Must-see attractions in Connecticut

  • S
    Stepping Stones Museum for Children

    This museum is bursting with interactive, instructive fun, from the weather cycle to gravity to the principles of conservation. The Toddler Terrain is a…

  • M
    Museum of Connecticut History

    This museum, housed in the Connecticut State Library on Capitol Hill and renowned for its impressive genealogy library, packs a punch for US history buffs…

  • E
    Elizabeth Park Rose Gardens

    Known for its collection of 15,000 rose bushes, the 102-acre Elizabeth Park was donated to the city by a wealthy industrialist, who asked that it be named…

  • M
    Mount Tom State Park

    The best swimming in the Litchfield Hills is at this state park, 3.5 miles west of Bantam. The not-even-1-mile 'tower trail' leads to the stone Mt Tom…

  • New Haven Green

    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

    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…

  • Grove Street Cemetery

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

  • F
    Foxwoods Casino

    The gleaming towers of this mammoth resort casino – the largest outside Vegas – rise above the forest canopy of Great Cedar Swamp. Built on the ancestral…

  • B
    Bushnell Park

    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…

  • J
    Jones Family Farm

    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…

  • M
    Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk

    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…

  • C
    Coogan Farm

    Opened in September 2014, this public-access, 45-acre historic farm and nature center affords sweeping views of the Mystic River. Maintained by volunteers…

  • L
    Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum

    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…

  • C
    Custom House Maritime Museum

    Near the ferry terminal, this 1833 building is the oldest operating customhouse in the country, in addition to functioning as a museum. Its front door is…

  • O
    Old Lighthouse Museum

    Climb the winding iron staircase of this squat, granite lighthouse for 360-degree views from the lantern room. Afterward browse the small museum, which…

  • W
    Willimantic Frog Bridge

    First-time drivers crossing the Willimantic are stunned by four 11ft frog sculptures perched atop granite spools of thread. This bridge, built in 2000,…

  • G
    Gillette Castle

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

  • H
    Harriet Beecher-Stowe Center

    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…

  • S
    Slater Memorial Museum

    This museum was commissioned by William Slater, an educated and well-traveled man who aspired to make the great art of the classical and Renaissance…

  • B
    Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden

    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…