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Fictional Stepford Connecticut may have been modeled on real Stepney Connecticut. Likely there could be copyright or trade mark issues using Stepford CT in a book. It is a commuter type town. Not all, but many commute to NYC.
To be away from cities, with little to no city commuters, maybe Sherman, Kent, Canaan (not New Canaan which is very tied into NYC).
Sherman would be on the north end of Lake Candlewood. It is a town with some very eclectic folks, very nice, but some are a bit weird. Sherman is also known for some very prominent boarding schools. There would be a few commuters to NYC, but not many. Sherman is more toward the retired hippy side maybe than the other towns mentioned in this post. There would be as many folks who are in Sherman for weekends or summers from NYC visiting summer homes as those who live in Sherman and commute to work in NYC.
Kent is likewise away from any daily city commute, it is a bit more of a tourist town, it also has some decent educational institutions. The town may be best known for Kent Falls, also the Railroad museum. To me the main street full of boarding school kids on Friday night is the most memorable. Likely no daily commuters to NYC from Kent. Many in Kent are rich, or very poor, not so many in the middle. It is a town without much of a middle class. Many of the kids in boarding school at Kent come from affluent families, my guess is a majority from NYC, but no basis for that other than observation years ago.
Canaan is toward the far north of eastern Connecticut, and is a former county, not so much a town. It has few inhabitants, and is mostly where you go from Route 7 to I 90 in Massachusetts. Of the 3 Canaan is the poorest, and has the fewest attractions, but may also be the most remote. Canaan fails as a NYC commute, but allows for rural poverty to be explored.
If you want diversity, consider Kent or Stepney. Kent has some interesting things going for it, and Stepney is within commute of NYC. Kent is far more remote from any major city than Stepney.
Kent and Sherman may already have the sort of educational institutions you want to write about. An alternative is a smaller city like Bristol or Danbury. Danbury does have many commuters to NYC. These both have universities, and varied types of employment.
I think you have Sherman confused with another town too. True it's on the north end of Candlewood Lake, but it has zero boarding schools never mind any "prominent" ones. It's a pretty wealthy town, but very far from being "hippyish". In fact it's one of the few FFC towns that voted for Trump
Also Canaan is in Northwestern CT -- not far eastern CT
Last edited by Lalalally; 07-14-2017 at 05:41 PM..
It has been mentioned - Kent is the answer that checks all your boxes.
1.) Rural, natural, scenic - check
2.) SECLUDED - decently far from any city or town - there's plenty of places in Kent that are far from the 'downtown' of Kent - a school being far away from any town doesn't make much sense since everywhere is a city or town technically but I think I know what you mean.
3.) Must have a lake - it's a Lake Waramaug border and there's the sizable North/South Spectacle Pond and others
4.) No more than 2 hours driving distance from NYC - check
5.) Somewhere where a boarding school could hypothetically be -- i.e. no state parks or the like - there's several boarding schools there, not even hypothetically!
I guess I'm a bit perplexed. If your work is fiction, why not "create" a town that meets your specs? Are you planning to use a real town and populate it with a fictional school,etc? I could see doing that if your setting is a large city, but seems unusual for a small rural town.
I recall many fictionalized Connecticut locations in films and books--Christmas in Connecticut, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream Home, The Stranger, for example----sometimes better than the real thing, as imagination often is.
I guess I'm a bit perplexed. If your work is fiction, why not "create" a town that meets your specs? Are you planning to use a real town and populate it with a fictional school,etc? I could see doing that if your setting is a large city, but seems unusual for a small rural town.
I recall many fictionalized Connecticut locations in films and books--Christmas in Connecticut, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream Home, The Stranger, for example----sometimes better than the real thing, as imagination often is.
Lots and lots of fiction take place in real towns. Moreso than the Star Hollows.
2.) SECLUDED - decently far from any city or town
4.) No more than 2 hours driving distance from NYC
CT is the fourth densest state and I believe the most densest parts are within a 2 hour ride (with our famous CT traffic*) from NYC. You might have to bend a little bit or use creative license and create a somewhat fictional town/area of CT.
How far (secluded) from a city or bustling town does it need to be?
*I live in Trumbull and more often than not it takes me 2 hours to get into and home from Manhattan (the upper East Side).
*I live in Trumbull and more often than not it takes me 2 hours to get into and home from Manhattan (the upper East Side).
Only at rush hour...
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