Small towns of Connecticut: savor the true flavor of New England on a driving tour of six idyllic towns scattered throughout our third smallest state

Travel America, Jan-Feb, 2003 by Tom Bross

COUNT ME, A STAUNCH BOSTONIAN, among the many New Englanders who appreciate the short point-to-point distances throughout our region's three southernmost states. Consider: Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut could fit into not-so-big New Hampshire or Vermont, with room to spare. That geographic smallness means much can be seen during easy-going day trips.

Of the trio, Connecticut gets my vote for having the most appealing, closest-together abundance of picturesque towns. Meaning little old church-steeple communities, not excessively commercialized but with hospitable inns, eateries, and individual elements of Early Americana. Ideal for roundabout driving tours, they're scattered throughout the Nutmeg State. Here, in a clockwise direction, are six of my personal favorites:

STONINGTON BOROUGH. From fairly sizeable Stonington, sign-read your way south to its Stonington Borough enclave, on a jagged neck of land poking into Long Island Sound. Head down Water Street, past rows of clapboard houses mixed with pricey antique shops, Noah's Restaurant, and a grocery store. You'll reach Cannon Square, dominated by two ancient artillery pieces and a memorial honoring local patriots who repulsed British naval attacks during the Revolutionary War and War of 1812. Next comes Connecticut's oldest lighthouse, circa 1823, now a museum. From miniscule DuBois Beach at land's end, look toward Rhode Island's Napatree Point and, over in New York waters, Fishers Island. Hollywood art directors transformed one of the those antique shops into a pizzeria for 1988's Mystic Pizza starring Julia Roberts. Although its make-believe setting was nearby, well-known Mystic, the movie was filmed right here in this very pretty speck of a place.

Contact: Connecticut's Mystic & More Convention & Visitors Bureau, P.O. Box 89, New London, CT 06320; (800) TO-ENJOY or (860) 444-2206; www.mysticmore.com.

ESSEX. Dating from 1776, the Griswold Inn is reason enough to linger in riverside Essex. Admire a major collection of Currier & Ives steamboat prints in the Covered Bridge dining room; more nautical illustrations embellish the timber-beamed tavern. They reflect Essex's maritime importance, which began with a wharf built for the West Indies trade in 1656. Connecticut's first floating battle wagon, the Oliver Cromwell, was built in Hayden's shipyard 119 years later. A museum on Steamboat Dock focuses on that colorful past. If you're vacationing between June and Labor Day, consider a short westward sidetrack to Ivoryton, home of one of America's oldest summer theaters. At Deep River Landing, Essex Steam Train passengers board a triple-decker excursion boat for an hour of river cruising past Gillette Castle and East Haddam's Goodspeed Opera House.

Contact: Connecticut River Valley & Shoreline Visitors Council, 393 Main St., Middletown, CT 06457; (800) 486-3346 or (860) 347-0028; www.ctrivershore.org.

RIDGEFIELD. An hour upcountry from Manhattan, this high-income commuter town oozes a Yankee kind of understated affluence. But there's abundant history, too, exemplified by Keeler Tavern Museum (1733), St. Stephen's Episcopal Church (1725), and the Elms Inn (1760). The Community Center was built in 1896 for ex-Connecticut Governor Phineas C. Lounsbury. His grandiose white mansion's neighbor on elm-shaded Main Street is the absolutely superlative Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, fronting a two-acre sculpture garden. Close by: Weir Farm National Historic Site, home and studio of American Impressionism's co-founder, J. Alden Weir. Playwright Eugene O'Neill wrote Desire Under the Elms and The Fountain while living in Ridgefield. Frederick Remington had a home here; Henry and Claire Booth Luce owned an estate. When present-day residents need groceries, they zero in on a wonderful side-street gourmet emporium called Hay Day.

Contact: Housatonic Valley Tourism District, P.O. Box 406, Danbury, CT 06810; (800) 841-4488 or (203) 743-0546; www.housatonic.org.

NORFOLK. Tucked inside hilly northwestern Connecticut's Litchfield County, Norfolk surrounds a well-nigh perfect village green. Celebrity architect Stanford White designed the Beaux-Arts fountain that stands on one corner. From there, cross over to the Congregational Church's Battell Chapel, a "something-special" attraction because of its five luminous stained-glass windows created by Louis Comfort Tiffany. Also facing the grassy triangle, the Historical Museum began its existence in 1840 as a girls' school. All this plus one of small-town New England's great libraries, an 1889 edifice sporting fireplaces, folk art, vaulted ceilings, fish-scale shingles, even a gargoyle. Summertime's nationally acclaimed Norfolk Chamber Music Festival has been enchanting concertgoers since 1906, and woodland trails wind past splashing cascades in Campbell Falls State Park.

Contact: Litchfield Hills Visitors Bureau, P.O. Box 968, Litchfield, CT 06759; (860) 567-4506; www.litch fieldhills.com.

FARMINGTON. Just about smack dab in the geographic center of Connecticut, Farmington maintains its village atmosphere despite being close to monster shopping malls and speedy I-84 on the westerly approaches to capital city Hartford. The ensemble of 18th and early 19th century houses--along with the inevitable Congregational church (1771)--lining Main Street seems to have popped out of a picture postcard. If you like browsing through millionaires' "cottages" as much as I do, allow an hour for guided touring of Hill-Stead. The Colonial Revival spread is adorned with a Cleveland manufacturing tycoon's priceless collection of French and American Impressionist paintings, Japanese and German woodblock prints, and opulent furnishings. Jacqueline Bouvier, the future First Lady, graduated from Farmington's ultra-exclusive Miss Porter's School, class of '47.