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Roughly rectangular; 90 miles from east to west, and 50 from north to south. Bounded on the east by Rhode Island, on the north by Massachusetts, on the west by New York state, and on the south by Long Island sound, a huge inlet of the Atlantic. The shoreline is cut by an exceptional number of southward flowing rivers.
Appears very small today, but noted in Dwight's Travels (vol 1, p126) as one of 22 towns in Litchfield County. Situated on west bank of the Barkhamsted Reservoir.
Birthplace of Emma Hart Willard, where she also taught school for some time.
At the head of the Branford River, about 5 miles E of New Haven. There is also a Branford Harbor.
In Fairfield CO, 25-30 miles up the coast from the NY state line. At the head of the Poquonock River, less than 5 mi. W. of the mouth of the Housatonic. Home of P.T. Barnum.
Near the northern border of Fairfield County.
The "beautiful drowsy village of Brooklyn", as described in Odell Shepherd, Pedlar's Progress, p105; where Samuel J. May was pastor from 1822-36; his first pastorate, and he being the "first Unitarian Preacher in Connecticut" (Pedlar's Progress, p104). I recall it getting a good bit of mention in Clark's Communitarian Moment.
Not shown in These U.S., but Dwight's Travels (vol 1) notes it as one of the 7 major towns of Middlesex County (p126). On p161, he speaks of it as part of the township of Middletown, so I assume it is now just part of Middletown. Pop 3,258 in 1810, according to Dwight, p161.
New Haven CO; about 15 miles north of New Haven, about the source of the Mill River.
Home of the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut, described by one source as as "America's First 'Junior College'" where Gideon Welles spent a couple of unproductive years. It was run by Rev. Tillotson Bronson, with whom Welles boarded.
A. Bronson Alcott was the nephew of the Rev. Bronson. He made his first serious trial there of his ideas in education here, from 1825 - 1827. He was very highly praised in the American Journal of Education, but his innovations alarmed the townspeople; an "opposition school" was started, support for Bronson's school dwindled, and he left. (Source: Niven, Welles, p9-10; and Shepard, Pedlar's Progress)
In northeast corner of Litchfield County.
One of the largest towns today -- in northwestern Fairfield County.
At the junction of the Naugatuck and Housatonic rivers; about 10 miles up the Housatonic from its mouth at Stratford. Birthplace of Josiah Holbrook. Apparently named, like many New England towns, for the town where the (of some of the) original immigrants came from. At least Holbrook's ancestor John H., came from Derby, England.
On the east bank of the Connecticut River, about 15 mi. upriver from the mouth. Haddam is on the other side of the river, and about 3 miles north.
Dwight's Travels (vol 1) notes it as one of the 7 major towns of Middlesex County (p126).
On the east side of the Connecticut River from Hartford. Given in Dwight's Travels (vol 1, p126) as separate town from Hartford, and it looks as if it still is.
Village (400 pop. in 1954) on E. side of Barkhamsted Reservoir. See Hartland.
A couple of miles east of New Haven, near the mouth of the Farm River.
Looks small today, but noted in Dwight's Travels (vol 1, p126) as one of 17 towns in New Haven County.
Noted in Dwight's Travels (vol 1, p126), though it does not appear in my modern atlas, something called East Windsor Hill does, and it and Windsor are on opposite banks of the Connecticut River.
(Early 19c spelling: Glastenbury)
About 8 miles SE of Hartford. Where Gideon Welles was born and lived until adulthood.
About the middle of Litchfield County, about 5 mi NE of Torrington or 6-7 mi N of town of Litchfield.
Noted as "new" (about 1810) in Dwight's Travels (vol 1, p126), but does not appear in my modern atlas.
Town about 10 miles West of New Haven; the nearest town to the residence (known as Nutplains) of General Andrew Ward, the foster father of Roxanna Foote who married Lyman Beecher.
Where Fitz-Green Halleck was born and grew up, from 1790 - 1811.
On the west bank of the Connecticut River, 15-20 mi. upriver from the mouth. East Haddam is on the other side of the river, and about 3 miles downriver.
Dwight's Travels (vol 1) notes it as one of the 7 major towns of Middlesex County (p126).
5 mi. (or less) N. of New Haven, on the Mill River.
Birthplace of Theodore Weld. Weld's father, Ludovicus, was the minister of the Congregational church there.
On the Connecticut River, about a third of the way down from the Northern border.
In the late 18th century and early 19c, it was known for the "Hartford [or Connecticut] Wits", who included Timothy Dwight, Joel Barlow, and others, who strove to forge an American national literature (most of their work was poetic); their ideals were Federalist and Calvinist (Barlow defected from these ideals later).
Home of Thomas H. Gallaudet's Asylum for the Deaf [and Dumb -- this part was dropped later] (c.f.Anne Royall's Sketches..., p296-99, noted in James, Anne Royall's U.S.A., pp142)
It also hosted the much maligned Hartford Convention in which New Englanders argued over what to do about the War of 1812, and other signs of New England's being submerged in democratic chaos. Some members, whose roles have probably been exagerated, actually wanted New England to succeed from the union.
Home of Catharine Beecher's Hartford Female Seminary, and of Mary Beecher Perkins, wife of Thomas Perkins, a prominent Hartford lawyer.
The New England Weekly Review, a Whig paper with literary asperations (and superior quality) was edited there, from 1828-30 by George D. Prentice; from 1830-32 by John Greenleaf Whittier.
The Hartford Times, was edited from (approx) 1826 - 1836 by Gideon Welles, as a Democratic paper, which tended to be strongly at odds with the Weekly Review.
Horace Bushnell also had a church in Hartford for most of his career.
Further reading on early 19c Hartford
Also consult works on the people noted above, and on Lydia Sigourney, the hugely popular poet.
Cannot find it in my modern atlas, but is noted in Dwight's Travels (vol 1, p126), and East Hartland and West Hartland appear on opposite banks of the Barkhamsted Reservoir. (perhaps old Hartland is under water).
In Middlesex CO, about 7 miles inland from the shore. Dwight's Travels (vol 1) notes it as one of the 7 major towns of Middlesex County (p126). Hammond (1954) gives population as 600+.
In the NW corner of Litchfield County, near where Salmon Creek flows into the Housatonic.
Lyman Beecher's home parish from 1810 to 1826. Also home of Tapping Reeve's law school, the most important such school (if not the only one?)on the early 19th century.
In the Southeast corner of Hartford County. Appears in Dwight's Travels (vol 1, p126) as Marlboro (at least there is a Marlboro, and no Marlborough, in Dwight for Hartford County.
In the NE corner of New Haven CO, near a major gathering point of the waters of the Quinnipiac River.
Birthplace of Bennet Tyler.
About 5 mi. SW of the center of Waterbury.
Principal town of Middlesex CO; 25-30 miles up the Connecticut River from its mouth, and about 15 miles downriver from Hartford.
Birthplace of Return Joseph Meigs (1740-1823), prominent Revolutionary War soldier and later, Indian agent in Tennessee, and his son of the same name (1764-1824).
In the SW corner of New Haven CO; near the mouth of the Woponaug River.
A few miles NW of Litchfield, on the upper reaches of the (10-15 mi long, it appears) Marshepaug River.
New London CO; head of the Mystic River. An old seafaring town, and modern tourist attraction with museums, old ships, ropewalks, etc.
Reference: http://www.olcg.com/ct/mystic.html
New Haven CO; on the Naugatuck River, a mile or so S. of Waterbury.
Home of Yale. It has an fairly large harbour into which three moderate-sized rivers, the West, the Mill, and the Quinnipiac, flow. The more moderate form of Calvinism espoused by people like Lyman Beecher and Nathaniel Taylor was sometimes called the "New Haven Theology" because of its connection to Yale (and Nathaniel Taylor, prof of Didactic Theology, especially).
Arthur Tappan lived there from about February 1828.
An attempt was made to establish a school for free blacks there with Arthur Tappan's support in 1831. The leading spirit in the effort was Simeon Jocelyn.
Ralph I. Ingersoll's birthplace, and home for all his life. He was a congressman from 1825-33, and mayor in 1851.
For New Haven Historic Resources online, go to http://statlab.stat.yale.edu/cityroom/test/hist.
About 5 mi. up the Quinnipiac R. from New Haven. Noted in Dwight's Travels (vol 1, p126) as one of 17 towns in New Haven CO.
New London Co. At the head of the Thames, about 15 miles from its mouth.
Dwight (II, 21-2) describes it as a vigorous town, but particularly hard hit by the disruptions of trade during the Napoleonic wars and the War of 1812.
Where Lydia Sigourney was born to Ezekiel Huntley, and lived from 1791-1814, when she went to Hartford.
Apparently a somewhat recently acquired name for Saybrook.
In the south of Litchfield County, a few miles up the Shepaug River from its mouth on the Housatonic.
Mentioned as "new" in Dwight's Travels (vol 1, p126)
In the NW corner of Litchfield County, on Salmon Creek.
These United States (p19) quotes Wm. Storrs Lee, The Yankees of CT:
In Middlesex CO; the main town at the mouth of the Connecticut River, Renamed Old Saybrook in 1947, according to the history section of the web page at http://oldsaybrook.com/, which gives a summary of its history from the founding of Saybrook Plantation (whose geographical area encompassed the seven modern towns we know today as Chester, Deep River, Essex, Lyme, Old Lyme, Westbrook and Old Saybrook) in 1635.
Dwight's Travels (vol 1) notes it as one of the 7 major towns of Middlesex County (p126).
A mile or so from the W'ern border of Litchfield County (with New York). It is on the E bank of the point where Weebatuck Creek gathers its small tributaries before flowing to Ten Mile Creek (NY) and in turn to the Housatonic.
Small town (in recent times pop. under 1000) near the northern tip of Candlewood Lake in Fairfield County, about 2 miles from the CT/NY border, and 15 miles southwest of Litchfield.
In Litchfield CO, about 7-8 mi W of Litchfield, and another 7-8 mi from the NY border.
In Litchfield CO, on the Shepaug River, a few miles downstream from Litchfield.
Near the northernmost point of New Haven CO; around the main gathering point for the waters of the Naugatuck River.
Village (196 pop. in 1954) on W. side of Barkhamsted Reservoir. See Hartland.
Birthplace of Jared Sparks. In Tolland County, about 2 mi east of the Willimantic River, and 2 miles west of the border with Windham County.
In Litchfield CO, about 5 mi N of Torrington.
A few miles SW of Litchfield, at the point where the Marshepaug flows into the Shepaug.
There are two tiers of counties:the shore tier, consisting of Fairfield, New Haven, Middlesex, and New London Counties, as one goes from east to west along the shore, and the inland tier; returning west to east, there are Windham, Tolland, Hartford, and Litchfield Counties.
The counties listed below are the same as are shown in a modern atlas, These United States, though the atlas says county governments were abolished in Connecticut in 1960.
The counties have apparently remained the same since they were listed in Dwight's Travels (vol 1, p126).
Bounded on the South by the Long Island Sound;on the West by New York State; and on the East by the Housatonic River.
The largest city today is Bridgeport.
Towns noted in Dwight's Travels (vol 1, p126): Brookfield, Danbury, Fairfield, Greenwich, Huntington, New Canaan, New Fairfield, Newtown, Norwalk, Reading (sic for Redding, I think), Ridgefield, Stamford, Stratford, Sherman, Trumbull, Weston, Wilton, Darien.
Straddles roughly the 2nd 25 miles of Connecticut River. (which remains broad all across Massachusetts, then forms the roughly 150 mile western border of New Hampshire).
On the Connecticut, and near the middle of the county, lies Hartford.
Towns noted in Dwight's Travels (vol 1, p126): Berlin, Bristol, Burlington, Canton, East Hartford, East Windsor, Enfield, Farmington, Glastonbury, Granby, Hartford, Hartland, Marlboro (sic for Marlborough?), Simsbury, Southington, Suffield, Wethersfield, Windsor.
Traversed by the south-flowing upper reaches of the Housatonic River, the East and West Aspetuck (the 3 rivers mentioned so far meet right at the town of New Milford. There is also the Marshepaug and the West Branch of the Bantam (I don't see any East branch on the map), which flow to the west and east of Litchfield, merge in the Shepaug, which then flows into the Housatonic, near the Fairfield-Litchfield County border. There are also the west and east Branches of the Naugatuck, which meet at Torrington, flow down through Waterbury and Naugatuck, almost to the sound, but not quite, as it runs into the Housatonic about 8 miles above its mouth.
Towns noted in Dwight's Travels (vol 1, p126): Barkhamsted, Bethlehem, Canaan, Colebrook, Cornwall, Goshen, Harwinton, Kent, Litchfield, New Hartford, New Milford, Plymouth, Norfolk, Roxbury, Salisbury, Sharon, Torrington, Washington, Warren, Watertown, Winchester, Woodbury.
On the sound and the next-to-eastmost county. Down the middle of it runs the very wide expanse of the lower Connecticut River.
It contains no major cities today (and only 7 towns listed in Dwight's Travels (vol 1, p126). Its largest town being Middletown, with around 100,000 people.
Towns noted in Dwight's Travels (vol 1, p126): Chatham, Durham, East Haddam, Haddam, Killingworth, Middletown, Saybrook.
The second westmost county facing the sound. Contains the city of New Haven, at a point where three small rivers run into the sound.
Towns noted in Dwight's Travels (vol 1, p126): Branford, Cheshire, Derby, East Haven, Guilford, Hamden, Meriden, Middlebury, Milford, New Haven, North Haven, Oxford, Southbury, Wallingford, Waterbury, Wolcott, Woodbridge.
Traversed by the very broad but short Thames River, with New London and Groton facing each other on the river's west and east banks about 3 miles from the sound. The small city of Norwich is well inland, around where several rivers merge to form the Thames.
Towns noted in Dwight's Travels (vol 1, p126): Bozrah, Colchester, Franklin, Griswold, Groton, Lisbon, Lyme, Montville, New London, North Stonington, Norwich, Preston, Salem, Stonington, Waterford.
An upland county (in the N'ern tier, and next to the E'ernmost) with many small rivers and lakes.
Towns noted in Dwight's Travels (vol 1, p126): Bolton, Coventry, Ellington, Hebron, Somers, Stafford, Tolland, Union, Vernon, Willington.
The northeast corner piece of Connecticut. Contains the town of Willimantic, on the Willimantic River, in its southwest corner.
Towns noted in Dwight's Travels (vol 1, p126): Ashford, Brooklyn, Canterbury, Columbia, Hampton, Killingly, Lebanon, Mansfield, Plainfield, Pomfret, Sterling, Thompson, Voluntown, Windham, Woodstock.
In the northern end of Litchfield and Hartford Counties. Merges with the Farmington River, and is fed by the Hubbard, across the border in Massachusetts.
Barely more than 5 miles long; runs from Lake Gaillard to Branford and its harbor.
Near the middle of the CT/NY border. It and a number of rivers flow into the Housatonic at New Milford.
If we follow this river north from its mouth, its first approx 50 miles (from its mouth) roughly bisects Connecticut (it crosses Hartford and Middlesex counties); the next 50 miles marks off the Western third of Massachusetts; another 100 or so miles make up the border between Vermont and New Hampshire. The largest city on it is about 35 miles upstream, namely Hartford. From the top of the state, there are Thompsonville, Enfield, Windsor Locks and Warehouse Point on the west and east banks, respectively, Windsor, Hartford, Wethersfield, Glastonbury, Cromwell, Portland, Middletown, Haddam, Deep River, and Old Saybrook and Old Lyme, facing each other at the mouth of the river.
Appears somewhat over 15 miles long; reaching the shore near East Haven.
At the head of the Branford River, a few miles NE of New Haven.
Presently a very broad river, made that way in part by large dams. It forms the border between Fairfield and New Haven counties, and empties into the Long Island Sound between Bridgeport and New Haven.
A roughly 10-20 mile wide finger of the Atlantic which separates the (southern) shore of Connecticut from Long Island.
A short (perhaps 10 mi long) tributary of the Shepaug, it lies a few miles W of the town of Litchfield. On it are Woodville (near the mouth) and Milton, on its upper reaches.
Middle of 3 rivers that flow into New Haven harbor.
Small river in New London CO; has its mouth at the town of Mystic.
A fairly broad river which gathers most of its waters around Waterbury. Downriver from that are Naugatuck, Beacon Falls, Seymour, Ansonia, and, at its junction with the Housatonic, Derby and Shelton.
A minor river, roughly parallel, and a few miles to the W., of the Housatonic. Bridgeport is at its mouth, and Trumbull is a couple of miles upriver.
Dwight (II, 24) calls the Quinebaug the "longest and most noble" tributary.
Easternmost of 3 rivers that flow into New Haven harbor.
In the NW corner of Litchfield County, it empties into the upper reaches of the Housatonic. Near its mouth is the town of Lime Rock; 5+ mi. upstream is Salisbury.
About 15 miles long, flowing into the Housatonic; mostly in Litchfield CO, but the last 2 mi. or so are in Fairfield CO; its two main tributaries - the Marshepaug and the (W. Br of?) Bantom.
Begins at the confluence of the Willimantic and Natchaug.
A very broad river for about 15 miles, where it originates in Norwich. It is fed there by several tributaries, the major ones being the Shetucket and the Quinebaug. Dwight (II, 24) calls the Quinebaug the "longest and most noble" tributary, and thinks it should have been considered the upper part of the Thames.
On the west bank, 4 miles up from its mouth, is New London; opposite that is Groton.
Mostly in NY, but its head is at Sharon, CT. It runs to Ten Mile Creek (NY), which in turn empties into the Housatonic.
It appears there are two (or more) minor rivers by this name. One is the westernmost of 3 rivers that flow into New Haven harbor. The other, less than 10 miles to the east, runs to the sound near Guilford.
Flows into the Natchaug at Willimantic, CT.
Runs parallel to, and a couple of miles E of the Naugatuck, and the last few miles of the Housatonic rivers