Connecticut cities ranked - All 21 cities for interest and visitor appeal (Hartford: taxes, live)
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Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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I visited Norwich, which for some can be written off as just another mill town. I stopped at the Harp and Dragon pub for a beer and walked around some downtown blocks and the waterfront park where the rivers confluence. This is an old city with an impressive collection of pre-civil war architecture. Downtown has a collection of some ornate historic brick and masonry buildings and the city hall is interesting.
But it also has checks cashed stores, cell phone outlets, and too many vacancies. It's not dead, there are a few pubs in downtown and efforts are being made to keep some life and activity there. But the obvious story is it was once a thriving manufacturing center and the economy has left this place behind like so many other small cities further out from the metro areas. It has some attractive suburban neighborhoods and homes on the west side with a fair amount of retail. Not sure what could bring this city up. It didn't feel as rough around the edges as some parts of New London, but there were definitely neighborhoods in decline. It's better than your average mill town, the kind of place I could root for.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveM85
New London actually looks pretty nice from that link if you click around the streets. I'll have to make a day of it someday, maybe by water, find transient day slips.
All CT towns and cities, say around the 30K and up range have that mix of historic, mid-century and modern.
All of them, not one is spared.
Re-posting here, because..cities...
In Hartford a juxtaposition like this doesn't look totally unnatural - https://www.google.com/maps/@41.7657...7i16384!8i8192
The Old State House has some grass and dignified gates around it. There are blocks in Boston and Montreal that look like this.
Back to the New London waterfront (https://www.google.com/maps/@41.3545...7i13312!8i6656 ). I know the garage serves a purpose facilitating parking for the ferry, waterfront, and train station. The tiny 18th century schoolhouse on that scene was like the 90's song.. things that make you go hmmmm . Move the house down the street?
Norwich could do a simple fix and knock this ugly garage out (there are other garages in downtown - https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5233...7i16384!8i8192) and reconnect the waterfront to downtown blocks, give the street in between a road diet. Look at me all arm chairing urban planning decisions. The locals decide on unmet potential, but suggestions never hurt.
Last edited by Champ le monstre du lac; 01-31-2023 at 08:35 AM..
Interesting picks here. I gotta say that Milford, Derby, and Ansonia are not really major cities. And it's actually Winchester not Winsted. Winsted is just a small area in Winchester. Also if you include Milford here, how can you not include Manchester, West Hartford, and Fairfield?
However, out of the places you rank, I would rank them as follows in terms of best to visit:
1. New Haven--easily. Yale University, Art Centers, Long Wharf, Best Architecture, etc. This might easily be the best small city in the whole country or at least up there. Best Pizza, and you also need to check out Arethusa Dairy Farm for Ice Cream.
2. Milford--Not a city, but the Downtown is one of the prettiest in the whole state with waterfalls, duck ponds, and some great sculptures. Also has the best beaches out of all the towns you listed. Silver Sands is a great state park with Walnut Beach around the Boardwalk being extremely sandy. Audubon Beach is very scenic. Also has amazing restaurants.
3. Norwalk--Cool city with a lot of character. Rowayton is a really unique area in the city.
4. Stamford--Nothing super special, but another unique city with character. Has a huge tech industry there.
5. New London--I am only rating this so high because of Ocean Beach Park. As a CT native, I don't think super highly of New London, but for visitors Ocean Beach Park might be more appealing and draw people there. Other than that, its a tiny city with some good areas and other rundown areas.
6. Middletown--Small City, but the center and buildings are unique and pretty.
7. Groton--Mainly because of the Mystic area, but most of that is in Stonington (Not Groton).
8. Hartford--I only say this because of the Capitol Building and a few other places right in the center, but the majority of the city is not actually that great and has high crime rates.
9. Danbury--It's a good city with a nice mall, but it's ordinary and not really anything special for visitors.
The rest of the places you mention, I don't even recommend bothering to visit, but I have some other places in CT that are not to be missed:
1. Essex--The Town Center, Steam Train and Riverboat is amazing. You really cannot miss this area. There is no other place like Essex in CT. Also while you're in that area, hop over to Chester just to take a look at the pretty town center there as well.
2. Stonington--The Stonington Borough especially is extremely historical. You need to walk through there and check out the small beach in that area. Check out the Mystic Seaport and Aquarium as well.
3. Guilford Green and Maine Like Coast--Gotta explore the Town of Guilford. It is clearly the best green in the state, especially the Downtown Area and Rt. 146. You also need to check out the pretty coast (it's almost like Maine) around Indian Cove, Bloody Cove, Vineyard Point, and Sachem's Head. This is probably the most beautiful town in the whole state in my opinion.
4. Madison Surf Club--Clearly the Best and cleanest beach in the whole state. It's not super crowded and extremely sandy and the water is so nice there. Spend a day on this beach.
5. Litchfield--There is a lot of Nature and Forest there with amazing hiking trails. Nice Farms and Gardening as well. You really need to check out this area in the wake of Northwestern CT. Be sure to get ice cream at Peaches N Cream and Arethusa while you're there.
6. Rocky Neck State Park and Niantic Boardwalk--Go around the town of East Lyme and see the Niantic Boardwalk and spend some time at Rocky Neck State Park. Great places.
7. Glastonbury, CT--Check out Cotton Hollow, Blackledge Falls, and Robbs Farm Ice Cream. Places not to be missed.
8. Fenwick Area in Old Saybrook, CT--Extremely wealthy beachfront that is so quiet and beautiful.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
10,749 posts, read 23,819,647 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Danny K
Interesting picks here. I gotta say that Milford, Derby, and Ansonia are not really major cities. And it's actually Winchester not Winsted. Winsted is just a small area in Winchester. Also if you include Milford here, how can you not include Manchester, West Hartford, and Fairfield?.
What's interesting here that I've picked up on are the semantics of city and town charters in Connecticut. New England states generally keep it simple with incorporated municipalities being designated as either a city or a town, sans the wilderness of northern Maine which has plenty of unincorporated land which makes sense since nobody lives there. It can get confusing in other states with thickly settled unincorporated suburban areas in the south and out west that have no municipal designations and are run by the county with overlapping zip codes. And mid-Atlantic states are further divided up by townships and boroughs, town and city designations are much easier to grasp.
I don't know what makes Milford any more or less city than West Hartford, or why the small Naugatuck Valley milltowns like Ansonia and Derby are chartered as cities and Fairfield has a town charter designation. And Winsted is an odd duck, also with a chartered city designation but could be considered part of Winchester otherwise since it's so small. I'm assuming during the industrial revolution these small milltowns had bigger ambitions that never manifested and West Hartford whose existence is tethered to being a suburb of Hartford probably never saw purpose in dropping its town charter designation and is okay with being a suburban town, even though it has a vibrant urban center.
Last edited by Champ le monstre du lac; 02-05-2023 at 06:21 AM..
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
10,749 posts, read 23,819,647 times
Reputation: 14665
Quote:
Originally Posted by Danny K
1. New Haven--easily. Yale University, Art Centers, Long Wharf, Best Architecture, etc. This might easily be the best small city in the whole country or at least up there. Best Pizza, and you also need to check out Arethusa Dairy Farm for Ice Cream.
2. Milford--Not a city, but the Downtown is one of the prettiest in the whole state with waterfalls, duck ponds, and some great sculptures. Also has the best beaches out of all the towns you listed. Silver Sands is a great state park with Walnut Beach around the Boardwalk being extremely sandy. Audubon Beach is very scenic. Also has amazing restaurants.
3. Norwalk--Cool city with a lot of character. Rowayton is a really unique area in the city.
4. Stamford--Nothing super special, but another unique city with character. Has a huge tech industry there.
5. New London--I am only rating this so high because of Ocean Beach Park. As a CT native, I don't think super highly of New London, but for visitors Ocean Beach Park might be more appealing and draw people there. Other than that, its a tiny city with some good areas and other rundown areas.
6. Middletown--Small City, but the center and buildings are unique and pretty.
7. Groton--Mainly because of the Mystic area, but most of that is in Stonington (Not Groton).
8. Hartford--I only say this because of the Capitol Building and a few other places right in the center, but the majority of the city is not actually that great and has high crime rates.
9. Danbury--It's a good city with a nice mall, but it's ordinary and not really anything special for visitors.
The rest of the places you mention, I don't even recommend bothering to visit:.
I'd add Norwich to the list. There isn't a lot to do, it's a small city in a semi rural area. But it's setting at the river confluence in the hills is remarkably scenic and it has an impressive endowment of colonial and pre civil war architecture. The downtown has some attractive blocks with some nice architecture (City Hall, very cool building) and Mohegan Park is an impressive city park. Not a tourist draw, it's got some rough and dumpy areas and some charming ones, very mixed income. The kind of place that would be nice to see some investment as the QOL in the area seems good, and Mohegan Sun is very close.
Clearly New Haven comes out on top as the best city in CT. Milford was never on my radar, when passing through it's easy to assume its a commercial and mally suburb. Get away from route 1 and I-95 reveals a lot more. I've only seen some of the shoreline parts, but it's one of the most scenic coastal areas on the Sound with expansive water views.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Danny K
I have some other places in CT that are not to be missed:
1. Essex--The Town Center, Steam Train and Riverboat is amazing. You really cannot miss this area. There is no other place like Essex in CT. Also while you're in that area, hop over to Chester just to take a look at the pretty town center there as well.
2. Stonington--The Stonington Borough especially is extremely historical. You need to walk through there and check out the small beach in that area. Check out the Mystic Seaport and Aquarium as well.
3. Guilford Green and Maine Like Coast--Gotta explore the Town of Guilford. It is clearly the best green in the state, especially the Downtown Area and Rt. 146. You also need to check out the pretty coast (it's almost like Maine) around Indian Cove, Bloody Cove, Vineyard Point, and Sachem's Head. This is probably the most beautiful town in the whole state in my opinion.
4. Madison Surf Club--Clearly the Best and cleanest beach in the whole state. It's not super crowded and extremely sandy and the water is so nice there. Spend a day on this beach.
5. Litchfield--There is a lot of Nature and Forest there with amazing hiking trails. Nice Farms and Gardening as well. You really need to check out this area in the wake of Northwestern CT. Be sure to get ice cream at Peaches N Cream and Arethusa while you're there.
6. Rocky Neck State Park and Niantic Boardwalk--Go around the town of East Lyme and see the Niantic Boardwalk and spend some time at Rocky Neck State Park. Great places.
7. Glastonbury, CT--Check out Cotton Hollow, Blackledge Falls, and Robbs Farm Ice Cream. Places not to be missed.
8. Fenwick Area in Old Saybrook, CT--Extremely wealthy beachfront that is so quiet and beautiful.
It feels like for tourists and visitors, the towns in Connecticut are where its at. Some real genuine New England charm with town greens, stone walls, woodlands and hills with rocky terrain, scenic coves and harbors can be found in spades in this small state. In a way it can have an element of cities being overlooked, especially if weighing on stereotypes. I do love the Shoreline East towns (Guilford/the Lymes/Stonington), would happily live in just about any of them.
Last edited by Champ le monstre du lac; 02-05-2023 at 06:10 AM..
Interesting picks here. I gotta say that Milford, Derby, and Ansonia are not really major cities. And it's actually Winchester not Winsted. Winsted is just a small area in Winchester. Also if you include Milford here, how can you not include Manchester, West Hartford, and Fairfield?
However, out of the places you rank, I would rank them as follows in terms of best to visit:
2. Milford--Not a city, but the Downtown is one of the prettiest in the whole state with waterfalls, duck ponds, and some great sculptures. Also has the best beaches out of all the towns you listed. Silver Sands is a great state park with Walnut Beach around the Boardwalk being extremely sandy. Audubon Beach is very scenic. Also has amazing restaurants.
8. Fenwick Area in Old Saybrook, CT--Extremely wealthy beachfront that is so quiet and beautiful.
Milford is city
November 4, 1959
Electors voted to change from a Town Government to a City Government, consequently, the Latin wording in the octagon became Sigill Urbis Milford in Repub Connecticutensi (Seal of the City of Milford in the Republic of Connecticut).
What's interesting here that I've picked up on are the semantics of city and town charters in Connecticut. New England states generally keep it simple with incorporated municipalities being designated as either a city or a town, sans the wilderness of northern Maine which has plenty of unincorporated land which makes sense since nobody lives there. It can get confusing in other states with thickly settled unincorporated suburban areas in the south and out west that have no municipal designations and are run by the county with overlapping zip codes. And mid-Atlantic states are further divided up by townships and boroughs, town and city designations are much easier to grasp.
I don't know what makes Milford any more or less city than West Hartford, or why the small Naugatuck Valley milltowns like Ansonia and Derby are chartered as cities and Fairfield has a town charter designation. And Winsted is an odd duck, also with a chartered city designation but could be considered part of Winchester otherwise since it's so small. I'm assuming during the industrial revolution these small milltowns had bigger ambitions that never manifested and West Hartford whose existence is tethered to being a suburb of Hartford probably never saw purpose in dropping its town charter designation and is okay with being a suburban town, even though it has a vibrant urban center.
It’s self identification. Towns and cities can call themselves whatever they want. There’s no oversight committee.
It’s like modern day gender identification. Be whatever you want, you can even opt out, who’s going to stop you.
I like to go by the numbers. For me CT majors are in the 100k and up. Mids are 50K+ no matter how they identify.
Electors voted to change from a Town Government to a City Government, consequently, the Latin wording in the octagon became Sigill Urbis Milford in Repub Connecticutensi (Seal of the City of Milford in the Republic of Connecticut).
CT large cities are Stamford, Norwalk, Bridgeport, New Haven, Hartford
smaller cities Danbury, New London, New Britain, Norwich, Meriden, Middletown, Ansonia, Derby, West Haven, Bristol
Suburban cities Milford, Shelton, Windham
I'd switch Norwak for Waterbury, remember. Waterbury has 110,000 rounded, Norwalk around 90,000. Hartford at 125k, New Haven 135k, Stamford, 136k, Bridgeport, 148k.
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. Move the house down the street? 
