Visiting Hartford

For starters, I think Connecticut so far has the best state capitol building that I’ve seen. The architecture of most of the state capitols are similar to Washington DC’s, but Connecticut’s looks more like a European castle than a government building. The old state capitol was built in 1792 and had a similar design to most other buildings at the time. The new capitol building was completed in 1879 after 8 years of construction. The building is pretty impressive with lots of statues and murals depicting historic events.

Connecticut Hartford Travelers Insurance Building

A big surprise for me about both Connecticut and Hartford is that they have a very strong economy. I didn’t expect them to have a weak one, but was really surprised to know that in 2004 Hartford actually came in second in the United States for the highest GDP! The city alone actually had a stronger economy than 16 entire states. The main drivers of the economy are the giant insurance companies that make Hartford their headquarters. On the left is the Travelers Insurance tower, one of the largest insurance companies in the world. Travelers Insurance was actually the first company to offer car and airline insurance. ING on the right is actually headquartered in Europe, but they still maintain a large office building in Hartford.

Downtown Hartford is home to Bushnell park, the oldest city park in the nation. The park above has places for families to enjoy such as picnics, a carousel and several festivals that take place. The original park was actually built around a large river, but after the great flood of 1936, the river was naturally redirected underground and instead the city replaced the river with a man made pond.

Connecticut Hartford Wadsworth Atheneum Art

The above museum is called the Wadsworth Atheneum; the largest art museum in the state and the oldest in the country. It was created in 1844, and led the nation with the first paintings from artists such as Salvador Dali and other famous Europeans.

Connecticut Hartford Webster Memorial Building

These two photos are examples of an old building that has been surrounded by modern structures and a new high tech building on the right. Above is the Webster Memorial building, I’m not sure exactly what it is for and had trouble finding information online. On the right is the Connecticut Science Center, this nine floor interactive museum was opened in June of 2009. Below are two more photos of colonial architecture in the city. I’ve come across plenty of colonial buildings in my travels in America but it wasn’t really until Hartford that I realized how much I appreciated it.

Connecticut Hartford Soldiers Sailors Memorial

Above is the city’s municipal building which acts as Hartford’s city hall. A famous landmark in Connecticut is the Soldiers and Sailors memorial arch in Hartford. It is dedicated to the citizens of Hartford that fought in the Civil war, which numbered about 4,000 with about 10% of those killed in combat.

Connecticut Hartford Ancient Cemetery Obelisk

This cemetery here is called Hartford’s Ancient Burying Ground. It contains the graves of Hartford’s founders including Thomas Hooker and Samuel Stone. The gate was locked when I visited, but I was able to stick my camera through the fence and read several tombstones from the fence. Annoyed that the gate was locked during daylight hours and while I was visiting, I seriously did consider climbing the fence, and maybe I should have. The photos above show a large Obelisk with several prominent Hartford citizens listed on it. The statue on the right is Samuel Stone.

Connecticut Hartford Ancient Cemetery Tombstone

Burials in this grave began as early as the 1640’s, not too far away from being 150 years before America was a country. The oldest grave I came across was this one on the right from 1682.

During my first visit to Hartford, I had somehow explored most of the city and didn’t come across or even know about Elizabeth Park. I’d be surprised if there was a nicer city park in the state! It’s a fairly large place with lots of beautiful gardens, greenhouses, and some recreational places like a few short hiking trails and tennis courts. Above are some photos of the center of the park with two shots below of the pond and foot bridge. At the far side of the pond I found this heron on the lower right.

Elizabeth Park is located in an upscale neighborhood, with some of the biggest houses I’ve ever seen. These giants photographed above where all found within a few blocks of the park.

An important place to visit in Hartfard is the Mark Twain house photographed on the left. Normally when I go to museums they’re closed since I’m visiting on a national holiday. This place was open, but I actually refused to go inside because of the crazy price of $20+! Adding to the insult was the fact that photography was banned. Even museums in Iran and North Korea allowed me to take photographs! In hindsight I probably should have just gone inside, but at the time I wasn’t feeling it. Plus I’ve visited other Mark Twain sites before. The photo on the right was taken right across the street from Mark Twain’s house and shows the Immanuel Church.