Don't Miss These Historical Sites on Your Trip to Connecticut

If you love history as I do, then you will love to visit Connecticut. Connecticut is rich in history dating back to 1634. If you are planning a trip or have visited Connecticut you will want to check these beautiful little towns out and hopefully you didn't missed these when you were there.

All of these historical places are open to the public. Just reading about them makes you want to stop for a visit!

1. Litchfield Historical District
At the heart of Litchfield, as of so many New England towns, is the village green. Stretching off on opposite sides of the green are North and South streets, both of them line with stately old houses. The pride of Litchfield, this central historic district is also a favorite with visitors. Only the Tapping Reeve House and adjacent Law School are open to the public. But the beauty and quiet dignity of these grand old homes, most of them dating from the late 1700s, make the entire district an ideal setting for a leisurely stroll into the past.

That past began in 1720, when Litchfield was settled as a frontier outpost in the northwestern corner of the state. Thriving at first as a key trading center, the town grew busier still during the Revolution, when it became a vital supply depot for the Continental Army. In one episode, the ladies of Litchfield melted down a statue of King George III and cast the metal into thousands of bullets. The action took place behind the still-standing house of Oliver Wolcott, Sr., a member of the Continental congress and signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Another notable native, Ethan Allen, won fame for his heroic capture of Fort Ticonderoga during the Revolutionary War. Also born in Litchfield were the abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher and his sister Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin. But perhaps the most influential resident was Tapping Reeve, who, in the late 1700s, established a law school in Litchfield. Attended by some 1,200 students during its 58 years, the school graduated many who went on the distinguished careers. Among them were 2 vice presidents, Aaron Burr and John C. Calhoun, 3 justices of the Supreme Court, more than 120 U.S. senators and representatives, and dozens of governors, judges, and other men of achievement.

As long as the stagecoach era lasted, Litchfield continued to thrive. But when railroad builders eventually by passed it in the 1800s, rapid growth and change came to a halt. One happy result has been the survival of the historic heart of the town, still little changed by the passage of time.

2. Noah Webster House, West Hartford, Connecticut
Noah Webster, whose name is almost synonymous with the word dictionary, was born in 1758 in a Connecticut farmhouse dominated by a huge central chimney. Furnished, as it might have been more than two centuries ago and interpreted by costumed guides, it offers visitors the opportunity to see a simple household of an earlier era. Also here are Webster's books and manuscripts, vivid reminders of the remarkable man who rose from such humble beginnings.

At age 16, young Noah left the family home to enter Yale. After college, the struggle to earn a living led him to master many fields of knowledge: He taught school, practiced law, edited newspapers and magazines, sat in the state legislature, and learned 20 languages in varying degrees. He also wrote, with firm opinions, on subjects ranging from epidemic diseases and experiments with dew to a personal revision of the Bible.

A persistent theme in Webster's life, however, was a concern for the used and meaning of words themselves. By the time he reached his mid-twenties, he had already published an elementary speller that eventually sold nearly 100 million copies. But Webster had a greater goal in mind: Toiling for decades, he compiled, by hand and without help, his mammoth masterpiece, An American dictionary of the English Language, published in his 70th year. In it he designed 70,000 words as his fellow citizens used them, and in the process he set the standard for all lexicographers who would follow.

3. Nook Farm
In the 1870's, when Mark Twain's literary career was just rocketing into orbit, he chose to live in Hartford. "Puritans are mighty straight laced and they won't let me smoke in the parlor," he confessed, "but the almighty don't make any better people." And so he and his family settled in Nook Farm, a neighborhood of writers and political activists among them Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and her suffragette sister Isabella Hooker.

It was, in fact, right next to Mrs. Stowe's large but relatively austere Victorian "cottage" that Twain built his fantastical home, a lavish reflection of his flamboyant personality. Finished in 1874, two years before The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was published, this extravaganza of intricate brickwork and trim has balconies on every side and a porch resembling a Mississippi River steamboat. Designer Louis Tiffany with an exotic blend of Chinese, Moorish, and American Indian motifs embellished the opulent interior.

But the true spirit of the place was inscribed on the library fireplace: "The ornament of a house is the friends that frequent It." and it was indeed filled with friends, family, and high spirits until 1891. Then, despite Twain's prosperous career, his free spending and bad investments bankrupted him, and he was forced to close the house and live less extravagantly.

In 1896 his neighbor, who had written some 30 books herself, died. Both homes, altered in the ensuing decades, have been painstakingly restored and now bring to life the literary legacies of Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe.

4. Wethersfield
We went up the steeple of Wethersfield Meeting House, from whence is the most grand and beautiful prospect, "So wrote future president John Adams when he visited Wethersfield in 1774. Modern visitors might well agree, for arrayed along Main Street and clustered around the village green are dozens of charming old homes in a variety of styles. In all, the town boasts more than 150 houses that were built before 1850.

Wethersfield traces its origins to 1634, when a group of Puritans from the Massachusetts colony decided to settle on the bank of the Connecticut River. In 1639 they joined with nearby Hartford and Windsor to draft a plan for self-government, America's first written constitution.

Thanks to its riverside location and rich farmland, Wethersfield prospered. Until a flood around 1700 opened a new channel, it was the head of navigation for seagoing ships on the river and had become a commercial hub. Even after the flood, when ships were able to sail on by, it retained its links with the sea. Townspeople built their own ships and sent them off to trade in distant ports.

The town is also proud of its links with the Revolution. At Joseph Webb's home George Washington met with the French commander in 1781, planning the campaign that ended the war. Adjoining the Webb House are the homes of Isaac Stevens, a tanner and saddler, and Revolutionary patriot Silas Deane. Together, they form the three-part Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum, an ideal starting point for exploring Wethersfield's picturesque past.

5.Whitfield House
On a gentle rise near the Guilford green sits a house of stone that has been there since 1639. Built as a parsonage for the Reverend Henry Whitfield and his large family, it almost certainly served for other purposes as well. Its Great Hall, taking up two-thirds of the ground floor, was probably used both as a center for family life and as a meeting place for the band of Puritans Whitfield led to Connecticut.

But the architecture has architecture has puzzled historians. The massive stonewalls, up to 30 inches thick, are uncharacteristic of colonial houses, which were usually built of brick or wood. Nor does the house resemble those of Whitfield's native southern England. There is also an oddly placed upstairs window that, legend says, used to hold a small ship's cannon.

The fortress like design could have been intended as protection from Indian raids. But the local tribe, at least was friendly and peaceable. They traded their land willingly for such goods as coats, shoes, stockings, hatchets, hoes, kettles, and spoons. It is believed that they even helped to haul granite for the house from a site a quarter of a mile away. So we can only speculate about the reasons for such sturdy construction.

Whitfield, who had left England to escape religious persecution, went back about 1650, after Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell seized power. His house underwent many changes over the centuries, but much of it has been restored to its colonial appearance, with about one-third of the original still intact. Filled with typical furnishings of the 17th and 18th centuries. Whitfield House is an evocative reminder of early colonial days.

6. Mystic Seaport Museum
Once rapidly disappearing, mementos of America's great nautical days have found a special haven in Connecticut. The location, on the protected tidal river at Mystic, is fitting, for the town itself has a long maritime history. Unable, for want of significant harbor, to complete with New London or Boston as a major port, Mystic became noted for building fine ships, including some of the fastest clippers of the last century. Powered by wind or steam. Her ships plied the seas of the world with whalers, sealers, fishermen, traders, explorers, passengers, and troops.

To preserve the heritage of Mystic and other maritime towns, in 1929 the museum's founders began to collect seagoing artifacts, ships, boats, and even some abandoned coastal buildings, along the New England seaboard. To date they have amassed three great sailing ships, which are open to the public, hundreds of smaller craft, and more than 60 buildings. From this extraordinary collection a typical 19th-century seafaring town has been re-created, where visitors can sample the sights, sounds, smells, and other sensations experienced by mariners in times gone by.