Hartford

Smack dab in the middle of the state, the city of Hartford isn’t the prettiest introduction to Connecticut [1]. In the middle of the 20th century, the city suffered as much of the middle class moved to a ring of suburbs around the city, taking their wealth with them. While nearby cities like Providence [2] were able to revitalize their cores with new restaurants and galleries in the 1990s, Hartford has so far stubbornly resisted gentrification. That’s a shame, since its downtown is home to many fine attractions and magnificent architecture left over as a legacy of its one-time status as an important river shipping port.

Hartford was settled soon after Boston [3], when Thomas Hooker led an expedition of 130 souls to found a settlement just north of a Dutch trading port in 1637. For the next two hundred years it flourished as a port city, despite being more than 30 miles away from the nearest ocean. After trade declined in the mid-19th century, the city reinvented itself by selling insurance to protect ship’s cargoes; from that seed the city grew into the so-called “insurance capital of the world.”

Even today, it is headquarters to many insurance companies, such as Travelers, which keep it bustling during the week. On weekends, however, it’s a different story—and a different city—as white-collar workers go home to the suburbs and leave downtown a ghost town. Not that that means you should avoid the city at that time; the lack of crowds makes weekends the best time to check out its many museums and historic sights.