Connecticut
The Great State of ConnecticutMy Hometown
I was born in the State of Connecticut where I received my degree in Marketing at the University of Hartford, CT. Today I live in Redwood City on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California’s Bay Area, but I will always have a sweet spot in my heart for CT. I still remember spending summers in Madison, Harkness Park in Waterford, and Hiking at the Sleeping Giant State Park in Hamden. I really look forward to going back and visiting family and friends during th holiday season. Although I’m not sure I can honestly say I miss the New England weather. There are so many amazing things to do and see in CT. Having said that I put together a few things that make this state special and I’m sure I will re visit this web page many times with updates. Enjoy!
John Denner
So Much To Do
Connecticut is located halfway between Boston and New York City. That’s what makes it such an easy place to visit. But what really makes Connecticut an amazing destination is how much you can do in this compact state — all year round! From hiking to sailing, cross-country skiing to designer outlet shopping, riding a roller coaster to being a high roller at the casino, there is so much to do in Connecticut, you won’t know what to experience first. Whether it’s fall, winter, spring or summer, Connecticut is always picturesque. From its idyllic waterfront parks, to the quaint farms in the countryside, to the bustling urban centers, this state has something for everyone. Oh and did we mention it’s home to the Best Pizza in America? NEED WE SAY MORE?
Yale University
CT boasts superior education, with beautiful colleges and universities, including Yale University, the second-ranked university in the country.A prestigious educational institution since 1701, New Haven’s Yale University is home to art galleries, music venues, a natural history museum, and even a rare book library. Today, you can take a campus tour or just relax on the green and watch students and visitors from all over the world explore this fascinating campus.
Fall Folliage
Connecticut’s fall foliage (leaf peeping) season is often considered the longest in New England. A little known fact is that the Connecticut River, starting at the mouth of Long Island Sound (between Old Saybrook and Old Lyme) and going up toward East Haddam, will hold the foliage the longest – into the first week or so of November.
The diverse range of destinations and attractions across the state provide hundreds of interesting and unique vantages from which to view the gorgeous foliage. From Mystic Seaport’s harbor to a farm in the quiet countryside, from the top of Gillette Castle to the middle of a classic Connecticut corn maze, fall in Connecticut is not to be missed.
Casinos
Stay, play and dine at world-class casino destinations in Connecticut. Mohegan Sun in Uncasville is a premier entertainment destination, offering hotels, restaurants, entertainment, golf, spas, nightlife, shopping and much more. Not far down the road in Mashantucket, you’ll find all of this and outlet shopping too, at the remarkable Foxwoods Resort & Casino.
Best Pizza in CT
If you want to discuss the loaded topic of best pizza in CT with any authority, you have to make a pilgrimage to this legendary New Haven pizzeria. Frank Pepe opened his doors in Wooster Square in New Haven, Connecticut in 1925, offering classic Napoletana-style pizza. After immigrating to the United States in 1909 at the age of 16 from Italy, Pepe took odd jobs before opening his restaurant (now called “The Spot,” next door to the larger operation). Since its conception, Pepe’s has opened an additional seven locations.
State Nicknames
The “Constitution State”
TConnecticut’s official nickname is the “Constitution State” and the State Capital is Hartford. According to the Connecticut State Register and Manual, 1998, p. 832:
“Connecticut was designated the Constitution State by the General Assembly in 1959. As early as the 19th Century, John Fiske, a popular historian from Connecticut made the claim that the Fundamental Orders of 1638/1639 were the first written constitution in history. Some contemporary historians dispute Fiske’s analysis. However, Simeon E. Baldwin, a former Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, defended Fiske’s view of the Fundamental Orders in Osborn’s History of Connecticut in Monographic Form by stating that ‘never had a company of men deliberately met to frame a social compact for immediate use, constituting a new and independent commonwealth, with definite officers, executive and legislative, and prescribed rules and modes of government, until the first planters of Connecticut came together for their great work on January 14th, 1638-39.’
However, Connecticut is also sometimes referred to as:
The “Nutmeg State”
Famous People from the Nutmeg State
The following is a list of notable people born, raised, or resident in Connecticut, with place of birth or residence when known.
List of People from Connecticut
Katherine Hepburn
Katherine Hepburn was born on May 12, 1907, in Hartford, Connecticut, the second of six children. Her parents were Thomas Norval Hepburn was a urologist at Hartford Hospital, in Hartford, CT and her mother Katharine Martha Houghton, a feminist campaigner.
P.T. Barnhum
Best known as an entertainer and promoter, Connecticut native Phineas Taylor Barnum was also an author, philanthropist, businessman, and politician. He served in the Connecticut legislature and, as Bridgeport’s mayor, spearheaded numerous city improvement initiatives, including Seaside Park. He also helped found the Bridgeport Hospital in 1878. Barnum, as a showman, was known for promoting hoaxes and human curiosities, such as General Tom Thumb and the “Feejee” mermaid, at his American Museum in New York City. He later founded what became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Loved the world over, Barnum died in his sleep and was buried in Bridgeport’s Mountain Grove Cemetery.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Beecher Stowe was born on June 14, 1811, in Litchfield, Connecticut and died on July 1, 1896, in Hartford, Connecticut. Stowe was an American writer and philanthropist, the author of the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which contributed so much to popular feeling against slavery that it is cited among the causes of the American Civil War.
Harriet Beecher was a member of one of the 19th century’s most remarkable families. The daughter of the prominent Congregationalist minister Lyman Beecher and the sister of Catharine, Henry Ward, and Edward, she grew up in an atmosphere of learning and moral earnestness. She attended her sister Catharine’s school in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1824–27, thereafter teaching at the school. In 1832 she accompanied Catharine and their father to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he became president of Lane Theological Seminary and she taught at another school founded by her sister.
Paul Giamatti
Giamatti was born June 6, 1967, in New Haven, Connecticut, the youngest of three children. His father, Angelo Bartlett Giamatti, was a Yale University professor who later became president of the university and commissioner of Major League Baseball. His mother, Toni Marilyn Giamatti , was a homemaker and English teacher who taught at Hopkins School and had also previously acted.
Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold was born in Norwich, Connecticut, on January 14, 1741. Arnold’s father was a successful businessman and young Benedict was educated in private schools. Following the deaths of three of his children from yellow fever, Benedict Sr. began to drink heavily, and fell on difficult financial times. Benedict Jr. left school and apprenticed at an apothecary.
In 1757, at age 16, Benedict Arnold enlisted in the militia, and traveled to upstate New York to fight the French. Two years later he assumed responsibility for his father and sister following his mother’s death of yellow fever. His grieving father fell apart and was arrested repeatedly for drunkenness before his death in 1761.
Charles Goodyear
Charles Goodyear was born on December 29, 1800 in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1834, he began experimenting with natural rubber. In 1839, he accidentally discovered the process of vulcanization. He struggled to patent it, as Thomas Hancock had recently patented vulcanized rubber. Goodyear died broke on July 19, 1860 in New York City. The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company was founded in his name in 1898.
List Continued
Dean Acheson statesman, Middletown, CT
Ethan Allan American Revolutionary soldier, Litchfield
Henry Ward Beecher clergyman, Litchfield County
John Brown abolitionist, Torrington, CT
Samuel Colt inventor, Hartford, CT
Oliver Ellsworth jurist, Windsor, CT
Eileen Farrell soprano, Willimantic, CT
Nathan Hale American Revolutionary officer, Coventry, CT
Robert N. Hall inventor, New Haven, CT
Collis Potter Huntington financier, Harwinton
Charles Ives composer, Danbury, CT
Edwin H. Land inventor
Annie Leibovitz photographer, Waterbury, CT
John Pierpont Morgan financier, Hartford, Connecticut
Frederick Law Olmsted landscape designer, Hartford, Connecticut
Alex Denner , Greenwich, CT
Kenneth H. Olsen inventor, Stratford, CT
Rosa Ponselle soprano, Meriden, CT
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. congressman, New Haven, CT
Benjamin Spock pediatrician, New Haven, Connecticut
Governor William O’Neill, East Hampton, CT
Erin Brady – Miss USA, East Hampton, CT
Noah Webster lexicographer, West Hartford, CT
East Haddam Bridge
The Connecticut River is the longest river in New England. Designated the “long tidal river” by the Algonquian peoples of southern New England, it stretches over 410 miles and passes through four states—starting at the northern tip of New Hampshire along the Quebec border and passing through Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut on its way to Long Island Sound. For thousands of years, the Connecticut River’s abundant resources have drawn inhabitants who shaped and reshaped the surrounding area in meaningful, albeit not always positive, ways.
The evolution of the Connecticut River began with its emergence over 10,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age. The first inhabitants of the Connecticut River Valley not only used the river for navigation and extension of trading routes but also for the fertile hunting and farming lands it provided. These forebears of contemporary tribes left behind artifacts researchers are still finding today—some of which are over 5,000 years old.
Native American plummet or netsinker from the Windsor area – Connecticut State Museum of Natural History, Norris Bull Collection
The first Europeans, the Dutch, arrived in what is now Connecticut around 1614. Developing trade relations among indigenous groups and the new arrivals became more complicated with the establishment of English colonies in Massachusetts. As early as 1631, Native groups who lived along the river traveled up to the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies seeking to strengthen their position against the growing economic and political power of the Pequot-Dutch trading alliance. Despite being offered incentives to establish a presence in the river valley, the English initially expressed little interest until September 26, 1633, when a group of Plymouth settlers under William Holmes sailed up the Connecticut River.
The group passed the Dutch fort located at modern-day Hartfordand established a trading post of their own, just south of where the Farmington and Connecticut Rivers came together. Over the next two years, another group of settlers from Massachusetts, and one which came from England, came to the area and formed what eventually became the colony of Connecticut. The Connecticut River’s importance as a trade route continued to increase, with English settlers moving up into New Hampshire and Vermont in search of pelts and other marketable goods. By the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the river boasted a robust shipbuilding industry and became a vital route for transporting lumber.
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