WAY OT--Obscure sections of Connecticut Towns -- do you have any??

[DobbsRover2]

One of the oddest little pieces of CT is that northern sliver of the western section of Greenwich that kind of sticks into NY. I don't think it has a name, but it's around the Tamarack Golf Course and it is odd because if you're a NY resident like me who frequently travels on I-684, you get the Entering Connecticut and Exiting Connecticut signs about a mile apart. Hard to think of other places where state boundaries are like that around interstates, but it has never failed to give me a thrill that I'm back in CT, if only for a minute.

 

[OldAlum]

We don't really have true villages in CT. What we call villages are really just neighborhoods or a.k.a. "sections of town." I point this out because in other states (like NY) villages are real independent administrative divisions and will have their own village hall, police department, fire department, and laws/ordinances. In CT there are no counties (like RI and soon to be MA), and the only subdivision of the state that matters is the tax town of which there are 169. Sprague is #133 since it goes alphabetically. I am wondering how many towns don't have a town proper/green/center that isn't named after the town - that does seem relatively rare in the state.

Yeah, that is why I put villages in quotes.
When I lived in Central PA, people tended to identify with their counties and would ask me what county in CT I was from. I had to think twice since CT counties don't do anything. They also were surprised that everyone was from a town and would ask "What if you lived on a farm?" In that part of PA those might be in a township but not in the town (different taxes and services). Then I lived in upstate NY where we had a County Legislature! (And County taxes!)

 

[Kibitzer]

I believe we overlooked Georgetown, and no wonder - only about 1,805 residents (2010 census) divvied up among converging corners of Redding, Wilton, Weston, and Ridgefield converge. Georgetown is variously described as a village or a "census-designated place." Residents claim their own zip code (06829) that transcends four town boundaries and are fiercely insistent that they are Georgetownians (or is it -ites?).

Anyhow, count Georgetown in this thread - 1,805 citizens residing there insist!

 

[FairView]

Norwalk also has a section called Cranbury. One of the interesting facts about that section is the name of the road that the elementary school is on. Cranbury School was built on an undeveloped parcel on a brand new road. The city had a contest among school children to name the new road. I am sure there must have been hundreds or thousands of entries. I bet there were lots of safe, straightforward names they could have gone with, but they didn't. The administrators went with a cute and creative name: Knowalot Lane. I think that's cool.

Windsor has the Wilson and Poquonock sections.
There's Dodgingtown around Newtown, I believe.

 

[OldAlum]

Hey, not obscure, but there is Mystic! It is not really a town. Parts of it are in Stonington, Groton, and Ledyard. How strange that one of Connecticut's most famous destinations is not a legal town.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Yeah, that is why I put villages in quotes.
When I lived in Central PA, people tended to identify with their counties and would ask me what county in CT I was from. I had to think twice since CT counties don't do anything. They also were surprised that everyone was from a town and would ask "What if you lived on a farm?" In that part of PA those might be in a township but not in the town (different taxes and services). Then I lived in upstate NY where we had a County Legislature! (And County taxes!)

I grew up in Ct. But I've lived in about 12 states and Puerto Rico. One was Pa (Downingtown)---Most of the states administration is centered around the County. Cities self governed. I too noticed that Pa had a number of towns with the same name. Virginia, locals, identify themselves with counties. The Counties in Connecticut historically did little, but apparently they are now doing more. ''Thanks.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Hey, not obscure, but there is Mystic! It is not really a town. Parts of it are in Stonington, Groton, and Ledyard. How strange that one of Connecticut's most famous destinations is not a legal town.

Not obscure--both sides of the river. Do you know where Pequotsepos Rd or River is?? Or the Denison house (Denison Tx is named for that family)

 

[BroadwayVa]

Norwalk also has a section called Cranbury. One of the interesting facts about that section is the name of the road that the elementary school is on. Cranbury School was built on an undeveloped parcel on a brand new road. The city had a contest among school children to name the new road. I am sure there must have been hundreds or thousands of entries. I bet there were lots of safe, straightforward names they could have gone with, but they didn't. The administrators went with a cute and creative name: Knowalot Lane. I think that's cool.

Windsor has the Wilson and Poquonock sections.
There's Dodgingtown around Newtown, I believe.

I'm going to meet with the South Britain/Southbury Historian next week I'll ask about Dodgingtown --sounds interesting.

 

[BroadwayVa]

There's this quaint, 4-acre section of Burlington that I call heaven whenever my wife is home.

Burlington--isn't that or wasn't that the home of Teddy who wore the tall Blue and White hat and led the U C O N N cheers at the home games??? Haven't seen Teddy in a while.

 

[BroadwayVa]

We don't really have true villages in CT. What we call villages are really just neighborhoods or a.k.a. "sections of town." I point this out because in other states (like NY) villages are real independent administrative divisions and will have their own village hall, police department, fire department, and laws/ordinances. In CT there are no counties (like RI and soon to be MA), and the only subdivision of the state that matters is the tax town of which there are 169. Sprague is #133 since it goes alphabetically. I am wondering how many towns don't have a town proper/green/center that isn't named after the town - that does seem relatively rare in the state.

Village definition (not legal definition)-a group of houses and associated buildings, larger than a hamlet and smaller than a town, situated in a rural area. Wikeliki ?? Specifies a number of Connecticut "sections" as a Village.
I don't know what the TRUE legal definition is or is it that of which you are familiar ? (The last part is for Kibitzer)

 

[Kibitzer]

Norwalk also has a section called Cranbury. The city had a contest among school children to name the new road. I am sure there must have been hundreds or thousands of entries. I bet there were lots of safe, straightforward names they could have gone with, but they didn't. The administrators went with a cute and creative name: Knowalot Lane. I think that's cool.

As noted elsewhere, our TonyC lives in Cranbury (n.b., it is tuff to remember that it's NOT Cranberry!), and there are other streets in the community named by school kids - my fave is Toilsome Road. A big attraction is Cranbury Park, a lovely open space and site of the elegant Gallagher Mansion (named for the park's benefactor).

 

[OldAlum]

Not obscure--both sides of the river. Do you know where Pequotsepos Rd or River is?? Or the Denison house (Denison Tx is named for that family)

I know where the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center is!

 

[grizz36]

Eat Lyme has a number of "villages". Most know Niantic. North of that is Flanders. Then there are those that aren't widely used any more like Whistletown and Golden Spur (where they used to have diving horses!)
When I first moved to eastern CT, I needed to find the town hall for Sprague. Turns out, there is no section known as Sprague - the town is made of the villages of Hanover, Baltic and Versailles (Town Hall in Baltic!)

Somewhere in the woods around Whistletown there used to be an obscure walking trail, which they kept blazed, and was the original Boston/New York Turnpike. Don't know if the trail is still maintained.

 

[grizz36]

Not obscure--both sides of the river. Do you know where Pequotsepos Rd or River is?? Or the Denison house (Denison Tx is named for that family)

Know them quite well. Use them all them all the time to avoid the tourist crowds, especially around the Seaport, to reach a friend's house on School St. Also had an old friend who lived on River Rd.

 

[pinotbear]

Know them quite well. Use them all them all the time to avoid the tourist crowds, especially around the Seaport, to reach a friend's house on School St. Also had an old friend who lived on River Rd.

As do I - I was a member of the Nature Center for years, and lived in Mystic, just down from where River Rd ends, for 22 years.

 

[Bestiarius]

Barkhamsted, a town of about 40 square miles, population 3,500, in Litchfield County, is comprised mainly of two villages: Pleasant Valley and Riverton. The majority live in Pleasant Valley with only about 700 living in Riverton.

Riverton is a beautiful, out of the way valley comprised of State Forests, pristine water, and no traffic lights in its 20 or so square miles. There is a post office, fire station, a General Store, an Inn, a nice restaurant, a glass blower, and plenty of water power from the Farmington and Still Rivers.

This source of power made Riverton a major draw during the industrial revolution, most notably, the Hitchcock Chair factory. Today, the Farmington river in Riverton is federally designated as Wild & Scenic. Today, the village is popular with Trout Fishermen, kayakers who enjoy the rapids, and motorcyclists, who, on a nice weekend, enjoy the beautiful country roads that follow the rivers. Hitchcock chairs are still made there too.

 

[Icebear]

In Branford you have Stony Creek and the Thimble Islands.

 

[TDiNozzo]

Glasgo.... When I first went there it was a church and a post office, (the front of someones living room). They retired , so the post office is gone, and the church hasn't been used for about 10 years, there's a newer one about a mile away, in another town....but there are 3 sunflower fields that just generated over $900,000 for charity...even made the news...

 

[uconnell]

Rowayton. On the western tip of Norwalk harbor. South of South Norwalk and part of that town to which the residents would rather not admit. They can tell you about a wonderful boutique cafe at Central Park East but have trouble giving directions to Hartford.

You really nailed Rowaytonites to a T, Alydar. I used to live about a mile or so from the Rowaytonites border and went to Jr. High with the kids from there. We used to laugh than the the kids would never admit they were from So Norwalk. Rowayton has their own post office, even the gov. Refused to recognize So. Norwalk. Belle Island and Wilson Point are even wealthier and you have to drive thru the worst of So No to get there

 

[uconnell]

Wilton has Georgetown which residents do use this address and Cannondale, former home of Cannondale bikes. There is a cannon on Rt7 that serves as the entrance to Cannondale (duh).

 

[uconnell]

One of the oddest little pieces of CT is that northern sliver of the western section of Greenwich that kind of sticks into NY. I don't think it has a name, but it's around the Tamarack Golf Course and it is odd because if you're a NY resident like me who frequently travels on I-684, you get the Entering Connecticut and Exiting Connecticut signs about a mile apart. Hard to think of other places where state boundaries are like that around interstates, but it has never failed to give me a thrill that I'm back in CT, if only for a minute.

Riverside,Ct home of the great Dorothy Hamill.

 

[TDiNozzo]

Opps typo in my post ... They raised $190,659.00

 

[Alydar]

You really nailed Rowaytonites to a T, Alydar. I used to live about a mile or so from the Rowaytonites border and went to Jr. High with the kids from there. We used to laugh than the the kids would never admit they were from So Norwalk. Rowayton has their own post office, even the gov. Refused to recognize So. Norwalk. Belle Island and Wilson Point are even wealthier and you have to drive thru the worst of So No to get there

I actually lived on Belle Island for a year and a half. A really nice place to come home to after a day working in Stamford.

 

[DriveLH]

One of the oddest little pieces of CT is that northern sliver of the western section of Greenwich that kind of sticks into NY. I don't think it has a name, but it's around the Tamarack Golf Course and it is odd because if you're a NY resident like me who frequently travels on I-684, you get the Entering Connecticut and Exiting Connecticut signs about a mile apart. Hard to think of other places where state boundaries are like that around interstates, but it has never failed to give me a thrill that I'm back in CT, if only for a minute.

I don't think that it's Riverside, might be either Glennville or Banksville.

 

[TroyHouse66]

Moose Meadow, Conn.

I suppose that I should step in here and praise the quiet and comfort of East Willington, Conn. (NOT Willington and, hardly, South Willington... those two over-populated municipalities). East Willington lays at the nadir of two mile-long stretchs that climb east and west out of the Fenton River bed on the Tolland Turnpike (Conn 74).
My second Senior year, we rented half of a farmhouse located between the Fenton River & Moose Meadow Rd. on Conn 74. Next door was Mrs. Amidon's large, rambling house (Maude Amidon.. G-d rest her... She and her husband are up on Willington Hill). The house, in various sections had been a shoemaker's, green house, general store, Amidon home, and the E Willington Post Office. To the west, beyond the Fenton River, was the Amidon Mill... famously home to several enterprises, including the "Willington Slugger" baseball bat factory.
I believe she told me the post office was closed about 1910. I do know it was an official station in 1893 and had closed by 1916. Anyway... when you invited people on campus up to the house, you were first corrected to S Willington... and then to Willington. No, those were crowded settlements compared to E Willington.
If you really wanted to throw folks completely for a loop, you could always say you were from Moose Meadow, Conn a previous incarnation of E Willington just up Moose Meadow Road.

 

[Wally East]

One of the oddest little pieces of CT is that northern sliver of the western section of Greenwich that kind of sticks into NY. I don't think it has a name, but it's around the Tamarack Golf Course and it is odd because if you're a NY resident like me who frequently travels on I-684, you get the Entering Connecticut and Exiting Connecticut signs about a mile apart. Hard to think of other places where state boundaries are like that around interstates, but it has never failed to give me a thrill that I'm back in CT, if only for a minute.

I believe this is the only place where an interstate highway travels through a state without having an exit in that state.

The Counties in Connecticut historically did little, but apparently they are now doing more.

They're still do nothing. The state government is encouraging regionalization for some things but it's happening via town governments, not through counties.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

I spent a winter vacation in the Town of Ridgefield, Connecticut. Absolutely beautiful.

 

[boontonbomber]

In beautiful northwestern Connecticut is the historic town of Litchfield, with a population of only about 8,000. Yet, it is divided into 2 boroughs; Bantam and Litchfield, and 3 villages; Milton, Northfield, and East Litchfield. And of course, each thinks their part of town is the best .

 

[RadyLady]

Yeah, that is why I put villages in quotes.
When I lived in Central PA, people tended to identify with their counties and would ask me what county in CT I was from. I had to think twice since CT counties don't do anything. They also were surprised that everyone was from a town and would ask "What if you lived on a farm?" In that part of PA those might be in a township but not in the town (different taxes and services). Then I lived in upstate NY where we had a County Legislature! (And County taxes!)

From LINK

Connecticut is divided into 8 counties. Four of them were created in 1666, during the first consolidation of the colony of Connecticut from a number of smaller colonies. Two counties were created during colonial times, and two counties, Middlesex and Tolland, were created after American independence (both in 1785). Six of the counties are named for locations in England, where many early Connecticut settlers originated. Although Connecticut is divided into counties, there is no county government in Connecticut and local government consists of cities and towns. County government was abolished in Connecticut in 1960, although the names remain for geographical purposes. Counties are, however, still used by the state to organize its judicial and state marshal system.


And

Connecticut has counties (?) that no longer exist. They were established by the state, provincial, or territorial government. Most of these counties were created and disbanded in the 19th century; county boundaries have changed little since 1900 in the vast majority of states. These counties need to be looked at when doing genealogy research. Pay close attention where the courthouse records went to if the county was abolished or combined with another county.

• Westmoreland County was a county established by Connecticut in 1776 (the present day area of Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania), until it was ceded to Pennsylvania in 1784. It briefly seceded to become the State of Westmoreland

 

[RadyLady]

I remember seeing somewhere an article about the disappearing municipalities in Connecticut, two of which I know well: Talcottville (Vernon) and Hazardville (Enfield) (the "villes") and as I believe, Rockville, where my family is from soon to follow. There are others in the area where I grew up but my facts are sketchy as I don't know for sure their history, only that they were towns as I knew them when I was little, but now are all part of East Windsor: Warehouse Point, Broad Brook, Scantic, Melrose, and Windsorville (another 'ville')

I continue to hunt for the data however,
From Wikipedia:

Connecticut is one of two New England states to have any type of incorporated general-purpose municipality below the town level, namely incorporated boroughs (Vermont has incorporated villages). There are nine remaining in the state. They were once more numerous.[16] Many of those that remain are very small. Connecticut also has at least one remaining city (Groton) that is within, but not coextensive with, its parent town. A second non-coextensive city, Winsted, still exists on paper, but its government has been consolidated with that of the town of Winchester for many years, making it more of a special-purpose district than a true municipality. Winsted is no longer recognized by the Census Bureau as an incorporated place, although data is tabulated for a Census Designated Place that is coextensive with that of the original city.

• The largest municipality in Connecticut, by population, is the city of Bridgeport (pop. 144,229).
• The largest that is a town and not a city is West Hartford (pop. 63,268).
• The smallest that is a city and not a town, only including cities that are coextensive with their towns, is Derby(pop. 12,902), density 2,507/sq mi. The city-within-a-town of Groton, however, is smaller (pop. 10,389), and to the extent that Winsted is recognized as a non-coextensive city, it is even smaller than Groton is (pop. 7,712).
• The smallest town is Union (pop. 854).
• The largest municipality by land area is the town of New Milford (61.6 square miles (160 km2)).
• The smallest town-level municipality is Derby (4.98 square miles (12.9 km2)).