Aspects of Connecticut's Physical Geography

By Thomas R. Lewis, Manchester Community College

TOPOGRAPHY

Connecticut has an area of 4,965 square miles (about 12,908 square kilometers). It is located between latitude 41° N and latitude 42° N on the eastern side of the North American land mass. The distance between the eastern and western border is ninety miles (145 kilometers), and there is a fifty-mile (eighty kilometers) average distance between the northern and southern border. Connecticut is the third smallest state in the United States—only Delaware and Rhode Island are smaller.

Connecticut is hilly and contains abundant woodlands, features which newcomers quickly notice. The bills of the southern part of New England's Green Mountains make up the largest area of the western part of Connecticut. The highlands in the eastern counties extend into central Massachusetts. The middle of Connecticut is a broad valley bordered by low bulk on the north and basalt ridges on the south. The state's southern physical border, the Long Island Sound coastline, is indented with numerous marshes, coves, rivers, and streams. The state's land slopes about twelve feet per mile gradually from the northwest to the south and southeast toward Long Island Sound. In western Connecticut the highest hills rise between 800 feet (244 meters) to cover 2,000 feet (610 meters). Elevations, relief, and slopes in the eastern highlands are not as great as those in western Connecticut. Slopes are gentler, with elevations between 500 feet (152 meters) and 1,000 feet (305 meters). In the southeast, elevations are generally between 200 feet (sixty-one meters) and 500 feet (152 meters).

Many of the valley floors and lake surfaces in northwestern and northeastern Connecticut are higher than 600 feet (182 meters) above sea level. Some in the northwest are between 1,700 feet (518 meters) and 1,900 feet (570 meters) above the level of Long Island Sound. There are no tree mountains in Connecticut. The highest point is on the southern slope of Mt. Frissel in Salisbury, 2,380 feet (725 meters) high. The peak is in Massachusetts. The highest peak, Bear Mountain, also in Salisbury, is 2,316 feet (705 meters) high. This is far less than the 6,288 feet (1,917 meters) height of Mount Washington in New Hampshire, the highest point in the northeastern United States.

There are three major river systems in Connecticut, all of which drain in a southerly direction to Long Island Sound. The Connecticut River whose headwaters are some 400 miles (644 kilometers) to the north in New Hampshire, bisects the state. The Shetucket-Thames in eastern Connecticut is the largest drainage basin and the Housatonic-Naugatuck system drains western Connecticut. To these may be added the minor coastal rivers which drain directly into Long Island Sound; and some marginal drainage on the east by the Pawcatuck River and on the west by the Hudson River of New York State. Connecticut's rivers were among the most commonly used paths of penetration for seventeenth-century settlement. During the nineteenth century, railroad routes often followed river valleys north from Long Island Sound. Today many aspects of the state's cultural geography such as speech patterns, house types, and shopping patterns are more spatially oriented north to south than they are east to west.

Nearly 500 million years ago, during the early Paleozoic era, the land which is now Connecticut was largely flat and low lying, part of a huge, down-folded area in which thousands of feet of marine sedimentary deposits had accumulated. Volcanoes to the east were also a major source of sediment. About 360 million years ago, as the North American Continental Plate collided with the European Plate, mountain building caused much of the sediment in the eastern part of North America to be severely crumpled and broken into pieces that slid over each other. The earlier formed Paleozoic strata was severely folded, faulted, and generally metamorphosed to become the rocks which are a major component at the hills of eastern and western Connecticut.

The region remained geologically stable for millions of years during which time the upward folds or anticlines in eastern and western Connecticut were gradually worn almost to a plain by the erosional action of wind and water. The river valleys, especially the Connecticut, filled with sediment which had been carried away from the uplands. Beginning about 260 million years ago, the Paleozoic was brought to a close by a mountain building, the Appalachian Orogeny, which saw a general uplifting of the land surface characterized by folding and faulting. It was most likely caused by the compressive force of a collision between the North American and African plates.

The changes most responsible for the present topography of Connecticut began about 190 million years ago as the super continent of Pangaea broke apart. Folding and faulting processes caused crustal movement during the Palisadian disturbance of the late Triassic period. The region was broken into a series of up thrusts and down thrusts. Also, the previously parallel sedimentary layers were uplifted to the west and tilted gently to the east, forming a series of north-south oriented fault block ridges. The peneplain which had formed before faulting became the smooth, sloping surface of the blocks. The end of the Triassic was a time of extensive earth movement and volcanic activity. Along the faults, hot magmas rose from deep inside the earth to infiltrate the rocks. In addition, volcanoes poured out extensive lava flows which cooled to become the dark gray basalt or traprock which forms most of the ridges in central Connecticut. Near Holyoke in Massachusetts, the vulcanism was violent, but most of the lava that flowed in Connecticut upwelled slowly from cracks in the underlying rock. As the lava sheets cooled, the deposition of sediment continued. The entire Connecticut Valley lowland continued to drop, and the sediments and lava gently tipped to the east. To the west of the Connecticut River Valley similar but less intense subsidence took place in the Pomeraug Valley near Woodbury and the Cherry Brook Valley near Canton. The land on the east side of the tilted fault blocks rose only to be constantly eroded. The sediments resulting from the erosion were deposited in the Connecticut Valley bottom as broad, complex, interfingering sheets of sand and muds. The lava flows continued for a period of approximately forty million years. During the intervals between flows, ponds and swamps formed, leaving layers of mud which eventually dried and turned into black shales. The sands became sandstones. There were few flowering plants, no deciduous trees, and no grasses. The landscape was most likely a monotonous rain forest not much above sea level. Muddy rivers and streams flowed through the Connecticut Valley, and there were many ponds and lakes. Animals wandered back and forth on mud flats leaving many footprints, some of which were eventually preserved and fossilized.

Some of the most extensive deposits of dinosaur tracks in the world are found in the Connecticut River Valley in Connecticut and Massachusetts. In Rocky Hill, Connecticut, there are over one thousand prints, by far the most extensive and well preserved of all the sites in the valley. The tracks there were found by accident when they were uncovered by workmen excavating for a new state building. Geologists and alert politicians acted quickly and were able to get the area declared a state park with the proposed building constructed elsewhere.

The fossils in Connecticut were formed during the late Triassic—early Jurassic, and the dinosaurs of the period were the smallest ancestors of the vast number of huge and more familiar dinosaurs that roamed the earth some sixty to one hundred million years ago. Two groups of dinosaurs could be found in Connecticut during the Triassic-the lightly built, carnivorous coelurosaurs and somewhat heavier prosaurapods. On the whole, the different subtypes of these groups were more alike than different. Most of the Rocky Hill tracks are of the Triassic, Coelurosaurian dinosaur Coelophysis, a lightly built, bird-like carnivore which fed on small reptiles and insects. It had fragile, hollow bones; an elongated skeleton; long, narrow hind legs; and three-toed, bird-like hind feet. It was probably not more than three or four feet in length. Because it was so lightly built, Coelophysis was agile and adept at catching its small animal prey. The largest dinosaurs that roamed the valley left large Eubrontes footprints and were likely similar in size and appearance to Dilophosaurus, a carnivorous dinosaur whose remains have been found in Arizona.

Besides dinosaur tracks, Connecticut has abundant fossil Triassic plants and fish. Skeletons of fish, which formed in the black shales and dark muds that accumulated at the bottoms of lakes and ponds, have been found. The fish were for the most part heavily scaled; recent relatives are the sturgeon, pike and bowfin. It is likely that amphibians were also abundant during the Triassic in Connecticut, but as yet no fossil evidence has been uncovered. Beside the dinosaur tracks found in Rocky Hill, other tracks and skeletons have been unearthed in a number of Connecticut towns—Manchester, Portland, Middletown, and Simsbury. Slabs of track-bearing rock from Connecticut can be seen in almost every geological museum in the eastern United States.

The bending and folding of the rocks during the late Triassic was followed by another long period of quiet in which weathering and erosion caused elevations to be reduced almost to a plain again. About fifty million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period, a uniform uplifting of the surface took place. Since then there have been additional periods of uplifting. That uplift most responsible for the nature of today's landscape probably occurred within the last eight million years. The entire region rose about 200 feet (sixty-one meters) near the coast to about 2,000 feet (609 meters) inland. Rejuvenated streams caused renewed and continued downcutting. The weakest rocks and the red Triassic sediment were easily eroded, but the harder crystalline and volcanic rocks stayed pretty much at the old peneplain level. The uplifting caused changes in drainage patterns, depending on the hardness of the underlying rocks. For example, the softer Triassic areas of the Connecticut River Valley were subject to lateral erosion of the river, leading to a wide and low topography. In the areas of the harder crystalline rocks of the river's course between Middletown and Saybrook, however, the water carved a narrow gorge. In all, the uplifting and differing rates of erosion during the last fifty million years brought about the difference in relief and elevation which are generally characteristic of Connecticut's present physical landscape. As a result of the millions of years of folding and faulting, the major ridges, rivers, valleys, and escarpments in Connecticut came to be oriented north to south. Generally the older and larger streams flow through the anticlines and synclines, not across them. Consequently there is no one "fall line" in Connecticut but a number of falls on the smaller, younger streams. These falls were often chosen for mill sites that developed into towns such as Moosup, Colebrook, and Rockville.

The abundance of rock outcrops in the state enabled Connecticut to be an important part of the American building stone industry. Portland brownstone was used in buildings as far south as New Orleans. Buckingham Palace has quartzite patio stone quarried at Box Mountain in Vernon. There were sixty-four granite quarries in the state in 1911. But today only a half dozen are still occasionally worked, as the quarrying of building stone virtually died out with the advent of concrete. Today crushed stone is the state's most valuable mineral. Connecticut ranks second in New England as a producer of crushed, small stone. In 1982 Connecticut mined 20,000 tons of building stone, worth about $1 million; nearly seven million tons of crushed stone valued at $36 million; and 5.8 million tons of sand and gravel valued at $17.5 million.

Although the Triassic determined Connecticut's general topography years ago, the relatively recent glaciers of the Pleistocene epoch gave the state its many lakes and streams and the major portion of its present visible physical landscape. During that part of the Pleistocene known as the Wisconsin Stage, ice spread from its hearth near Labrador moving in all directions from the center. The ice, in some places two miles (3.2 kilometers) thick, reached Meriden, Connecticut, about 32,000 years ago and continued to spread as far south as Long Island. The Wisconsin glacier also covered the rest of the southern New England coastal plain, the area which is now Long Island Sound, Cape Cod Bay, and the continental shelf off the southern New England coast. The water which fed the snowfall that led to the ice came from the ocean. As a result, the ocean level fell during glacial periods. Consequently, the southern New England shoreline receded to a point about where the fifty-foot (fifteen meter) depth is found off the coast today. If the former Pleistocene ice were restored, the water withdrawn from the oceans would lower sea level by about 250 feet.

About 25,000 years ago the ice sheet was at its maximum size, extending south across the present Long Island Sound Basin. For a time, the movement of the ice southward was offset by the melting of the ice front due to a regional warming trend. Subsequently, a large amount of material, called moraine, was left at the glacier's end. Southern Long Island, Block Island, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket, islands of gravel, clay, and boulders, are all part of this terminal moraine of the Wisconsin Ice Sheet. By the time the last ice sheet had reached its farthest extent, all of New England was a broad plateau of ice thick enough to cover the highest points in the northern United States, such as New Hampshire's White Mountains and New York's Adirondacks.

About 18,000 years ago, as climate rapidly grew warmer, gradual melting began. (A glacier does not "retreat.") In some periods advance was greater than melting, but the overall trend was one of gradual melting. After time a second major recessional deposit north of the earlier terminal moraine was established. This moraine extends along the north shore of Long Island; through Fisher's Island; along the south shore of extreme eastern Connecticut; through the Elizabeth islands off Massachusetts, including Cuttyhunk, Nashewena Island, and Pasque Island; and continues along the east side of Buzzards Bay. The glacial till of gravels, clays, and boulders along the southern Connecticut coast was left during this prolonged recessional position of the Wisconsin Ice Sheet.

Terminal moraine intersects the Connecticut coast at a number of places. At Old Saybrook it was molded over time by longshore current to form a sand bar at the mouth of the Connecticut River. During the "age of steam and steel," deeper draft vessels could not cross the bar into the river's mouth. Thus, while industry developed in estuaries of the state's other rivers, the towns in the lower Connecticut River Valley remained underdeveloped. By the time jetties were built to control the shifting sand, commerce and industry had gone elsewhere.

As climate continued to warm, the source region of the Labrador ice was nourished by less and less ample supplies of snow, and the ice sheet became thinner as well as smaller in area. Thinning over Connecticut was slow at first, exposing the granite and basalt ridge tops. The ice remained longest in the valleys where the ice was most thick. Glacial meltwater pouring into Long Island Sound formed a freshwater lake which remained until about 8,000 years ago. Then the rising sea water entered the central basin of the Sound, changing it from a non-tidal, freshwater body to a tidal extension of the Atlantic Ocean. Sea level has continued to rise, and this rising, combined with the sinking of the land, has led to an overall submergence of the Connecticut coast of about seven inches (eighteen centimeters) every 100 years.

Before the ice sheet, the hills of New England were approximately the same height as they are today. Although the ice did shape them somewhat by removing accumulations of residual soil and broken mantle rock produced by years of weathering, the ice scraped off only a relatively small amount of the solid bedrock below. The abrasive action of the suspended stone particles in the ice worked to grind down the underlying rock and produced smooth, rounded shapes and polished surfaces. Often the bedrock surfaces in Connecticut do not show glacial striations or polish but are smoothed and rounded on their northeast, west, and upper sides because the original striated and polished surfaces have been erased by weathering. Ice-polished and ice-caused striations can be seen, however, on the east slopes of the basalt in Penwood State Forest and Talcott Mountain State Park.

As the glacier melted, some of the remaining ice blocks were a mile or more in diameter. These soon were buried by sand and gravel from river outwash. Where the water ran along the margins of slowly-melting valley ice, kame terraces of stratified drift were formed. Well defined kame terraces are common in lower Connecticut River Valley towns as Portland and Glastonbury and in Avon and Simsbury in the Farmington River Valley. When glacial ice melts, debris carried by the ice is either dumped indiscriminately over the landscape or else meltwater carries it away and deposits it in some valley or in the sea. Boulders, gravel, sand, silt and clay, all products of glacial deposition, cover much of the older, pre-Triassic rocks of Connecticut.

Glacial debris or till is found in every part of the state. As the ice melted, numerous rivers and streams carried great quantities of sand and gravel south toward Long Island Sound. As stream velocities decreased, the vales were filled with stratified stream deposition. Sediment was also washed into long crevasses. When the ice disappeared, sinuous ridges of ice channel deposits resulted. These are scattered throughout central Connecticut and can be found in parts of the Farmington River Valley and in the river valleys of eastern Connecticut. The material composing the deposits ranges in size from silt to boulders but is usually medium to coarse sand.

Drumlins—small, low, smooth-rounded hills—were also deposited by the glacier. There are about two hundred drumlins in the state. The largest are less than a mile long and rarely over 250 feet in height, and more than half of them are found in central and northeastern Connecticut. Drumlins are generally oriented in the same direction as glacial scratches on bedrock, and their composition is sand, pebbles, and a high percentage of clay. Apple Hill in Glastonbury, Wickham Memorial Park and Veterans Memorial Park in East Hartford, Bailey Hill in Groton, and Jail Hill in Norwich are all drumlins.

Kettleponds were also formed in smaller valleys where meltwater flowed around, and over, melting blocks of ice. Many were completely covered by outwash material. After the ice melted in such places, the surface sagged to form an irregular depression called a kettlehole. Where the water table is near the surface, particularly along the coastal plain, such holes easily filled with water and became kettleponds.

Numerous lakes and streams were formed by glacial meltwater. The larger valleys contained lakes of considerable size. The Connecticut River Valley between southern New Hampshire and Middletown was occupied by a long, narrow lake which received the sand, silt, and clay which meltwater carried into it. The lake was dammed because of a mass of drift which blocked the Connecticut River just south of what is now Glastonbury. Since the lake has been drained, the river has cut into what was deposited under the lake, leaving a series of terraces varying in width up to four miles. The brickyards of central Connecticut during the eighteenth century were developed in the layered clay which had been deposited under the glacial lake.

Most of the boulders strewn across southern New England were brought about by glacial deposition. Areas in eastern and western Connecticut, underlain by granite and gneiss, have more boulders than the largely alluvial Connecticut River Valley. When the ice passed over hard-rock ledges, it broke off blocks along cracks or joints, rather than crumbling the rock into small fragments. When the cracks were far apart, the resulting boulders were huge. The ice dragged the largest boulders for only a few miles at the most. The smaller rocks locked in the glacial ice often were carried a hundred miles or more before they were deposited. In some cases the deposited boulders were huge. Among these is one in Montville—Cochegan Rock, fifty-four feet long (sixteen meters) and weighing about 7,000 tons. Some of the huge glacial erratics, such as Wolf Rock in Mansfield and Frog Rock in Pomfret, lie in apparent precarious positions.

It has been estimated that there are probably some 25,000 miles of stone walls in Connecticut. The task of clearing fields of erratics has long been one of the constant chores of Connecticut farmers. The prevalence of boulder-strewn soils in eastern and western Connecticut, along with the attraction of cheap, fertile land elsewhere, were factors which contributed to the widespread migration from Connecticut between the 1760s and 1840s. It is ironic that today many do well by selling and delivering erratics ("nuisance stones") for suburban patios and other uses.

CLIMATE AND WEATHER

Although Connecticut is a small state, the climate controls which effect it are global. Such controls—latitude, nearness to water, ocean currents, altitude, mountain barriers, atmospheric pressure, winds and storms—interact on a vast scale. The larger scale aspects of climate include the distinct seasonal changes in temperature, which are related to changes in the angle at which the sun's rays strike the surface of the Earth. As Northern Hemisphere winter approaches, the axis tilts continually away from the sun, and Connecticut and all other places north of the Equator receive less direct rays than during summer and spring. Average temperatures become lower, daylight hours shorten, and shadows lengthen. The leaves of deciduous trees, reacting to both lower temperature and less sunlight, change colors and fall to the ground.

Connecticut lies in a transition zone between the humid, subtropical climates to the south and the humid continental to the north. Located on the eastern side of the North American continent, about half way between the Equator and the North Pole, the state lies within a belt of prevailing westerly winds. Its location on the edge of a middle-latitude, continental land mass is characterized by winter and summer temperatures and pressures which reverse seasonally. Because there are no true mountains in Connecticut, and few immediately to the west, climatic forces operate relatively unaffected by topography.

During the winter, the subpolar, northern part of North America becomes a huge source of cold, high-pressure air. When the more direct rays of the sun are received south of the Tropic of Capricorn, subpolar North America becomes very cold. The presence of snow and ice helps to create a strong, high-pressure, continental polar air mass. A buildup of this air periodically "breaks out" and moves in a southerly and easterly direction toward the lower pressure over the Atlantic Ocean. The air pressure over the ocean is lower, since the water remains somewhat warmer than does the land. In addition, a region of low pressure is centered roughly over eastern Greenland and Iceland along a polar front between cold, polar continental air and warm, tropical maritime air to the south. It is a region of intense storms, known as the Islandic low, which acts to pull cold polar air from the continent. Some of the air moving off the continent moves south and east toward the warmer water, thus bringing northwest winds to Connecticut. The air which moves out of the high does not move easterly in a straight line, however, but is deflected by the rotation of the earth and thus moves out in a clockwise spiral. Moving away from the continent, it is pulled to the center of the low in a counter-clockwise circular motion. The net result is that air moving from the continental high to the low over Iceland is spun far to the south of its source region, bringing cold northwest winds to Connecticut and the rest of the Northeast during winter.

During summer, the pressure relationships are reversed. The North American continental land mass warms rapidly until land temperatures are greater than those of the Atlantic Ocean. As a result, the air pressure over the water is higher than that of the air over the land. The center of this oceanic high pressure is known as the Bermuda High, located roughly between Bermuda and the Azores. It is the source region for air moving clockwise which travels over the Atlantic and across the southeastern coast of the United States. This air then moves northeasterly towards the center of a large low-pressure cell known as the Labrador Low, and as a result Connecticut receives moist, southeasterly air throughout much of the summer.

Connecticut's weather generally comes from the west, off the North American Continent. Although Connecticut has a coastline, its climate is not maritime. If the prevailing winds blew off the ocean from east to west, maritime characteristics would prevail.

Connecticut lies within the usual path of the easterly moving winter jet stream and thus receives winter precipitation from cyclonic storms, several hundred miles across, which originate along the winter storm tracks associated with the stream. As a result, the weather changes frequently. It is common for two cyclonic storms to occur every ten days or so. The almost circular, counter-clockwise wind circulation of cyclonic storms (not to be confused with "cyclone," a term used in the American Southwest to refer to a tornado) causes an observer at ground level to experience winds that change direction several times as the storm passes. Many cyclonic storms track west to east across the United States in the winter and converge on New England. Another winter storm track, just south of Connecticut, is influenced by the relatively warm Gulf Stream. Storms originating within this track often move up the northeastern coast of North America and deposit substantial amounts of snow in Connecticut, particularly along the coast. These are the storms known as "Nor'easters." When summer approaches, the prevailing westerlies, with their associated polar air, jet streams, and storms, migrate northward.

Connecticut's weather is thus not influenced by the westerlies in summer as much as in winter. Summer precipitation generally is not cyclonic but convectional, caused by the rising and cooling of air that has been warmed at ground level.

In addition to major climate controls, there are numerous factors which cause local variations in the weather in what may be termed Connecticut's five major sections: the northwest hills; the southwest hills; the coastal plain; the southeast hills; and the northeast, including the Connecticut River Valley and the Northeastern Hills.

The weather of coastal Connecticut, over an area extending some ten miles (sixteen kilometers) inland, is different from the rest of the state. Average summer temperatures along the coastal plain are cooler than more inland locations at similar elevations. In winter, coastal locations are often warmer than places inland. The difference is caused by the differential heating of land and water. Elevation is a key factor in Connecticut weather. Higher elevations in the eastern and western hills bring about greater amounts of precipitation than in other parts of the state. The hills force the prevailing winds, blowing from west to east, to rise. As the air rises, it cools, and if it reaches the dew point temperature, mist or clouds will form. If the rising air mass contains enough moisture, precipitation can take place. Glider pilots refer to rising air currents as ridge lifts or wave lifts. Such lifts are common in northwestern Connecticut in such places as Salisbury, one center of glider activity in New England. The prevalence of such cooling in northwestern Connecticut is largely responsible for that part of the state receiving more precipitation than lower places along the coastal plain and in the major river valleys.

Temperatures are also affected by elevation. The average annual temperature along coastal Connecticut and in the Central River Valley is about 51° F (10.5° C). In both the northwestern and northeastern uplands, temperatures average somewhat less, between 45° and 48° F (7.2° C and 8.8° C). The summer maximums are also greater along the coast than in the uplands. Normals are lowest in the highest elevations. Norfolk in tire northwest hills is 1,337 feet (408 meters) above sea level and has an average annual minimum temperature of 35° (1.6° C), qualifying the town as Connecticut's icebox. The coldest temperature on record in Connecticut was measured there on February 13, 1943 -37° F (-38.3° C). Air temperatures are cold enough in the eastern and western uplands in the fall to allow snow to fall during cyclonic storms at the same time that places in the river valleys and coastal plain get rain.

Connecticut's growing season, related to mean daily temperatures, averages 180 days. It begins about mid-April in lower elevations, about one month later in higher places, and comes to an end for most crops in late October. An average daily temperature of 43° F (6° C) for several successive days warms soils, ends surface freezing, and thaws subsoil frost. Soon buds begin to swell, and grasses begin to grow.

Degree days vary significantly from place to place in Connecticut, generally decreasing from the northwestern hills to the southeastern coastal plain. When temperatures fall below a set standard—in the case of heating 65° F (18.3° C), it is generally agreed that houses require heat. This temperature is taken as the base for the identification of degree days. The lower the outdoor temperature fails, the more heat is required. Each degree failing below the base temperature is called a "degree day." The number of degree days at a place is obtained by subtracting the day's mean temperature from the base temperature of 65° F (18.3° C). The total number of degree days for a beating year, July 1 of one year to June 30 of the next year, is obtained by adding all the daily values. Connecticut's highest degree days are found near Norfolk, averaging 7,600 annually, while the lowest are along the shore of Long Island Sound between Saybrook and Stonington where the annual average is 5,600 degree days.

Urban places in Connecticut are generally warmer than in rural places. The larger cities such as Hartford, New Haven, and Bridgeport, often develop "heat islands" which can cause temperatures as much as 10°F (5.5° C) higher than those in the surrounding countryside. Another element in the greater warmth of urban places is that wind speeds in cities are about 25% less than in rural areas. Varying surface heights and the differing shape, size, and orientation of buildings in cities have a tendency to reduce wind speed.

With respect to Connecticut weather phenomena, wind chill is a factor of significance, particularly in winter. The January wind chill average is similar to that found at some places in northern Canada. While Connecticut does not often experience bitterly cold weather, there are periods of bone-chilling cold. In December 1952 there was an eighteen-hour period when temperatures in Connecticut averaged -6° F (26° C) and winds were high, at times gusting to over forty-five mph (seventy-two kph). The result was a wind chill temperature of approximately -55° F (-47° C).

Precipitation is another key factor in Connecticut's weather. The state receives annual precipitation averaging forty-six inches (117 cm). Although there are no pronounced wet or dry months, as there are in some other climates, February and October are relatively dry. The average total precipitation in Connecticut for these two months is about 3¼ inches (8.2 cm) to 3½ inches (8.5 cm). The average in each of the other months is four inches (10 cm). Mean annual precipitation amounts vary from forty-four inches (112 cm) in the northeastern hills and the central part of the state to fifty-eight inches (147 cm) along the eastern slopes of the western highlands. While there have been dry years and some period of summer drought, Connecticut seldom experiences prolonged general droughts.

Snowfall amounts are usually greatest in January. Significant snowfall can be expected in the northwestern hills from the middle of November through the middle of April. Along the coast, however, the snow cover lasts only from late December to the middle of March. Snowfall amounts gradually increase as one goes from the coast to the northwestern uplands. (Northern Tolland County also receives moderate to heavy snowfall.) There are wide variations in seasonal snowfall amounts. More snow fell in November in Vernon in 1980 than fell during the entire winter of 1979. In parts of the northwestern hills, the average snowfall is over seventy-five inches (190 cm). Norfolk, for example, gets more than 100 inches (254 cm). Along the coast the average annual snowfall is less than thirty-five inches (90 cm). Snowfall in Connecticut is often accompanied by high winds which can pile a small amount of snow into impassable drifts. Drifting was a problem in the February 11-12, 1983, snowstorm which broke state records for the most snow to fall in a twelve-hour period, 19.3 inches (49 cm), and in a twenty-four-hour period, 21 inches (53.34 cm). Wet snow and rain accumulating over several days was a major factor in the collapse of the roof of the Hartford Civic Center in January 1978.

Hail in Connecticut can fall at any time of the day and at any time of the year. It is less common along the coast than inland, and hail is particularly evident in northwestern Connecticut where the hilly terrain produces giant cumulonimbus clouds which can develop into hail-bearing thunderstorms. Such storms usually develop in Litchfield County and travel eastward to reach their maximum development over the Connecticut Valley lowland. Thunderstorms occur on an average of from eighteen to thirty-five days a year. The greatest number of thunderstorms occur in July. The smallest number of such storms occur in eastern New London County because the air there is cooled in summer by the sea breeze. As a result, the conditions necessary for thunderstorms and hail to form are somewhat weakened.

Fog commonly occurs all over the state, although it is most often found along the coast. It can be expected at any one place on the average of thirty days during the year. Heavy fog is most likely to form along the coastal plain during late winter and spring, but it also forms often in the fall. In late April and May, light, southerly winds from Long Island Sound blow fog inland late at night; the warming effect of the morning sun usually dissipates it by noon. Ground fog, caused by radiational cooling at night, is most common in lowland inland areas during late summer and fall. Fog caused by moisture over rivers in early morning hours is a common sight along lowland river valleys in the fall.

Connecticut has historically been prone to severe weather. Tornadoes have been particularly devastating over the years. The low elevation in central Connecticut produces numerous thunderstorms and pressure differences more favorable to tornado formation than in other parts of the state. While Connecticut is generally not thought of as tornado-prone, the number of severe storms per square mile here and in Massachusetts is higher than in much of the Midwest and almost as high as in Texas and Oklahoma.

Few realize that there is a long history of tornadoes in Connecticut. A storm which struck Wallingford in 1878 killed thirty-four people, injured 100 more, and caused extensive property damage. A tornado in Southington in 1962 destroyed seventy-two homes, damaged 750 others, killed one person, and injured fifty others. Approximately thirty-three such storms were reported in Connecticut between 1953 and 1979. Between 1974 and 1980, five central Connecticut towns experienced tornadoes. The 1979 Windsor storm killed three people, injured over 400, left 100 families homeless and 2,000 people unemployed, and caused damage in excess of $215 million. A tornado which touched down in Naugatuck in July 1982 destroyed fifteen houses and caused total damage in excess of $600,000. Tornadoes in Connecticut have occurred in all months, but the greatest number occur in August and May.

Tropical cyclones (hurricanes), with winds of seventy-five mph (120 kmph) or above, have struck Connecticut a number of times, particularly during summer and early fall. The first written description of a hurricane in Connecticut was in 1675. The worst storm of the nineteenth century was a hurricane that struck on September 23, 18 15. Besides being celebrated by Oliver Wendell Holmes in poetry, this storm was accompanied by the highest tides of the century. It caused great damage to the Stonington fishing fleet and destroyed New Haven's Long Wharf.

The "New England Express" of 1938 is still without question the best known and most remembered of all the hurricanes to strike Connecticut. It came in late afternoon, without warning, and moved up the state's center. The storm killed over 600 people in New England and caused $124 million of damage. Eighty-five Connecticut residents lost their lives. Wind, rain, and a tidal surge and tide 9.2 to 11.7 feet (2.8m to 3.6m) above mean sea level caused great destruction. Winds in excess of 100 mph (161 kmph) were recorded at Fishers Island, New York, just southeast of New London. There have been a number of hurricanes since 1938, the worst ones in 1944, 1954, 1960, 1971, 1979, and 1985. A tropical storm can be expected to reach the New England mainland once every two years and to cross the land, or pass closely offshore, on the average of once each hurricane season.

Extra-tropical cyclones, "Nor'easter's" at times bring hurricane-force winds and destructive waves to Connecticut, usually during winter and spring. The blizzard of February 1978 caused one billion dollars in damage in New England, $35 million in Connecticut. A coastal storm in late October 1980 brought wind gusts of seventy-six mph (122 kmph) to Bridgeport and caused damage in excess of $5 million along the Connecticut coast. Gale-force winds, those in excess of thirty-two mph (51 kmph) are less common in Connecticut than they are in other coastal New England states. When Rhode Island and Massachusetts are being lashed by gales, Connecticut often experiences winds of lesser force. When storms move out of the Great Lakes or directly up the coast, destructive gale-force winds generally strike Connecticut. Such storms cause the undermining of structures and coastal erosion in spite of the fact that almost fifty percent of Connecticut's 138 mile long (222 km) coastline has some sort of people-made protection. New damage potential is being created by increasing human occupancy of coastal areas subject to high winds, wave action, and salt-water flooding.

Connecticut's worst natural disasters have been floods. The August 1955 rain from tropical storm "Diane" caused $700 million in damage in New England, two-thirds of it in Connecticut. Many of the state's major cities suffered flood damage. Particularly hard hit were Seymour, Derby, Putnam, Winsted, Torrington, and Ansonia. Rainfall amounts varied—Hartford received 12.12 inches (30 cm) in twenty-four hours. The scars on the landscape caused by the 1955 floods still remain.

For much of Connecticut, June 1982 was the wettest month on record. Some towns along the coast received fourteen inches of rain from June 4 to June 7. Flooding in southern central Connecticut was severe. Six large dams, many smaller ones, and thirteen bridges were washed away. Miles of road were destroyed, and sewer and utility services were cut. Forty houses and countless businesses were destroyed. Twelve people lost their lives, and total damage reached $300 million.

There is a long history of river flooding in Connecticut. Mention is often made in state and town records of the capricious ways of rivers. A number of towns set up flood control watches, dikes, and other methods of stream control even in the Colonial Period. Generally, either tropical or extra-tropical cyclones have been responsible for disastrous floods in Connecticut. The floods of September 1938 and of August 1955 were caused by hurricanes. The flood of March 1936 and a number of other spring floods were caused by extra-tropical N'easter's combined with extremely cold temperatures. The frozen ground was unable to absorb both rainfall and the run-off from melting snow in the more northern parts of the Connecticut River drainage basin.

Floods can occur in Connecticut at any time of the year. Flash floods, usually related to convectional precipitation, are most likely to take place during summer and have caused heavy damage at times. A flash flood in 1978 caused extensive damage in Norfolk, and a similar occurrence in Danbury in October 1955 resulted in a dozen fatalities. As more large parking areas in suburban locations are built, local flash flooding increases because runoff from parking lots is greater than natural flood runoff. Development in flood plains continues, and as a result, so does the potential for floods. Flood control measures, such as dikes and stream channelization, protect against economic loss but encourage further flood plain development. Such measures also may create a false sense of security, which in time leads to further development, which in turn generates the need for additional flood control measures.

Ice storms are another common weather hazard in Connecticut. Damage to Connecticut woodlands caused by an ice storm in December 1973 is still evident. That storm is probably the most memorable meteorological event for the largest percentage of the state's residents. For as long as two weeks, thousands of people huddled near and cooked in fireplaces that previously had played a largely decorative role. Those who had both heat and lights became innkeepers for friends and relatives who did not. Flashlights, lanterns, portable heaters, and stoves became priceless commodities. Approximately 650,000 houses were at one time or another without power during the period which began on December 16. Ice, which accumulated one-half inch thick, caused tree damage worse than that caused by the 1938 hurricane.

Some type of ice glaze can be expected to occur on the average of a dozen times a year in Connecticut. One hundred thousand dollars in damage was reported after water drops froze on exposed objects in the Litchfield Hills in March 1837. There were damaging ice storms in January and February 1886. More recent damaging ice storms occurred in 1942, 1968, 1969 and, as previously mentioned, 1973, and most recently in 1984. The 1973 storm greatly contributed to a resurgence in the use of wood stoves in southern New England. Since then, wood piles in suburban as well as rural backyards have become socially acceptable. No longer symbols of poverty, they are now symbols of preparedness and frugality.

FLORA AND FAUNA

The vegetation found in Connecticut is transitional between the great central hardwood forests to the south and the transitional temperate-subarctic forest to the north. Many species of maple, beech, birch, oak, hickory, pine, and hemlock make up the Connecticut forest which covers sixty percent of the total land area in the state and ranges from the broad, uninterrupted woodlands of the northwest to patches of trees along the shore of Long Island Sound. The Connecticut forest comprises four areas, each characterized by the presence of certain trees. The smallest area, known as the northern hardwoods zone, extends from western Massachusetts roughly as far south and east as Winsted and west to Canaan. This zone contains valuable trees, namely the sugar maple, beech, and yellow birch. There are also the less valuable white pine and hemlock. The second area, called the transitional hardwood zone, covers the extreme northwestern corner of Connecticut. It extends from the New York and Massachusetts borders as far south and east as Torrington, diagonally crossing below the small northern hardwoods back into Massachusetts in Granby. Red oak, basswood, white ash, and black birch are typically found there. But, as the name implies, one can also find trees characteristic of the northern hardwoods zone, such as the sugar maple and yellow birch. The last two zones occupy the major portion of Connecticut, about nine-tens of the total forest area. The north central hardwoods surrounds the transitional zone and occupies the remaining northern half of the state. Oaks and hickories predominate, with some specimens of shagbark and bitternut. Many abandoned farms in the region have been reclaimed by white pine. The south-central hardwoods zone occupies the remaining area, roughly from the center of the state to the shoreline. The same types of trees characterize this zone as the north central zone. However, it is generally set apart by the occurrence of black birch and white ash. Where trees have reclaimed farmland, red cedar prevails over white pine.

Some of the most commercially valuable forests exist in the northwestern corner of Connecticut, but other exceptional stands also occur in the Connecticut River Valley. Small sections of valuable forest are also scattered throughout the state, usually where the richest farmlands have been reclaimed, such as in Simsbury and Avon. Many of these forests represent the best stands found in the state.

The Connecticut forest includes nearly 300,000 acres of public woodlands, but the major portions, some 1.5 million acres, is parceled into small tracts and held in private ownership. During the Colonial Period, the clearing of forests for cropland, pasturing, charcoaling, and timber began the systematic and massive destruction of woodland and forest habitats. (The last virgin tract of timber in Connecticut, in Colebrook, was cut down in 1912.) Many species of the original virgin forest have probably been lost and the ranges of others contracted.

A complete census of tree species in Hartford County taken circa 1885 is among the earliest accurate counts available in the state. At that time, some fifty-six species were listed, with elm, maple, oak, beech, birch and white pine the most common. Except for cherry and chestnut, the same species are still numerous. Elms have suffered much from blight during recent years but still comprise a usually common part of Connecticut's woodland. The Connecticut River Valley between Middletown and Long Island Sound has remained relatively undeveloped over the years and thus affords a visitor the chance to view many species of Connecticut's flora. Aspen, birch, maple, and elm grow down to the edge of the stream. In 1817 the Boston Transcript described parts of the river near Hamburg Cove as an earthly paradise, with waters covered by masses of wild rice and on its banks cardinal flower growing on fresh meadows in a passionate splendor of color. That description is still accurate today. Wild rice is still abundant; snails and mussels cooked and flavored are safe to eat; and in the fall, the lapping waters reflect hues of red and yellow in a dazzling display of color.

Prior to 1850 the woodland plant and shrub population in Connecticut was greatly decimated by the widespread clearing of land. Land clearing by pioneer agriculturalists did, however, encourage some flowering, sun-loving plants which could not stand shade or competition from other species. For example, amthusa, a small orchid, was a common spring flower in wet meadows, and the fringed gentian was abundant in fall. In places in Connecticut where fields have returned to successional forest since 1850, both of these plants as well as others such as goldenrod and juniper are becoming harder to find.

Poison ivy was not common in Connecticut in 1650. The widespread clearing of land was initially responsible for its spread, but grazing held back its growth during the eighteenth century. Since then, as grazing declined and land was abandoned, it has spread unchecked through pasture and woodland, establishing itself as ground cover often overwhelming other more desirable plants.

People not only brought about changes in the population of natural plants but also introduced a large number of European species that have become naturalized. Almost one-fifth of Connecticut's wild plants are imports that have been introduced since colonial times. Ragweed, dandelions, and nearly 1,000 others are naturalized imports mostly from Europe. Several of the more serious weed pests were deliberately brought in by Connecticut residents as garden flowers. One of these, the purple loosestrife, is among the most common marsh plants in New England. Fifty years ago, it was rare. Although people have reduced the numbers of many species, the types of fauna in Connecticut are not greatly different from those which existed at the time of initial European occupation.

The mammal wildlife of Connecticut is typical of that found in the eastern hardwood forest. The cat family is presently represented only by the wildcat or bobcat, a small animal which is still found in hilly, rocky areas. It is possible that scattered lynx and even mountain lion were also found in limited numbers in early Connecticut.

The only wild member of the dog family currently found to any extent in the state is the fox, an animal which has adapted well to life in thickly settled areas. In addition, several creatures, perhaps a coyote-dog blend, have been killed in recent years. The wolf has long disappeared from Connecticut.

The ferocious weasel family is well represented by the weasel, mink, and the skunk. Some otter and marten may be found in the more isolated locations. Other predators native to the state include the raccoon and opossum. Bears, at one time common throughout Connecticut, are now essentially extinct.

The most common hoofed mammal is the white-tailed deer. In recent years their numbers have increased so much that some biologists are concerned that there will not be enough food in the woods to allow all the deer to get through winters without starvation. The state's 1982 deer population averaged about 30,000 head. Farmers find deer to be an increasing source of annoyance, trampling seedlings and eating crops.

The cotton-tail rabbit is the chief member of the leaping mammal family found in Connecticut. Some varying or snowshoe hares are also found in remote coniferous forest areas and swamps as befits their more northern character.

Rodents are the most numerous mammals found and have generally adjusted to human proximity with little trouble. This is particularly true of the squirrel, various rats and mice, and the woodchuck. The porcupine and muskrat can be found in more remote areas. In recent years, the beaver, formerly extinct in Connecticut due to heavy trapping, has returned and is rapidly spreading.

There are still a number of gamebirds in Connecticut. The most important is the ruffed grouse or "partridge." Lesser numbers of woodcock and quail are also found, but the quail seem to be decreasing in numbers. Hunting interest has caused the introduction of the pheasant into more open, agricultural parts of Connecticut. Because the state is a marginal environment for the pheasant and as it receives very heavy hunting pressure, its numbers must be regularly replenished by stocking. Attempts to reintroduce the wild turkey have been moderately successful. The flock reached about 3,000 birds in 1982. Although Connecticut is not on the main flyways, a large number of migrating ducks and geese do cross the state, spending some time in local wetlands, especially in the Connecticut River Valley and along the coast.

Connecticut's fresh and saltwater aquatic life is abundant. Cold water fish are represented by the trout family. Because the trout is a sensitive fish with a low heat tolerance, it is not found in lakes or streams where summer water temperatures are high. Trout are therefore usually found only in smaller streams and in deeper ponds and lakes with lower water temperatures. This is particularly true of the brook trout, the only native trout found in Connecticut. Other hardier trout, such as brown and rainbow, have been introduced in an attempt to meet the demand for trout fishing and to extend the environment suitable for such fish. The state's record trout was a 29-pound, 13-ounce fish caught in Lake Wononscopomuc in 1918.

There are about 130 species of saltwater fish found in Connecticut's marine waters. The marine fish population has a basically coastal, shallow water character, dominated by such species as flounder, shad, porgy, and mullet. Relatively few of the cold-loving, deepwater fish such as mackeral, cod, and haddock are found off the Connecticut coast.

Shad spawn in the state's rivers, particularly the Connecticut River—a shad fishing mecca. Connecticut's anglers anticipate the shad season with excitement each year. From April to June about thirty commercial shad boats can be seen at night drifting their nets between Glastonbury and Old Saybrook. About 80,000 shad are caught by Connecticut commercial fishermen each year, and about 3,000 more are caught at the Enfield Dam. The direct economic value of shad fishing to Connecticut's economy has been put at $20 million a year.

There is a small but healthy commercial fishing and shell fishing industry along Connecticut's coast, especially centered in Stonington. Total fin fishing landings in the state declined from 20 million pounds (9,000,000 kilograms) in 1950 to about 5 million pounds (2,250,000 kilograms) in 1970. Since 1975, however, fin fishing and shell fishing, particularly for oysters, have enjoyed a slow but steady revival due partly to decreasing pollution levels in much of Long Island Sound.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Connecticut industry produces over 100 million gallons of hazardous waste each year. Almost 90 percent of it is disposed improperly but no one really knows how many hazardous waste sites there are in the state. However, in 1983, after inspecting eighty-five of the 169 towns, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection found 100 waste disposal sites. Seventy of these were found to contain hazardous material such as paint solvents, pesticides, herbicides, and degreasing solvents.

Poor management of the disposal of hazardous wastes has affected many Connecticut towns. A number of homeowners in Haddam have not been able to drink their water. Degreasers from a neighboring business is the suspected source of their well pollution. Haddam is also the site of a Connecticut Department of Transportation garage that is among seventy sites noted by the DEP where possibly dangerous wastes have been buried by highway crews. Probably one-fourth of Connecticut's towns have contaminated underground water supplies resulting directly from hazardous waste. Besides Haddam, well contamination has been found in dozens of communities including Manchester, Meriden, Sharon, and Southington. The cost of contaminated drinking water is not only high environmentally, but also is a threat to public health.

The dollar cost for cleaning up the contaminated wells is also great. In 1982 over a million dollars was spent in Wallingford and Southington in an effort to eliminate well pollution. Rivers and streams have not escaped hazardous waste contamination. In 1983 investigators looking at a contaminated brook that flows into Farmington River encountered fumes so strong that they became dizzy and nauseous. Persistent chlorine pesticides and PCBs, closely related chemicals, are present in most of the major waters of Connecticut, including Long Island Sound, as well as in many terrestrial ecosystems. These compounds have been implicated in fish kills and substantial population declines of eagles, ospreys, falcons, and hawks.

Utility companies supply 84% of all water users; the remaining 16% have their own wells. Aquafers provide about 10% of the water. Utilities in 1983 were providing 353 million gallons a day, far below their capacity to supply 571 million gallons per day. It has been estimated that by the turn of the century the state will be using 671 million gallons per day. It is expected that aquifiers can yield more than twice that amount. The critical question, however, is whether the water will be of adequate quality, for protection and pollution, not supply, is Connecticut's fundamental water problem. Since enactment of the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, beneficial results have come from prohibiting practices causing contamination of surface water. The same kinds of rules for ground water will, unfortunately, not produce similar quick results. The existence of surface water pollution is easy to detect; ground water pollution is usually discovered only after there is a problem. Tracing the source of surface pollution is easy; tracing underground pollution is very difficult. Once pollution ceases, surface water will improve quickly because the water moves rapidly; on the other hand, it may take up to a century or more for an aquafier to become clean because ground water moves slowly, perhaps only a few feet a year.

To protect surface water, the disposal of contaminants into that water was prohibited. As a result, many wastes were placed on or in the ground. Any rules limiting disposal of pollutants must provide ways for safe disposal, for otherwise there is a strong incentive for illegal disposal which can, over time, pollute a water source. Unless Connecticut's hazardous waste disposal problem is solved, there is a real possibility that the water supply will continue to be contaminated and that the state will have a shortage of clean water.

Connecticut does not have sufficient facilities to handle hazardous waste. As of 1983, there was not a single high-temperature incinerator in the state, and there were only two secure landfills in operation. Some of the hazardous material is transported out of state but most has been dumped or stored on the users' sites. While there have been attempts to establish and operate secure landfills, in every instance the community objected. In one town, where a private operator made arrangements with officials for an approved facility, the officials were voted out of office in the next town election. A statewide poll conducted in 1982 indicated that 67% of Connecticut's residents believed that the disposal of wastes was a serious problem but that only 26% believed that it was a serious problem in their town.

The Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1977 will force industry to dispose of wastes properly. But, although many businesses are developing the technology to reduce wastes, complete elimination is not yet feasible. If there is no statewide facility, large firms will attempt to provide for their own waste and there will be no place for the waste of a small firm.

Connecticut's air also has not remained free from the effects of hazardous waste. Waste coming directly from industry passes into the air through ventilators and smoke stacks, later to be returned in rainfall which finds it way into the soil and water.

Poor air quality characteristics related to automobile emissions are a major problem in a highly urbanized, high-population density state like Connecticut. In 1981 there were 111 days in which the state's air did not meet Federal standards. In 1977, the Federal Government required Connecticut to show how it would attain and maintain national air quality standards. The most effective control of mobile source pollutants results from improvements to automobile engines and emissions controls. An effective measure to reduce such emissions is adequate vehicle maintenance and inspection. Motor vehicle non-methane hydrocarbon emissions in Connecticut were estimated to be 330 tons per day in 1976. The Connecticut legislature passed a law in 1980 establishing a state-run vehicle emission inspection program which began in January 1983. It is estimated that the program will provide a reduction of over twenty tons of hydrocarbons per day by 1987. The mandated inspections have not been without controversy. Many citizens argue that the program is just another wasteful governmental program which disrupts their lives. It was estimated in March 1983 that about 7% of the state's drivers were not complying with the law and that 16% of the vehicles tested had failed.

The need for a motor vehicle emissions testing program is but one indicator of the nature of the people/physical environmental relationship in Connecticut. Although Connecticut today is highly developed, its people are still closely tied to elements of the physical environment such as air, soil, flora, fauna, rocks, and minerals. There is no question that environmental awareness and an understanding of physical geography on the part of Connecticut's people will make the state a better place in which to live.

For Further Reading

Allen, Everett. A Wind to Shake the World. Boston, 1976.

Brumbach, Joseph. The Climate of Connecticut. Hartford, 1965.

Connecticut DEP. Long Island Sound: An Atlas of Natural Resources. Hartford, 1972.

Dowhan, J. and Craig. R. Rare and Endangered Species of Connecticut and Their Habitats. Hartford, 1976.

Dunbar, Carl. Historical Geology. New York, 1964.

Gaby, Stanley. Day Trips Through Connecticut. Norwich, Connecticut, 1979.

Jorgensen, Neil. A Guide to New England's Landscape. Chester, Connecticut, 1977.

Ludlum, David. New England Weather Book. Boston, 1962.

Lewis, Thomas with Harmon, John. Connecticut: A Geography. Boulder, Colorado, 1986.

Lewis, Thomas. Near the Long Tidal River. Washington, D.C., 1981.

McManis, Douglas. Colonial New England: A Historical Geography. New York, 1975.

O'Brien, Robert, ed. The Connecticut Almanac. West Hartford, Connecticut, 1982.

Orville, Philip, ad. Guide Book for Field Trips in Connecticut. Hartford, 1968.

Rodgers, John. Explanatory Text for Preliminary Geological Map of Connecticut, 1956. Storrs, Connecticut, 1959.

Tedone, David, ed. A History of Connecticut's Coast. Hartford, 1982.

Thompson, Betty F. The Changing Face of New England. Boston, 1977.

* Entry under revision.