Connecticut

In the picturesque Hills of Northwest Connecticut, Torrington has a vibrant central business district sprinkled with some striking buildings for a town of just over 35,000. The countryside around Torrington, especially west in the Litchfield Hills, is nothing short of idyllic, and is even better from the patio of one of the area’s wineries.

For that matter, Torrington is a perfect launch-pad for an indulgent adventure, calling at vineyards, a distillery and an artisanal chocolatier on a quaint dairy farm.

Back in town, the opulent Warner Theatre dates from 1931 and is a wonderful place to catch a show.

Best Things to Do in Torrington Connecticut

1. Warner Theatre

Drawing your gaze on Torrington’s genteel Main Street are the marquee and sign of an Art Deco wonder that has been here since 1931. Warner Brothers opened this movie palace as a branch in their nationwide chain of theatres, this one designed by one of the preeminent Art Deco architects, Thomas W. Lamb.

The Warner Theatre closed as a cinema in the early 1980s and after a local grass-roots campaign was saved from demolition and reopened as a performing arts venue.

The auditorium is astonishing for its intricately stencilled ceiling, enormous star-shaped light in silver and gold and the French-made gold brocade draperies on the curtain, walls and lobby landing.

Check out the Warner Stage Company’s season of Broadway musicals and plays, as well live music, dance, movie screenings and simulcasts from the Met Opera.

2. Burr Pond State Park

As you laze on the beach at the 85-acre Burr Pond you might be interested to know that the entire scene before you is man-made.

This body of water was formed in the middle of the 19th century by damming a series of streams to power three sawmills, a tannery and, most important, the first condensed milk factory in the world.

Gail Borden (1801-1874), the man who discovered the process, founded the factory in 1857 and in the next decade condensed milk was in high demand by the Union Army in the Civil War.

The factory burnt down in 1877, but you can learn all about its story at the state park.

With a steep, rocky shore, the pond is in 438 acres of woodland and watched by lifeguards in summer when you can get something from the snack bar and rent a boat.

The Blue-Blazed John Muir Trail departs the State Park to the south, on its way through a series of protected natural spaces in Torrington.

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3. Sunset Meadow Vineyards

Draped on a romantic hillside Listed as one of the top 101 wineries in the United States by the Daily Meal.

Sunset Meadow looks after 40 sun-kissed acres of vines, oriented south-west and catching the sun’s last rays in the evening.

There’s an elegant tasting room, open Thursday to Monday, where you can try the winery’s flavourful assortment, including a Merlot, a Cabernet blend among the reds, and white varietals like Riesling, Vidal Blanc, Chardonnay and Cayuga White.

For something out of the ordinary there are some experimental wines, aged in rum barrels or infused with coffee (Root 63). Keep an eye on the calendar for events, like a wine and chocolate pairing session, a pop-up market, live music and food trucks.

4. KidsPlay Museum

Parents in Torrington with littler children will find a fun, nurturing and educational environment at KidsPlay Museum.

The hands-on, multisensory exhibits here have been designed to broaden children’s understanding of the sciences, the arts and the everyday world.

For a brief summary, kids up to the age of 10 can experiment with magnetic construction at the “Magneato Table”, settle down with a book at the “Literacy Tree”, build 3D towers on the “Light Table”, put on a performance at the stage area, come up with wacky “Lite-Brite” designs, play out everyday transactions at the replica Grocery Store and Diner, and see the world from the inside of a soap bubble on the “Bubbler”. The museum also has a stimulating soft play area only for children under two and constantly holds special classes and events for national holidays.

5. Torrington History Museum

The Torrington Historical Society sits on a row of striking buildings along Main Street, together with the Francis of Assisi Church, City Hall and the Torrington Savings Bank.

In the society’s complex is the Torrington History Museum, the Hotchkiss-Fyler House Museum (up next) and the John H. Thompson Research Library.

The museum deserves your time, documenting the area’s story from prehistory to the 21st century.

The permanent exhibition is “No Place Like Home”, which uses a rich inventory of historic items to detail industrialisation, immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries, the role of the Naugatuck River on the town, and community life down the years.

Also compelling is “Pursuit of Precision: Hendey Machine Company 1870-1954”, covering a mainstay of the town’s economy and the high-quality precision machine tools that the company manufactured.

The best bit here is a machine shop with a working lathe, sharper and milling machine, driven by a system of pulleys and leather belts.

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6. Hotchkiss-Fyler House Museum

On the same site at 192 Main Street is a sumptuous Chateauesque house with a jumble of gables, dormers and a circular turret with a conical roof, built in 1898. The property was designed by the well-known architect William H.

Allen for the Republican politician and businessman Orsamus Fyler, who had served in the Civil War 30 years earlier.

On the grounds is a carriage house, while the building now containing the Torrington History Museum also belonged to the family and was rented out.

The Hotchkiss-Fyler House stayed in the family until its last occupant Gertrude Fyler Hotchkiss passed away in 1956 and bequeathed the estate to the Torrington Historical Society.

The house has been kept as it was when Gertrude was living here, and has parquet floors, fine wood panelling, murals, stuccowork ceilings, gas and electric chandeliers, and a catalogue of decorative arts belonging to the family.

The interiors radiate charm at Christmas when the lower floor is decorated with Christmas trees and lights.

7. Connecticut Valley Winery

Out in the bucolic Litchfield Hills, the pocket-sized Connecticut Valley Winery is run by the Ferraros, a husband-wife team, and has picked up a raft of awards in the last decade.

You can mull over that picturesque landscape by the fireplace at the winery’s deck, in a sea of vines.

The Connecticut Valley Winery is open on weekends between February and December, to sample some multi-award-winning wines.

Chardonel is a varietal from a Chardonnay-Seyval Blanc hybrid and Spumonte Muscato is a fruity sparkling wine from Muscato grapes, while the Black Tie Cabernet Franc and the Chianti are the standouts among the reds.

8. Topsmead State Forest

In the late-1920s this exquisite Tudor Revival summer house was commissioned for Edith Morton Chase, whose father Henry was the first president of the Chase Brass and Copper Company.

The two-storey, half-timbered building is posted near the top of a rise in the Litchfield Hills and ensconced in partially walled gardens scattered with juniper, lilac and holly.

Edith Morton Chase bequeathed the house and its extensive wooded grounds to the State of Connecticut in 1972. You can take guided tours to admire the house’s exceptional workmanship on the second and fourth weekend of the month between June and October.

Afterwards unwind with a picnic on the grounds and set off on foot to see more of these 600 acres.

9. Litchfield Distillery

There’s a distillery run by three brothers and making a variety of spirits a stone’s throw from Torrington.

Litchfield Distillery sources its corn, wheat and barley locally, and produces its Batchers range of bourbons, gins and vodkas in small runs.

Among the eight different whiskeys are coffee, cinnamon, vanilla and maple-infused versions, as well as cask strength, port cask finish and double-barrelled bourbon aged ten years for aficionados.

What’s special is that if you call ahead and book a free tour any day of the week, on the hour from 11:00 to 17:00. You’ll be talked through every step, from field to still to barrel, before moving to the cosy tasting room to see how all this hard work pays off.

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10. Thorncrest Farm & Milk House Chocolate

A fine partner to a tour of Litchfield Distillery is this dairy farm and chocolatier nearby in Goshen.

Thorncrest Farm is so proud of its facilities and the welfare of its cows that you can just show up from Thursday to Sunday (10:00-15:00) to take a peek at the stable free of charge.

Book ahead for a private group tour on these days, during which you’ll see a milking demonstration, and taste some of the farm’s rich chocolate.

This is made from 100% Fair Trade cacao nibs.

At the boutique-style shop there’s a tempting selection of gourmet chocolate boxes, truffles, caramels, bars and chocolate-covered fruits.

You’ll be pleased to know that ingredients are sourced on the farm where possible, like mint grown in the garden.

Thorncrest Farm is also a creamery, producing non-homogenised milk and yoghurt.

Be sure to pick up a bottle of the milk infused with Madagascar vanilla.

11. Mohawk Mountain Ski Area

Established as long ago as 1947, Mohawk Mountain Ski Area is one of the oldest ski facilities in the state, but also regarded as one of the best across New England.

You can get there in just 20 minutes from downtown Torrington, and you’ll find it all on the north-west slope of the 359-metre Mohawk Mountain.

There are 25 well-groomed runs, the longest of which is the Deer Run at 1.25 miles, and 14 lifts serve the slopes.

Snowboarders are well-catered for and night skiing is available on 12 of the runs, which is as good as it gets in Connecticut.

Mohawk Mountain was also one of the first to experiment with snowmaking, now giving great coverage 95% of the total skiable area.

You’ll never have to leave the mountain for meals either, as there’s cafeteria-style dining at the Main Lodge and a full-service restaurant here at Pine Lodge.

12. Action Wildlife Foundation

This wildlife sanctuary is a relatively small enterprise, with drive-through safari, enclosures to visit on foot and a petting zoo.

On the safari you should see sika, fallow and white-tail deer, as well as emus, but you may need to keep your eyes peeled as the paddocks are so large.

Among the park’s other species are Russian boar, Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs, Watusi cattle, Asian water buffalo, llamas and North American bison.

The petting zoo will make a child’s day, and has friendly goats and a donkey to feed.

There’s also a small zoology museum with life-sized models of animals from around the world, together with interactive displays including antlers shed by animals at the sanctuary.

13. Wright’s Barn & Flea Market

On a little lane off the road to Gothen there’s a multi-dealer antiques centre in an idyllic old dairy barn.

Before becoming a flea market this grand wooden structure had spent ten years as a dance club for Litchfield County teenagers between 1965 and 1975. The barn holds 20 dealers, selling all kinds of interesting bits and pieces, like furniture, jewellery, glassware, collectibles, musical instruments, paintings, ceramics, books, vintage home appliances, tools, lighting and reproductions.

Now with a cafe, Wright’s barn has the advantage of being cosy and warm in winter and refreshingly cool in summer.

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14. Sunnybrook State Park

In 464 acres to the south-west of Burr Pond State Park is a peaceful place for walking and fishing trips coursed by the east branch of the Naugatuck River.

This park is the south-western trailhead for the Blue-Blazed John Muir Trail, winding for two miles from Burr Pond State Park via the Paugnut State Forest.

The paths at Sunnybrook intertwine with the boulder-strewn river and a little pond, while a narrow boardwalk traverses a sensitive patch of wetland.

15. Pursue the Clues

You’ll need to book in advance and can’t show up on the day, but at Pursue the Clues you’ll encounter a witty and creative take on the escape room concept.

There’s a choice of three rooms to solve, each with a 60-minute time limit and ideal for groups of four to six.

Each experience has a unique, original story in which you’ll go undercover, save lives and solve crimes.

You’ll need critical thinking and deductive reasoning, but most of all you have to work as a team, as different perspectives rather than intelligence are the key to getting out in time.

Dating right back to 1639, Stratford is a town on Long Island Sound bounded to the east by the final reach of the Housatonic River.

At the Housatonic’s mouth, and around the coast, you can lie back on public sandy beaches or watch the sun go down on a panoramic length of seawall at Lordship.

Stratford has a chapter in aviation history as the place where the first viable American helicopter, by Igor Sikorsky, was developed in the late-1930s.

To this day Sikorsky Aircraft is Stratford’s biggest employer.

In summer some of the town’s dignified old houses welcome visitors for tours, at the Boothe Memorial Park and the Captain David Judson House.

The town also has a theatrical tradition, celebrated today with outdoor Shakespeare performances at the site of the storied American Shakespeare Theatre.

1. Boothe Memorial Park and Museum

High on the steep west bank of the Housatonic River is a 32-acre public park littered with historic buildings.

Up to 1949 this was the estate of the Boothe family, who had resided here for many generations.

In 1914 the brothers David Beach Boothe and Stephen Nichols Boothe founded the Boothe Museum, which continues to preserve the 20 buildings relocated to the grounds.

These include a carriage house, windmill, chapel, Connecticut’s last highway toll booth, trolley station, blacksmith shop and clock tower museum.

Most significant is the Boothe Homestead, raised around 1840 on the foundations of a house going right back to 1663. Tours of the park’s buildings take place between May and October, when the rose garden is a show-stopper.

The rest of the year these oddities set the scene for a walk to remember.

A milestone on the calendar is the Great Pumpkin Festival in mid-October when there’s a hotly-contested pumpkin carving competition.

2. Two Roads Brewing Company

It feels like every town in Connecticut has a craft brewery, but few have taken off like Two Roads, which has now started exporting to the UK.

The HQ is the beautiful old brick U.S. Baird Building on Stratford Avenue, once used for manufacturing transfer presses.

If you want to see where the magic happens there are tours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, while the tasting room is open seven days.

The whole place is gorgeous to look at, with bare wooden floors, steel beams and outsized windows flooding everything with light.

Things can get busy on Saturdays, so it’s worth coming early as once the tasting room is full there’s a one-in, one-out policy.

Some of the of the year-round brews are a helles lager, a hefeweizen, a session IPA, two double IPAs, a dry-hopped pilsner and a coffee stout, and these are accompanied by seasonal specialities and all sorts of limited releases.

To round things off there’s a new food truck outside pretty much every day.

3. Roosevelt Forest

Stratford’s very own parcel of forest is a remnant from the Great Depression, as a project by the Works Progress Administration, which was established to employ millions of job-seekers.

The forest, a blend of hardwood trees like maples and oaks, and softwood trees like spruces and pines.

Trails, some of which are marked, beckon you into this soothing environment, past a pond and through wetlands.

There’s a wealth of birdlife in the forest, as well as deer, small mammals, reptiles and amphibians.

And to make things more convenient Roosevelt Forest has facilities like picnic benches, shelters, cooking pits and playgrounds for children.

4. Short Beach

Where the Housatonic River flows into Long Island Sound is a scenic sandy beach, framed by quiet parkland and athletic fields, and pointing east for majestic sunrises.

Among those recreation areas there are playgrounds and a sandbox for little ones, as well as tennis courts, softball fields, volleyball courts, basketball courts and a links-style nine-hole par 3 public golf course.

You can also make use of picnic areas and a concession stand, and the Beach House Grill by the golf course caters to beach-goers.

Terns and wading birds like piping plovers make their nests by the beach, and peck around the intertidal zones for small fish.

In summer fishers also frequent Short Beach to catch snapper bluefish and bait fish.

5. Lordship Seawall

At Stratford’s southernmost point there’s a restorative spot where you can park up and simply savour the panoramas of Long Island Sound.

The Seawall is untouristy, with just a single restaurant, Riley’s by the Seawall, but is extremely pretty at sunrise and sunset.

Long Island is visible in the distance, and if you have time to spare you can watch the maritime traffic making its way along the Sound.

There’s a small beach area where you can step down to the water and take your dog for a walk in the off-season.

6. Stratford Antique Center

In a capacious blue warehouse, the Stratford Antique Center is the longest running multi-dealer antique store in Fairfield County.

In this space, open seven days a week, there are more than 200 dealers selling all sorts of treasures and collectibles, like antique appliances, furniture, clocks, ceramics, signage, tableware, jewellery, luggage, fabrics, paintings, photography, lighting, books, comics, vinyl, glassware and much more than we could possibly list here.

An avid shopper could spend at least a couple of hours poring over the selection, and that persistence can sometimes pay off with a real find.

7. Long Beach

This sandbar running west from Lordship has an intriguing past, and today is both a vital haven for shorebirds and a place to unwind far from the crowds.

Until 1958 there was a small amusement park on the furthermost west end of Long Beach, linked to Bridgeport’s East End neighbourhood by a bridge.

After the park closed a community of 45 beachfront cottages remained, in 1996 the bridge burnt down, cutting off the neighbourhood forever.

The cottages are long gone, and the land has been left to nature as a public park and “unimproved” beach, without facilities.

You can bathe and go fishing at the east end, while the beach’s middle section is reserved as a key nesting site for least terns and piping plovers.

8. Stratford Center Historic District

These 220 acres around Stratford’s Academy Hill area have been on the the National Register of Historic Places since 1983. We’ll include some of the main sights below, including the 18th-century Captain David Judson House.

Centred on the First Congregational Church and its old burial ground, the Historic District comprises scores of historic buildings.

This area remains culturally active, especially in summer for the programme of plays at the American Shakespeare State Park.

On the west bank of the Housatonic, this park is the site of the American Shakespeare Theatre, founded in 1955 but left vacant for decades before it was burnt down in an arson attack early-2019. A host of important actors, among them Katharine Hepburn, James Earl Jones and Christopher Walken performed in the theatre’s heyday.

The summer outdoor series by the Shakespeare Academy keeps this heritage alive, and in 2019 Coriolanus and The Winter’s Tale were on the programme.

9. Captain David Judson House

Dating back to the middle of the 18th century, this grand Georgian house was built for Captain David Judson, who at that time was the head of Stratford’s militia, tasked with defending the town.

The eye-catching feature on the main facade is the pediment, with broken scroll design, considered one of the finest of its kind in the state.

The Judsons had owned this plot since the 1630s, and in all, nine generations of the family resided here until 1888. The house is painted deep red and preserved as a museum by the Stratford Historical Society.

All of the furnishings have some connection to Stratford, and among the curiosities is a piano that once belonged to William Samuel Johnson, the man who framed the United States Constitution.

10. National Helicopter Museum

This free museum will give you the behind the scenes story on Igor Sikorsky and helicopter production in Stratford.

The National Helicopter Museum is open Wednesday to Sunday in summer, at Stratford Railroad Station’s eastbound building.

There you can trace Sikorsky’s career, learning about the first viable American helicopter, the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300 (1939). Another aviation pioneer, Dr Anselm Franz developed the gas turbine engine in Stratford during the 1950s, and a cutaway of his T55 is on show.

Together with a mass of models, photographs and documents there are some thrilling exhibits, relating to figures like the pilot John Olsen who flew a Sikorsky R4 above the Arctic Circle in 1946, or another Stratford inventor, Vincent Bendix, responsible for innovations like the auto self-starter and four-wheel brakes.

11. Wells Hollow Creamery

Keep going past Roosevelt Forest and in a minute or two you’ll be at this endearing family run dairy farm and ice cream shop.

Wells Hollow Creamery makes over 50 different flavours right here, from Amaretto Cherry to Vermont Maple Walnut, and, as well as serving cones and cups, offers a menu of sundaes and shakes.

You can also pick from “no fat” flavours, frozen yoghurts and sorbets.

More than just a place to pick up something and go, the farm opens its doors to visitors and children will be thrilled with the cows (with calves in summer), goats and chickens.

12. Connecticut Air and Space Center

There’s a small museum recording Stratford’s aerospace heritage on Main Street, opposite the Sikorsky Memorial Airport.

The museum was set up in 1998 after the Stratford Army Engine Plant closed down, and is housed in two buildings that previously belonged to the plant complex.

This makes it one of the few museums in the United States to be found in a genuine WWII aircraft factory.

You’ll see nine aircraft, in varying states of preservation, including a 1945 Vought / Goodyear FG-1D Corsair 92460, a 1948 Lockheed TV-2 / T-33 Shooting Star (57-6558) and a 1961 Northrop T-38A Talon (60-0900), the world’s first supersonic jet trainer.

One of the museum’s long-term restoration projects is a one-off Sikorsky S-60 “Flying Crane” prototype from 1958, the very last aircraft that Igor Sikorsky designed and tested.

13. Connecticut Audubon Society Coastal Center at Milford Point

There’s a hugely important coastal bird site just over the Housatonic in Milford.

At the river mouth sits the 840-acre Charles E.

Wheeler Salt Marsh and Wildlife Management Area.

A total of 315 bird species have been documented at these tide pools, barrier beaches, dunes and tidal salt marshes.

At the very south end, on a sandy spit at Milford Point, lies the Connecticut Audubon Society Coastal Center.

Inside you can peruse informative wildlife exhibits, and check out nest cams for ospreys and purple martins.

You can go bird-watching along the preserve’s beaches and peer through the scopes atop four observation platforms.

The profusion of shellfish draw colonies of American oystercatchers and piping plovers, which nest on the beach, ospreys nest in the marsh.

A host of other waders also congregate here in late-summer, while snowy owls are regularly spotted in the area in winter.

14. Audubon CT at Stratford Point

Since 2015 this 30-acre site south of Short Beach at the Housatonic river mouth has been revitalised as another refuge for shorebirds.

Stratford Point already had a mix of habitats to attract nesting and migrating birds, like open grassland, scrubland, coastal forest and rugged outcrops in the water.

Over the last five years, a water garden and migration trail have been set up in partnership with Stratford’s Two Roads Brewing Company and the Jeniam Foundation, while special bird gardens have been planted to attract autumn migrants.

The refuge lies next to Stratford Point Light, built in 1822 and fenced off in 2019 as a private home, though still in full view at a short distance.

15. Academy Hill

This near and well-cared for public park lies at the corner of Academy Hill and Elm Street, just behind the Christ Episcopal Church and the Captain David Judson House.

In manicured gardens with a circular path, this is the site of Stratford’s Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, and the town’s World War II memorial, an arch with four columns.

There’s lots of cover from the park’s dense foliage, and the memorial garden has ornamental shrubs, hydrangea and rosebushes.

Resting on the west bank of the Connecticut River and dating back to 1650, Middletown is a mid-sized college city with a manufacturing and shipping past.

Middletown’s life is mostly concentrated on the tree-lined Main Street, one block in from the river and traced by restaurants, bars and coffee shops.

Downtown Middletown is endowed with genteel architecture from the 19th-century, and the same goes for Wesleyan University up the hill, which has an art museum in a sprawling mansion from the 1830s.

For epicurean delights there’s a celebrated craft brewery, as well as a winery across the river, while the old forests, mountain ridges and waterfalls of rural Middletown are ripe for outdoor adventure.

Let’s explore the best things to do in Middletown:

1. Wadsworth Falls State Park

In the early 20th century this beautiful parcel of land, comprising waterfalls, streams, forest and meadows, belonged to Colonel Clarence C.

Wadsworth (1871-1941), who was a member of the New York National Guard, but also a linguist and conservationist.

His palatial home, Wadsworth Mansion at Long Hill, is on the Middletown side of the state park, and is rented out for events.

The main attraction at the park are of course, the two waterfalls, both easily accessed by trails: Wadsworth Big Falls drops more than nine metres from a shelf of Hampden basalt, and Wadsworth Little Falls, on the brook of the same name, slips down shelves on a sandstone outcrop from a height of 12 metres.

The park also has a pond and sandy beach for swimming in summer, streams for fishing and a well-kept picnic area.

2. Brownstone Exploration & Discovery Park

A day loaded with adrenaline-pumpng activities is on the cards at this flooded quarry on the east bank of the Connecticut River.

The Brownstone Exploration & Discovery Park has 11 zip lines, an inflatable water park filled with crazy obstacles, as well as a climbing wall, an “extreme” rope swing, cliff-jumping and wakeboarding.

Paddleboards and kayaks are available to rent for anything from half an hour to a full day.

Naturally all this activity is going to build an appetite, and there’s a concession stand for hunger-sleighing food, snack shacks around the park and a brick oven for pizzas.

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3. Kidcity Children’s Museum

For kids aged 1-7, Kidcity is three floors of experiential learning at the historic Camp-Sterns House (1835), which was lifted onto a truck and moved a couple of hundred metres to this spot in 1997. All of Kidcity’s exhibits are hand-built by an in-house team, and not to be found anywhere else, which is just one explanation for the attraction’s faithful following.

To give you a sense of what’s here, at the Fishery children can manipulate pulleys and conveyors to haul in a catch, while Middleshire is a kid-sized miniature village with a castle, and Toddler Sea Caves is a space for the museum’s youngest visitors, inhabited by dancing mermaids.

There’s a reproduction of a typical Main Street and a farm, as well as all sorts of things to play with, from trains to costumes, puppets, building blocks and dolls.

4. Davison Art Center

Wesleyan University’s own art museum was founded in 1952 at the stately Alsop House, which was built in the late-1830s.

The Davison Art Center is open from September to May, and over the last 70 years has gathered some 25,000 pieces.

As well as photography, much of the collection is made up of original prints, by European (Renaissance-20th century), Japanese and American artists.

Selections from this large inventory go into the gallery’s themed exhibitions, featuring the work of Jacques Callot, Lucan Cranach the Elder, Albrecht Dürer, Otto Dix and many more.

All exhibitions are accompanied by gallery talks and lectures.

5. Higby Mountain

Middletown’s western limit is walled by this 272-metre basalt mountain ridge, belonging to the larger Metacomet Ridge, which runs north to south through Connecticut and into Massachusetts for 100 miles.

The fault at Higby Mountain continues for two miles as a panoramic west-facing ledge, with striking views over the neighbouring city of Meriden and the Hanging Hills in the distance.

The southern trailhead can be reached by road within 15 minutes of downtown Middletown, and leads you into a landscape with a unique ecosystem caused by the fault’s alkaline soils in a state that is mostly acidic.

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6. Stubborn Beauty Brewing

Middletown’s favourite craft brewery has been in business for over a decade and is based in an unpretentious spot at the old Remington Rand typewriter factory in the city’s industrial north.

Stubborn Beauty Brewing opens for tastings, pours and growler refills Thursday to Sunday, with extended hours on Friday and Saturday.

At the time of writing in summer 2019 there was a typically eclectic range of brews on tap, like the Conqueror brown ale, Happy Treez IPA, Secret Agent (a Belgian strong ale), Sour Tiddy’s (Old Bruin), The Fist (double IPA) and My Love is Warmer than Chocolate Fudge (stout).

7. Harbor Park

For a moment of repose in Middletown the best bet is to head down to the west bank of the Connecticut River.

At Harbor Park there’s a couple of hundred metres of boardwalk decorated with sculpture, where you can linger for a while to watch the river twinkling in the sun, and look north to the steel arch of the Arrigoni Bridge.

The park faces east and is a fabulous spot to watch the sun come up, and the open skies make this a handy vantage point for Middletown’s 4th of July fireworks.

In summer the Lady Katharine cruise boat, based in Essex, stops at Harbor Park on a host of themed river cruises, from a murder mystery to Gatsby’s Gala.

8. Arrigoni Winery

Connecticut has a small but healthy wine industry that can trace its roots back to 1788. In Middletown there’s a vineyard and winery making reds from Malbec, Merlot, Cab Franc, Marquette, Baco Noir and Catawba, and whites from Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Vidal Blanc and Cayuga.

Arrigoni Winery produces some 20 award-winning wines, and Friday to Sunday you can call in for a tasting.

The Classic package ($10.95) pours five different wines, including the highly-recommended varietals Ruby (Merlot) and Rozy (Pinot Noir). There’s an indoor tasting room, and in good weather you can chill out beneath a parasol on the patio, watching the sun go down over the vineyard and enjoying some live music.

9. Mattabesett Trail

Belonging to Connecticut’s 800-mile Blue-Blazed trail system, the Mattabesett Trail is a 50-mile, U-shaped path that cuts in and out of Middletown.

Starting at the Connecticut River, which marks the eastern tip of the U, you can walk a metamorphic landscape as far south as Guildford.

The trail then turns north, hugging the famous Metacomet Ridge, re-entering Middletown on its west end and taking in Higby Mountain and other spectacular basalt landforms on the way up to Lamentation Mountain not far away in Meriden.

This portion of the walk offers near-constant exhilarating scenery, and is surprisingly forgiving despite the rocky terrain.

The Mattabesett Trail has recently become part of the New England National Scenic Trail, continuing north for 233 miles to the Massachusetts-New Hampshire state line.

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10. Empower Leadership Sports and Adventure Center

The ancient hardwood forest in the south of Middletown is ripe for adventure, and that’s just what awaits you at Empower.

Here you can ride hundreds of metres of zip lines and take part in all manner of tree-top experiences.

The signature experience is the two-hour Zip Line Canopy Tour, where you’ll tackle a trail more than half a mile long, through the forest canopy, riding zip lines up to 200 metres long and braving high ropes challenges like a cargo net and tight wire traverses.

There’s also a popular Map & Compass Scavenger Hunt, and on the Tree Climb Adventure you’ll scale a huge, 150-year-old oak tree and swing between two giant hickories.

You can also book special evening experiences, like Twilight Zip Line Canopy Tours at sunset, and Moonlight Zip Tours after dark between May and November.

11. McCutcheon Park

On the hilly south shore of Crystal Lake is a mostly undeveloped park, still endowed with marked hiking trails, a beach area, pavilions, grottoes, basketball courts, baseball fields, a boat launch and horseshoe pits.

The woodland at McCutcheon Park feels almost primeval, but you might be surprised to learn that a century ago this spot was much busier, and had a large outdoor stage for vaudeville acts, high-divers and even parachute jumps.

The red-blazed trail is the most scenic, leading you past mountain laurel bushes and up to a craggy overhang.

There are lifeguards on the beach in summer, and the beach is shaded by foliage.

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12. General Mansfield House

The home of the Middletown Historical Society is a handsome five-bay Federal-style house built in 1817 for Samuel and Catherine Livingston Mather.

Their daughter Louisa married Joseph K. Mansfield, a Union general in the Civil War who was killed in 1862 at the Battle of Antietam.

When we put this list together in 2019 the Historical Society had a long-term exhibition lifting the lid on Middletown’s role as a port for the slave-based Caribbean sugar industry, while you could also find out about life in Middletown during World War I.

The house’s gardens are also open to the public during daylight hours, with a herb bed in front and a boxwood hedges, a rose garden and 150-year-old ginkgo tree out back.

13. Seven Falls State Park

Out in the more remote southern end of the city, the Mattabesett Trail wends its way through this rugged, wooded environment close to the Connecticut River.

Seven Falls State Park takes its name from a waterfall, set not far from Saybrook Road.

This is a photo-worthy flight of seven cascading falls, flanked by the same hefty boulders that litter the park.

You could have a fun time trying to jump from rock to rock, or set off on a full-on bouldering adventure of that’s your sort of thing.

There are picnic tables close to the falls, and the park is coursed with other marked trails for short to medium hikes.

14. The Buttonwood Tree

A community arts venue in Middletown’s North End, The Buttonwood Tree is a multidisciplinary space, putting on intimate art exhibitions, live music, dance performances, open mic nights, talks, poetry readings and a long list of workshops and classes, from watercolours for youth and teens to meditation, self-help and yoga.

As a community-oriented hub, The Buttonwood Tree means many things to many people, be it a place to grab coffee, a second-hand bookstore, an art gallery or performance venue.

15. Indian Hill Cemetery

If you’re wondering why a burial ground belongs on the list, Indian Hill Cemetery is one of the most scenic and peaceful places in Middletown.

It rises just west of the Wesleyan University Campus, and affords marvellous panoramas of the Connecticut River.

A consequence of the America Beautiful movement, the cemetery was established in 1850, in what was then a rural location on the western outskirts of the town.

Even though Indian Hill is still active as a cemetery, when the gates are open there’s a steady flow of walkers, especially from the neighbouring university, soaking up the calming greenery and far-off vistas.

An enduring monument here is the brownstone neo-Gothic chapel, which grew up in the late-1860s and abounds with stained glass and daintily carved woodwork.