Connecticut

  • Population- 3,504,800
  • Capital- Hartford
  • Largest cities– Bridgeport, New Haven, Hartford
  • Time zone- Eastern
  • Date of Admission to the Union- January 9, 1788
  • Slogan- Qui transtulit sustinet, or “He who transplanted sustains”
  • State website URL- www.ct.gov

Connecticut is a coastal state, but is uniquely situated on Long Island Sound, and entirely protected from the open surf of the Atlantic Ocean. From this marine environment the small state harvests a bumper crop of oysters annually, enough to put it among the top oyster producers in the country. Historic Mystic Seaport, located in Mystic, Connecticut, is home to a number of the country’s finest original tall ships and a completely recreated version of a historic colonial village. Thousands of visitors pass through annually, hoping to see blacksmiths, coopers, silversmiths, and sail-makers at work, plying the same trades, with the same ancient tools and techniques, as their ancestors some 300 years earlier.

The capital city, Hartford, boasts an unprecedented number of major insurance corporations; their skyscrapers are the blueprint for the city’s skyline. The city newspaper, The Hartford Courant, is the nation’s oldest and one of the most respected daily chronicles. New Haven, the second largest city, is most notable to the outside world for Yale University. The ivy league institution is an amalgam of gothic-inspired buildings that huddle close in the downtown area of the city. The city is a Mecca for scholarly learning.

Visitors to Yale University with no clue to the rest of New Haven risk missing out on some of the best pizza in the U.S. Food critics around the country have discovered and hailed Pepe’s Pizzeria THE best pizza pie in the country. Pepe’s, in the Little Italy portion of New Haven—along Wooster Street--may have a line out its door as early as 1 or 2 pm everyday. Fall out of line, fail to know if you’re next (they don’t write any names down) and you’re quickly passed over in the interest of time and the staff attitude of “our pizza’s too good to care if you’re left out.” Don’t worry, if you can’t wait try Sally’s, next door, or Modern Pizza, a few blocks down, both just as good by most standards and with a lot less wait.