Glastonbury

About Glastonbury

Orchards and river meadows still frame Glastonbury, one of the oldest towns in Connecticut, settled in 1636 and set along the east bank of the Connecticut River just southeast of Hartford. Pick-your-own farms, cider stands and old shade trees give it a country feel despite its suburban neighborhoods.

The town's long Main Street is lined with colonial and Federal houses, many of them part of a large historic district, and the Historical Society keeps the 1755 Welles-Shipman-Ward House and a small museum on the town green. Glastonbury was also home to the Smith sisters, famed suffragists who protested taxation without representation in the 1870s. Along Roaring Brook, Cotton Hollow hides the ruins of early mills.

In summer, the Glastonbury-Rocky Hill Ferry, running since 1655, carries cars across the river. Meadows, a riverfront park and the hills of Meshomasic State Forest add walks and wildlife, and autumn brings apple picking at family orchards.