Must-see attractions in Connecticut

  • UNITED STATES - OCTOBER 09:  Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut (Photo by Carol M. Highsmith/Buyenlarge/Getty Images)

    Wadsworth Atheneum

    Connecticut

    In 2015 the nation's oldest public art museum completed a five-year, $33-million renovation, renewing 32 galleries and 15 public spaces. The Wadsworth…

  • Mark Twain House

    Mark Twain House & Museum

    Connecticut

    For 17 years, encompassing the most productive period of his life, Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835–1910) and his family lived in this striking orange-and…

  • This decorative iron gate is the entrance to the Memorial Quadrangle on the campus of Yale University. The gate beneath Harkness Tower, crafted by Samuel Yellin, is the most ornate of his many works at Yale.

    Yale University

    New Haven

    Each year, thousands of high-school students make pilgrimages to Yale, nursing dreams of attending the country's third-oldest university, which boasts…

  • M657FF New Britain Museum of American Art _ New Britain, Connecticut, USA

    New Britain Museum of American Art

    Connecticut

    Moved to its present, modern premises in 2003 in honor of its centenary, the impressive yet little-known New Britain Museum of American Art houses a stand…

  • Yale Center for British Art

    New Haven

    Reopened in 2016 after extensive restoration, this fabulous gallery was architect Louis Kahn’s last commission and is the setting for the largest…

  • Hartford

    Connecticut Science Center

    Connecticut

    Designed by Argentinian architect Cesar Pelli, the Connecticut Science Center is both an exciting architectural space and an absorbing museum for adults…

  • Exterior, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut

    Yale University Art Gallery

    New Haven

    This outstanding museum was architect Louis Kahn's first commission and houses the oldest university art collection in the country; it includes Vincent…

  • Philip Johnson Glass House

    Connecticut

    Inspired by Mies van der Rohe, this icon of mid-century modern architecture was the home of late Pritzker Prize–winner Philip Johnson and his art…

  • Roseland Cottage

    Connecticut

    This colorful museum was once the summer home of Henry Bowen and his family. Meticulously maintained by the fabulous people at Historic New England, the…

  • Shore Line Trolley Museum

    New Haven

    For a unique take on East Haven's shoreline, take a ride on this open-sided antique trolley – the oldest continuously running suburban trolley line in the…

  • Westport Arts Center

    Connecticut

    The Westport Arts Center is right on the river and has a busy schedule of changing exhibits, kids' classes and performances.

  • Mashamoquet Brook State Park

    Connecticut

    Legends live on in Mashamoquet Brook State Park. Here, local hero Israel Putnum, who led the troops at Bunker Hill in Boston, is said to have crawled into…

  • A 16 acre park in New Haven, CT, used for many public events and bordered by Yale University.

    New Haven Green

    New Haven

    New Haven's spacious green has been the spiritual center of the city since its Puritan fathers designed it in 1638 as the prospective site for Christ's…

  • Nathan Hale Homestead, historic site of American Revolutionary War hero Nathan Hale in Coventry, Connecticut

    Nathan Hale Homestead

    Connecticut

    Nathan Hale, a schoolteacher turned patriot who was eventually pegged as a spy during the American Revolutionary War and hanged by the British at the age…

  • Photo of a very old, vintage, antique tombstone (headstone) at the historic Grove Street Cemetery, one of the oldest burial grounds in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. ; Shutterstock ID 2312436465; your: Barbara Di Castro; gl: 65050; netsuite: digital; full: poi
2312436465

    Grove Street Cemetery

    New Haven

    Three blocks north of the green, this cemetery holds the graves of several famous New Havenites behind its grand Egyptian Revival gate, including rubber…

  • Hammonasset Beach State Park

    Connecticut

    Though not off the beaten path by any means, the two full miles of flat, sandy beach at Hammonasset Beach State Park handily accommodate summer crowds…

  • Bushnell Park

    Connecticut

    The Capitol overlooks the 37-acre Bushnell Park, the first public park in the USA built with taxpayers' money. It was designed by Jacob Weidenmann and…

  • Dinosaur State Park

    Connecticut

    Connecticut’s answer to Jurassic Park, Dinosaur State Park lets you view dinosaur footprints left 200 million years ago on mudflats near Rocky Hill, 10…

  • Jones Family Farm

    Connecticut

    Nestled in the White Hills of Shelton you'll find the 150-year-old, 400-acre Jones Family Farm, home of one of the premier wineries in the state. Aside…

  • Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

    New Haven

    Built in 1963, this extraordinary piece of architecture is the largest building in the world designed for the preservation of rare manuscripts. The…

  • Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk

    Connecticut

    This aquarium focuses on the marine life of Long Island Sound, including sand tiger sharks, loggerhead turtles and harbor seals, with daily feedings at 11…

  • Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum

    Connecticut

    This is one of the best surviving Second Empire–style country houses in the nation, so it's no wonder the 62-room mansion was chosen as the set for the…

  • Connecticut River Museum

    Connecticut

    Adjacent to Essex's Steamboat Dock, this museum's meticulously presented exhibits recount regional history and include a reproduction of the world's first…

  • Tomb

    New Haven

    The Tomb is not open to the public. This is the home of Yale’s most notorious secret society, the Skull & Bones Club, founded in 1832, and its list of…

  • Harriet Beecher-Stowe Center

    Connecticut

    Hartford was home to Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of the antislavery book Uncle Tom's Cabin. Upon meeting Stowe, Abraham Lincoln reputedly said, 'So this…

  • Gillette Castle

    Connecticut

    Built in 1919 by actor William Hooker Gillette, who made his fortune playing Sherlock Holmes, this gaudy, medieval-style 'castle' is an eccentric turreted…

  • Grace Farms

    Connecticut

    This 80-acre parcel was purchased in the 1990s by a consortium of well-intentioned and well-heeled New Cannanites to save the property from development…

  • Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden

    Connecticut

    The town’s religious history extends to the founding of the first theological seminary in the USA by local resident Reverend Joseph Bellamy. His home, the…

  • Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum

    Connecticut

    Swing into the parking lot of this spotless white clapboard mansion, which was once the town store and is now a brilliant contemporary gallery…

  • Florence Griswold Museum

    Connecticut

    Florence Griswold's house, which her artist friends decorated with murals (often in lieu of paying rent), is now the Florence Griswold Museum. The 'home…

  • Silver Sands State Park

    Connecticut

    Meander off into the marsh's dirt trails for some excellent birding (there's also a Connecticut Audubon Center at Milford Point, down the road), or stick…

  • Kent Falls State Park

    Connecticut

    A rather amazing and popular site, you can walk a quarter-mile to the top – where there's a gushing 70ft waterfall – stopping at various platforms along…

  • Bush-Holley Historic Site

    Connecticut

    A saltbox built in 1732, Bush-Holley Historic Site was run as a boardinghouse for the Cos Cob colony's artists between 1890 and 1925. It features a wealth…

  • State Capitol

    Connecticut

    Built of New England granite and white marble and topped by an ostentatious gold-leaf dome, the Gothic palace that is Connecticut’s State Capitol (1879)…

  • Old State House

    Connecticut

    Connecticut's original capitol building (from 1797 to 1873) was designed by Charles Bulfinch, who also designed the Massachusetts State House in Boston,…

  • Nathan Hale Schoolhouse

    Connecticut

    Nathan Hale (1755–76) is famous for his (alleged) patriotic statement, 'I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country,' as he was about to…

  • Bruce Museum

    Connecticut

    One of Greenwich’s wealthiest 19th-century residents, Robert Moffat Bruce was a textile tycoon who deeded his property to the city to become what is now…

  • Center Church

    Connecticut

    Established by the Reverend Thomas Hooker when he came to Hartford from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1632, this church still holds services each Sunday…

  • Audubon Sharon Center

    Connecticut

    The Audubon Society operates the Audubon Center on CT 4 between Cornwall Bridge and Sharon. There is a raptor aviary, which houses 16 species of birds,…

  • Creamery Brook Bison Farm

    Connecticut

    Take a Quiet Corner safari among the bison herd before stocking up at the farm shop. Phone ahead to either visit the retail store or take a tour. Group…

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