground crypt built in the 1600s. Most of those buried in the crypt were prominent citizens including many founders of New Haven and even the founder of Yale University. Above is another old cemetery on Yale University campus. |
| Back to New Haven itself; so I will admit that New Haven has some sketchy or unimpressive parts that I drove by so it's by its no little perfect town by the sea. I was mostly impressed by the Yale university area and some of the views and beaches. Above shows one of the main streets in New Haven, with some anti war protesters who were trying to get attention. |
| Above are some photos of Yale university buildings. The third oldest university in the United States, it was founded in 1701, 75 years before USA was a country. |
| The Housatonic river begins in Massachusetts and flows nearly 150 miles before dumping into the Long Island sound. The section above is known as Lake Zoar which is sealed off by the Stevenson Dam on the left. Before this gentler section of the river, you can actually find some higher class white water rafting within Connecticut's borders. Below are some photos of houses being built along the river further south, getting closer to the Atlantic Ocean. The house on the lower right was actually on a tiny island. |
| I visited Connecticut in the month of October, just two weeks before Halloween. I thought I'd throw these two random photos from different parts of the state up since I haven't seen these decorations in other parts of the country. In New England which included Vermont and Massachusetts on this trip, I saw many towns putting up fake dummies as decorations for Halloween. Normally I just see pumpkins and decorations in the yard so it seems to be a regional thing. I wasn't in the area for Halloween so no photos of that. |
| Back before cars were popular, railroads were the most popular reliable form of transportation in the 1800s. most of the towns in Connecticut are linked by railway, just like this small town of Thomaston. They did have a railroad museum but it was closed at the time. |
| Thomaston like other small towns in New England have a large city hall and a large church. Most towns around the country seem to have small and simpler churches. |
| It seems like Thomaston might have had better days because along the railroads were some abandoned buildings and factories. They didn't look like they had anything to do with the Great Recession and appeared to have been abandoned for at least a decade if not more. |