About the Central Connecticut Area 

Strategically located within two hours of New York City and Boston, and a similar distance from the winter resorts of Vermont and the beaches of Cape Cod, Central Connecticut is the perfect place to live and work. With a population of just over a million in two counties and a dynamic, richly varied economy, the area is a delightful mix of vibrant cities, historic small towns, and rural areas that retain much of the charm of colonial New England. Community leaders and citizens value the region’s unique cultural and historic diversity and maritime heritage and work together to nurture the quality of life and the host of cultural and recreational opportunities it offers. 

Location
Central Connecticut consists of Hartford and Middlesex Counties. The region extends from Massachusetts in the North to the coast of Long Island Sound and roughly follows the valleys of the Farmington and Connecticut Rivers. It contains the State capital, Hartford city. Middletown is the Middlesex county seat. 

Geography/Terrain
Central Connecticut is a delightful mix of vibrant cities, charming, historic towns, and scenic rural country. Over 60% of the total land area of the state is in forests of maple, beech, birch, oak, hickory, aspen pine, and hemlock which provide a dazzling display of color in the fall. Hilly outside the flat river valleys, the terrain ranges from the lovely rural Farmington Valley in the North down through the towns on the Connecticut River, where for 200 years some places have been described as “an earthly paradise”, to the beaches of Long Island Sound. 

Distance to Major Cities
Hartford is 34 miles from New Haven, 48 miles from Bridgeport, and 65 miles from Stamford, the three other largest cities in Connecticut, and it is approximately 90 miles from both Boston and New York City. 

Jobs
Connecticut is primarily an industrial state, but it also has a large services sector. Driven mainly by a large insurance industry centered in Hartford, the financial sector is the principal contributor of revenue to the state's economy.  

Many major corporations, including Aetna, United Technologies, The Hartford, Gerber Scientific and ESPN have their headquarters in the Hartford area, and there is strong growth in the financial services, aerospace, IT and healthcare sectors, among others. 

The area boasts one of America’s most educated workforces, and has the highest gross domestic product per capita and second most productive workforce in the world. 

Housing
With a combined total of approximately 80 towns and cities, Hartford and Middlesex counties have a home, and a lifestyle, for everyone. Whether you are looking for a picturesque colonial cottage or a historic country house, a family home in a safe and close-knit suburban community or a hip urban apartment, Central Connecticut is the place for you.  

The 2005 median single-family house price in the 31 towns in the Greater Hartford area was $249,000, an increase of 11.7% over 2004 prices. In more sparsely populated Middlesex County, the average house price was $210,600 and in the county seat of Middletown the average was $164,000. 

Parks/Sports/Recreation/Golf
With over 35 carefully-tended public golf courses in beautiful New England settings, the golfer in Central Connecticut is spoiled for choice. One of the most remarkable courses is the stunning Lyman Orchards Championship Golf Academy at Middlefield. This extensive facility boasts two courses, designed by Robert Trent Jones and Gary Player, and has been recognized by the nationally acclaimed Zagat Survey and Zagat.com as one of the best playing courses in the United States.  

The region is richly served with State and municipal parks. Elizabeth Park in Hartford city is a popular recreational area for families. Comprising over 100 acres of open spaces, gardens, playgrounds, and picnic and sporting areas, it was the first municipally owned rose garden in the U.S. More than 900 varieties and 14,000 rose bushes bloom during the summer months and there are outdoor concerts during warm weather and ice skating on the pond in the winter. A little further afield near Colchester, the Salmon River State Park contains 6000 acres of rivers, streams, and woodlands with excellent walking and fishing and one of Connecticut’s delightful historic covered bridges. 

With such an abundance of coastline, woods and parkland, Central Connecticut offers great fishing and hunting. On Long Island Sound there is bluefish, striped bass and flounder, while inland the creeks and rivers abound with trout. Hunting is available in several state forests or on private commercial preserves. Game includes deer, rabbits, squirrels, quail, grouse, pheasants and ducks, while wild turkeys are also found in some areas. 

Winter sports are very popular, and Central Connecticut has some great skiing at resorts near Southington, with many other snowfields and snowmobile areas, including Vermont resorts, within two hours’ drive. Nearly every town has facilities for skating, sledding, and other winter activities. 

Special Attractions/Events
Hartford and its surrounding towns has a host of artistic, historic, and just plain interesting places to go and things to see. Considered among the ten or so greatest art museums in the United States, Wadsworth Atheneum houses world-renowned collections of paintings by Old Masters and French and American Impressionists, as well as modernist masterpieces. It also has stunning collections of porcelains, costumes and textiles, and American furniture and decorative arts from the time of the Pilgrims to the Gilded Age. 

The area also houses several fascinating museums celebrating the history of transport in America. The New England Air Museum at Windsor Locks is the largest aviation museum in the Northeast, with more than 70 aircraft dating from 1909 to modern jets. In charming and historic Essex, a shipbuilding center since 1637, the Connecticut River Museum illustrates the remarkable history of the area with interesting displays and exhibits, including a full-scale working reproduction of the world’s first submarine, the American Turtle, invented by David Bushnell in 1776. 

For a nostalgic journey through the area’s unparalleled scenic beauty, you can ride the Essex steam train and the riverboat Becky Thatcher. The steam train winds its way through some of the most beautiful forested country in New England, with lovely views of picturesque and charming historic towns nestled on the banks of the broad Connecticut River. Boarding the riverboat at Deep River, you will ride upriver, past countless coves and islets and historic buildings, including Gillette Castle and the Goodspeed Opera House to East Haddam. 

The annual Durham Fair is Connecticut’s largest agricultural fair and features a staggering range of events, displays, and demonstrations including livestock of every conceivable variety, bee-keeping, aquaculture, herbs, a huge crafts show, a farm museum, live music of all kinds, a carnival midway and an entertainment area designed especially for children. This amazing three-day fair has something for everyone, and is not to be missed. 

Interesting Facts/Historic Buildings and Places
Connecticut was the fifth of the original 13 states which ratified the US Constitution on January 9, 1788, and it played an important role in the development of the United States. The first European settlement began in the 1630s, and many of the towns and cities in the state can trace their origins back to the 17th or early 18th century. 

Mark Twain wrote the Adventures of both Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn in Hartford, and the house where he lived and raised his family during the later 1800’s is now a fascinating museum. Twain’s neighbor was Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, whose house is also preserved as a museum and library. 

Pre-dating Mark Twain and Mrs. Beecher Stowe by several million years, some of the most extensive deposits of fossils and dinosaur tracks in the world can be seen in the Connecticut River Valley. Outstanding specimens of dinosaur and fish fossils were taken from 19th century brownstone quarries and sent to museums throughout the world. Near Rocky Hill in Middlesex County, over one thousand dinosaur foot-prints were discovered by workmen excavating for a new state building in 1966 and are now protected in the Dinosaur State Park. 

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