In addition to Ohio and New York, my job takes me to the great Constitution State. I had never spent much time in Connecticut, other than driving through on I-95 to get to Boston. It's a very interesting place, to say the least. There is immense wealth, but also stark poverty. I've never seen a place with so much disparity between the rich (small towns/suburbs) and poor (urban areas). I really enjoyed exploring both the big cities and small towns of Connecticut...with the exception of Bridgeport. I can confidently say that Bridgeport is the worst city I've ever been to (but they do have a superb Holiday Inn). My favorite city in the state is definitely New Haven, the presence of Yale having a lot to do with that.

 

 

First, here are a few pictures from a pilgrimage I made. As many of you know, Cleveland was originally part of the Connecticut Western Reserve and its founder, Moses Cleaveland, hailed from the small town of Canterbury, CT. This was no where near any of the places I went for work, but I decided to make the hour long trek from Hartford to pay my respects to our great city's founder. The town is basically an intersection with a few old buildings and houses dotting the road. There wasn't any town green or square that you would expect to see. It took me a little while to find the cemetery as it was a small burial ground on the side of the road encircled by a short stone wall. There was an old gate that looked like it hadn't been opened in a century, so I took the risk of getting in trouble for trespassing and jumped the stone wall. I had to do some searching but eventually found his grave site.

 

 

 

His actual head stone.

 

Head stone of his father (I think)

 

 

Remnants of his home.

 

 

 

Waterbury. This is an interesting city that has seen better times. Waterbury was a big center for brass making and not surprisingly is nicknamed the "Brass City." The city has some cool architecture downtown, two beautiful Catholic Churches, and of course their notable clock tower.

 

The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

 

 

Town Green

 

 

Downtown with a view of the Shrine of St. Ann

 

 

Government building. I think city hall? Can't remember for sure.

 

Old train station with the iconic clock tower.

 

Statue of the Venerable Servant of God Fr. Michael J. McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus. He was born in Waterbury.

 

Episcopalian Church on the Green.

 

 

The Shrine of St. Ann

 

 

 

New London. This was a neat city located in a beautiful part of the state. It sits at the mouth of the Thames River (rhymes with 'James' unlike its UK namesake) at the Long Island Sound. New London was notable as a big whaling center and it is home to the US Coast Guard Academy. Across the river in Groton is Naval Submarine Base New London, the US's primary submarine base. As with Waterbury, New London has seen better days. It reminded me of Annapolis, except a more depressed, run down version of Annapolis.

 

 

 

New London's train station. An Acela Express train came through about 30 seconds after taking this picture.

 

 

The city's waterfront. As with so many cities, the waterfront is cut off from downtown, but at least it's by train tracks and not a freeway.

 

 

 

 

One of the main streets downtown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mystic Although not a city (not even a village, just a CDP), the picturesque Mystic is just a few miles east of New London. Cute town.

 

 

Mystic's claim to fame. I was told by a local that the food isn't that great, so I just settled with taking a picture of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stongington Half of Mystic actually lies in the neighboring town of Stonington. Here are a few pictures of the downtown, known as Stonington Borough. This is actually where most of the Mystic Pizza movie was filmed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Norwalk. Only a few pictures here. These are of South Norwalk, or SoNo. Had lots of bars and restaurants and I though the architecture was pretty neat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Haven. And last, but certainly not least, the Elm City. I love New Haven. It has a reputation for being poor and dangerous, which I'm not denying, but there are definitely a lot of good things happening here. The city is centered around the Green which contains a couple of churches, but otherwise is just open green space. To the west of the Green lies Yale, which really defines that section of the city with its imposing Gothic architecture. One of my favorite things about New Haven is the food. I think their pizza is the best in the country (especially Pepe's white clam). New Haven is also the accepted birthplace of the hamburger, specifically Louis' Lunch. The city has its problems, but it has some beautiful buildings and I think is definitely heading in the right direction.

 

We'll start with my journey to the top of East Rock. This is what they call a 'fault block ridge,' basically a large block of rock on the east side of the city. Of course when I got there I found out that the road to the top closes to cars after October 31st, so guess what day I was there--November 1st.

 

Halfway to the top looking northwest.

 

 

 

Finally at the top, looking at downtown New Haven.

 

 

Monument at the top of the rock.

 

Downtown New Haven again.

 

These next few are of the Yale campus. The buildings look like they are hundreds of years old, but all of the Gothic buildings were actually built in the 20s. They were designed to make them look like they are from the middle ages. Some parts of the stone walls were intentionally burned or had acid poured on them to give them an older look.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally a few shots from the Green.

 

 

 

 

 

Absent from this thread are Hartford, Bridgeport, and Stamford. I regret not getting any pictures of Hartford, but trust me when I say Bridgeport isn't worth the photos. Stamford is a fun city, but its architecture is rather bland. Overall, I love Connecticut and am excited to go back there in the fall.

 

 

 

nice pics! I wonder why Moses Cleaveland was back in CT when he died and not in Cleveland. I wonder if he was miffed that the "a" was dropped from the city name.

nice pics! I wonder why Moses Cleaveland was back in CT when he died and not in Cleveland. I wonder if he was miffed that the "a" was dropped from the city name.

 

Haha. He actually left Cleveland shortly after surveying it in 1796, never to return again.

Neato!

nice pics! I wonder why Moses Cleaveland was back in CT when he died and not in Cleveland. I wonder if he was miffed that the "a" was dropped from the city name.

 

Haha. He actually left Cleveland shortly after surveying it in 1796, never to return again.

 

In addition, I believe the "a" was not dropped until the 1830's or 40's (a newspaper did it due to spacing problems), well after Moses was dead.

 

Somebody should probably tell the gang in Connecticut that they have spelled Moses' last name wrong on their sign.

 

Interesting thread and pics.

Awesome!  I'm a big fan of all those CT cities, rich and poor.