Talk:Connecticut

All this stuff needs to go into the right city/region pages (WT-en) Majnoona 11:55, 19 April 2006 (EDT)

Other sites

• Club Getaway: an all inclusive, camp-like resort in the Berkshires. Located in Kent, approximately 90 minutes north of NYC. http://www.clubgetaway.com
• Limerock Park: A scenic racetrack located in the Berkshires of Northwestern CT. Holds many events each year, including a 4th of July American LeMans Series event.
• Lake Compounce Amusement Park: Holding the title of America's Oldest Continually Operating Amusement Park, Lake Compounce has many thrills for kids or teens.
• Dinosaur State Park: Dinosaur tracks from 200 million years ago were found in the CT River Valley. Come and make a plaster cast of a footprint, explore the exhibits, or take a stroll on the 2 miles of nature trails.
• Harriet Beecher Stowe House: Visit the Hartford Home of the woman known to single handedly start the Civil War.
• Noah Webster House : Home to the author of the first American Dictionary.
• Mark Twain's House: Check in on the home of the most famous author known for his works "Huck Finn" and "Tom Sawyer"
• Elizabeth Park Rose Garden: For those who love old time beauty, visit the nations first municipal rose garden, truly gorgeous.
• *Nathan Hale Homestead: Visit the home of CT's State Hero, Nathan Hale. No American can forget his final quote of, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."*
• Sleeping Giant State Park in Hamden CT: A great place to hike, take a walk, plan a picnic. The mountain is actually in the shape of a sleeping gaint. There is also an authentic stone castle at the top of the mountain, kids love it too! http://www.friendsctstateparks.org/parks/sleeping_giant.htm http://www.sgpa.org/hikes/hikes.html

Struck items were moved. (WT-en) OldPine 09:11, 22 July 2006 (EDT)

Regions

So according to the state tourism authority, there are 5 regions in Conneticut. I think it's small enough that we don't need to break them up into North, South, East, West, or Southeastern, etc as there would only be one sub-region in each. Is there anyone local who can speak as to the usual way of breaking up the state? Do you say "Southeastern" or Fairfield? Thanks(WT-en) Majnoona 12:00, 19 April 2006 (EDT)

Not really an expert, but I think the five regions above delineated by counties that they encompass would work. Would like to get this structured before it gets more unwieldy.(WT-en) OldPine 12:15, 12 July 2006 (EDT)

I installed the regions per the per the tourism site and included towns. Lets see if there is further discussion before I proceed further. (WT-en) OldPine 14:28, 13 July 2006 (EDT)

Fairfield County

Fairfield county is lcoated in the southwest portion of the state bordered by Long Island Sound on the south, New York State on west, and the Housatonic river on the east. Its major cities include Greenwich, Stamford, and Bridgeport. It is a very wealthy area with a short commute to New York City by train or a slow crawl along interstate 95 or the Merritt Parkway. Residents of the southern portion of Fairfield county often refer to this area as the "Gold Coast".

South Central Connecticut

The South Central region is immediately east of Fairfield county and is centered around the city of New Haven. The city of New Haven major attractions are centered around Yale University's campus.

The Connecticut Shoreline

The Shoreline area consists of the shoreline towns (or those close to the shoreline) to the east of South Central region (beginning in Guilford and moving along the shore to Old Saybrook.

The Mystic area The town of Mystic has a popular aquarium and seaport as well as a quaint village. The state's two casinos are also in this vicinity.

Litchfield county Litchfield is in the northwest portion of the state. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the north and New York State to the west. Litchfield has the state's largest lake, Lake Candlewood, and is often visted in the Autumn for its foliage.

The Hartford area The state's capital region. —The preceding comment was added by (WT-en) 71.235.0.60 (talk • contribs) 21 July 2006 (EDT)

OK, that's pretty much as I thought. As per above, the towns have been divided up into regions based on: http://www.tourism.state.ct.us/tourism_regions/ (WT-en) OldPine 19:57, 21 July 2006 (EDT)

I do not think the regions setup for Mystic-Eastern is particularly accurate, considering the "Quiet Corner" definitely does not see itself as having much in common with the Mystic Shoreline area. I would personally suggest having a "Quiet Corner" or Northeastern region, which encompasses all of Windham County, with potentially some spillover into places like Willington, Storrs, Mansfield, etc. which, while not part of Windham County proper, have much in common with the region. I'm particularly referencing (as a resident of the region) the quiet, rural, historical communities, wide-ranging woodlands and parks, and closer ties with Mass and Rhode Island (or perhaps a certain viewpoint of "we're different than the rest of the state") which you do not see much outside of this area. Willimantic and Putnam (and potentially Killingly/Danielson/Dayville) should be the regional hubs of activity for this region. --Ambarenya13 (talk) 13:42, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

How many cities with articles would be in each of those regions? Ikan Kekek (talk) 00:53, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

At the very least, Willimantic and Putnam should have their own articles for the region (until the mid-1980s, they were city status in CT, and still act as important centers for the area). Norwich potentially as well, but it has more ties with Mystic and New London than the "Quiet Corner".

3 articles is very few. I would hope for 5-9 per region. Ikan Kekek (talk) 18:32, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

That's just for cities, though. Potentially every historical town in the area (Pomfret, Thompson, Woodstock, etc), in addition to attractions such as parks and shopping centers, could have a page. I don't think it's logical that, a region whose primary draw is small towns and scenery, is to be defined solely by number of city articles. The region has essentially nothing to do with what's down south. It's like saying New York is the same as Boston because it's in the Northeast. --Ambarenya13 (talk) 13:48, 4 April 2018 (UTC)

You understandably misunderstood my question. On Wikivoyage, "cities" is a generic term that also covers towns and villages. So what I really mean to ask you is how many populated places would there be that merit a Wikivoyage article and would be listed in the "Cities" section of the two region articles you propose to create out of the one existing one? If you have a sense of it, too, how many non-populated "Other destinations" (e.g. articles for islands and perhaps some parks that would overwhelm city articles if treated just as "See" listings within them) would each region be likely to have? Ikan Kekek (talk) 16:51, 4 April 2018 (UTC)

Colleges in Connecticut

Please add the following to the list of Connecticut colleges:

Fairfield University, Fairfield CT Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT Quinnipiac University, Hamden, CT University of New Haven, West Haven, CT Wesleyan College, Middletown, CT Trinity College, Hartford, CT University of Hartford, Hartford, CT

There are also several branches of Connecticut State University that are separate from UConn: Southern Connecticut State, New Haven, CT WEstern Connecticut State, Danbury, CT Central Connecticut State, New Britain, CT

Community Colleges: Norwalk Community College, Norwalk,CT Housatonic Community College, Bridgeport, CT Gateway Community College, New Haven, CT North Western Connecticut Community College, Winsted, CT

—The preceding comment was added by (WT-en) FlossyCT (talk • contribs)

This article need not contain a comprehensive directory of Connecticut's institutes of higher learning. We list only a few campuses that could be considered attractions in their own rights. (WT-en) LtPowers 09:37, 13 July 2010 (EDT)

Images

I just looked at the Featured, Quality and Valued image results on Commons Category:Connecticut, and most are irrelevant. The only interesting relevant one I saw was a Valued photo of the Norwich City Hall. That said, let's strategize what should be depicted. Here are some ideas:

(1) A photo of some iconic Yale University buildings or a view including them is obligatory. (2) A panorama of Long Island Sound, with or without an estuary and bridge (3) A photo of some natural beauty in the Litchfield Hills and/or Eastern Connecticut would be good. When I think of of the Litchfield Hills, I think of forested mountains, lakes, the Housatonic River and pretty small towns. Kent is a nice one. (4) A photo of pretty houses in Greenwich or another wealthy suburb. (5) A photo of Mystic Seaport (6) A photo of some of the pretty buildings in Hartford

I think these photos are either going to have to be looked for under other Commons Categories than "Connecticut", and/or many of them may not have a special classification (Featured, Quality or Valued). Ikan Kekek (talk) 13:12, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

Stamford

Should Stamford be in the list of 9 cities? Greenwich seems like the one that doesn't belong. Ikan Kekek (talk) 21:52, 18 June 2019 (UTC)

Nobody seems interested, so I'll act unilaterally. Ikan Kekek (talk) 05:44, 29 June 2019 (UTC)

Dayton Kingery - Connecticut Editor

Thought I'd introduce myself as I'm from Connecticut and interested in editing all pages related to the state. If there's anyone else here from CT, please say hi :) Dayton Kingery (talk) 16:53, 17 February 2022 (UTC)

Connecticut Regions

I've noticed that the regions on the western side of the state are inaccurate. Bethel, Brookfield, Danbury, and Newtown in particular are all part of Farifield County, as well as the Western Connecticut Planning Region. That being said, they do not belong in the Litchfield/Northwest Hills (Planning) Region. An argument could be made for there be a Candlewood-centric region that the surrounding towns could fall under, however, to say that the previously mentioned places are part of Litchfield Hills is just categorically false. For context, I have provided the following Wikipedia links below.

Litchfield Hills

Fairfield County, Connecticut

Litchfield County, Connecticut

Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut

Northwest Hills Planning Region, Connecticut

CityLimitsJunction (talk) 22:59, 26 September 2024 (UTC)

Thanks for starting this thread. How many cities with Wikivoyage articles are there in each region, in the different configurations you mention? Ikan Kekek (talk) 01:23, 27 September 2024 (UTC)

A more accurate depiction of the regions is as follows:

Litchfield Hills

Barkhamsted, Canaan, Cornwall, Harwinton, Kent, New Milford, Norfolk, Salisbury, Sharon, Torrington

• Waterbury could fit into either Litchfield Hills or Greater New Haven.

Fairfield County

Bethel, Bridgeport, Brookfield, Danbury, Darien, Fairfield, Greenwich, Monroe, New Canaan, Newtown, Norwalk, Ridgefield, Sherman, Stamford, Stratford, Trumbull, Wilton

• The primary outliers being Bethel, Brookfield, Danbury, and Newtown in the incorrect region. Brookfield could potentially pass for Litchfield Hills however, it has stronger local/historical ties to Fairfield County.

CityLimitsJunction (talk) 16:24, 27 September 2024 (UTC)

17 cities is a lot. Is there any way to subdivide Fairfield County that is useful to travelers? Ikan Kekek (talk) 19:00, 27 September 2024 (UTC)

The current Litchfield Hills region has 18 cities, so 17 for Fairfield County should work, especially because it has a significantly higher population. However, if there is a need to subdivide, my previously mentioned Candlewood region could be an option. This might include: Bethel, Bridgewater, Brookfield, Danbury, New Fairfield, New Milford, Newtown, and Sherman. Nevertheless, it would ultimately be best/most consistent with all other sources to align more with traditional regions. Please see official regions from CT.gov for reference. CityLimitsJunction (talk) 20:04, 27 September 2024 (UTC)

The fact that a region currently has 18 cities doesn't make that good. We have a guideline of considering subdividing a region when there are significantly more than 9 cities in it: "most lists should contain between five and nine items. When they exceed that length it is time to consider breaking them up or pruning them. This may involve breaking the list into groups within the article, or creating separate articles." We also need more than 2 people to participate in this discussion. I'll post a summary and link to requests for comment. Ikan Kekek (talk) 20:34, 27 September 2024 (UTC)

I don't know anything about Connecticut's geography, and therefore my comment may be too vague to be useful. I have thought that a multi-tier style could be useful for some US states. Specifically, some areas might benefit from a structure that is "State > Region > County > Cities" instead of "State > Region > Cities". For more urban areas, a multi-county metropolitan area might be more appropriate than a single county. For places with fewer destinations, then the single county might be replaced by a small group of counties. For example, Kansas is divided into five regions, and I don't think we need more regions. But that means Central Kansas lists 18 cities. If it were divided into a couple of subregions (e.g., Smoky Hills in the north), then that might keep the list from getting quite so long.

Partly driven by recollections of storm warnings being announced by county name but not usually by city names, I have a preference in the US for aligning regions with county boundaries whenever that is reasonably convenient and appropriate. Also, future editors will likely appreciate a list of counties/cities/boundaries in any given region, even if it's just on a talk page or on a File: page for the map. WhatamIdoing (talk) 19:59, 28 September 2024 (UTC)

The issue in this case is that Fairfield County has a large number of cities, and the current Litchfield Hills region also has a large number of cities. So it would be good to find some traveler-friendly way to subdivide one or both of the counties in question. Ikan Kekek (talk) 21:20, 28 September 2024 (UTC)

That's much more challenging. Perhaps organize it around the bigger cities? It looks like that would be Bridgeport in the east, Danbury in the north, and Stamford/Norwalk in the south. WhatamIdoing (talk) 23:59, 28 September 2024 (UTC)

Connecticut Tourism divides the state into 8 travel regions, which would be more relevant for travellers than the state's 9 Planning Regions. Ground Zero (talk) 00:16, 29 September 2024 (UTC)

That 7th region seems overly big from top to bottom. Ikan Kekek (talk) 02:06, 29 September 2024 (UTC)

I like the planning regions better in some ways. Here's a map. I wonder about Northeastern Connecticut, though. Would there be enough content for that region? Also, Greater Bridgeport might be too small an area to need to be separated from Western (or more logically, Southwestern) Connecticut on this site, although we don't want like 18-20 cities in the same article if there's a good way to separate them into different regions. Ikan Kekek (talk) 18:32, 29 September 2024 (UTC)

But let's talk about this more: Using the travel regions or the planning regions, how many cities would be listed in each region? User:CityLimitsJunction, you may be best equipped to answer those questions. Ikan Kekek (talk) 09:12, 5 October 2024 (UTC)

In both of those systems, Fairfield County is a region with "too many" cities. WhatamIdoing (talk) 17:51, 5 October 2024 (UTC)

But fewer with the Bridgeport region separated out. Ikan Kekek (talk) 18:19, 5 October 2024 (UTC)

We could start by splitting Fairfield vs Bridgeport, and seeing whether that's enough. WhatamIdoing (talk) 17:25, 10 October 2024 (UTC)

Remsense and NickCT have incautiously admitted to familiarity with this part of the world and therefore might be able to help us. WhatamIdoing (talk) 23:00, 14 December 2024 (UTC)

Ooh, nice, some help from Wikipedians who are familiar with Connecticut is always good – just a subtle reminder to those not familiar with Wikivoyage is that we don't necessarily use what's official, but what works best for travelers. --SHB2000 (t | c | m) 08:06, 15 December 2024 (UTC)

Incautious! Lol.

Guys, I'd love to contribute, but I'm a little unfamiliar with WikiTravel. Plus, as much as I love our Constitution State, and as much as I consider myself a Yankee Doodle Dandy, I have to admit, CT is not somewhere I'd encourage people to travel to. CT is primarily notable for being in between two far more interesting places to visit. NickCT (talk) 02:05, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

@NickCT: I know you're probably unfamiliar, but this isn't Wikitravel btw. I joined this project a lot later but we have a lot of disputes with that site and I don't know of some of this site's older editors who've been admins pre-fork will take it lightly – you might want to fix that :). --SHB2000 (t | c | m) 02:22, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

Maybe there is a MySpace or Geocities page somewhere that would explain what Wikitravel is about. ;-) Ground Zero (talk) 02:58, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

Haha, we need one right now. /s --SHB2000 (t | c | m) 07:58, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

Nick, you don't have to encourage folks to travel here. Imagine that they're stuck going to CT whether they like it or not (e.g., family or business travel). What division of the state would realistically make the most sense? Imagine that the traveler has been sent to Stamford. What's feels nearby? We don't want the regions too big (because there's a limit on how much can be listed in a single region), but we don't want them too small or too weird, either. If the reality on the ground is that several cities sprawl seamlessly into each other, then it's best for us to lump them together, even if it's a big area. WhatamIdoing (talk) 03:01, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

And for what it's worth, as a native Manhattanite, I've enjoyed day trips to various places in Connecticut and also spent a couple of summers in Norfolk as the son of an art teacher and then as a student and have stayed overnight in New Haven a few times with relatives. We might not normally suggest for people from overseas to spend a vacation in Connecticut instead of New York City and Boston, but there are a lot of people who live closer to the state and might enjoy spending some time there. Ikan Kekek (talk) 06:46, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

Connecticut regions

Swept in from the pub

Hi, everyone! There's a discussion about changing the regional structure we use for Connecticut on the Talk:Connecticut page. So far, only two people are taking part, probably because no-one else knew about it. We need more opinions and thoughts, so please have a look at the discussion so far and leave a comment. Ikan Kekek (talk) 20:40, 27 September 2024 (UTC)