With the arrival of the Antiques Marketplace in Putnam, the community was transformed from a mill town on the skids into a booming antiques mecca that draws visitors from around the region to purchase everything from postage stamps to vintage pieces of furniture selling for thousands of dollars. Mystic Seaport is a maritime historic village with authentic wooden ships and an opportunity to discover the region's connection to the sea. In Groton, the "Submarine Capitol of the World", the US Navy's Submarine Force Museum and Library preserves the heart and soul of "the silent service".
Project Oceanology brings high school students out to sea to conduct water quality research in a real life setting. It looks like a mediaeval fortress but in reality the stone castle overlooking the Connecticut River is one of the Connecticut's most popular and intriguing attractions - the home of William Gillette, the original actor who played Sherlock Holmes. In 1968, a bulldozer operator accidentally uncovered 2000 dinosaur footprints from 200 million years ago. Today they are preserved underneath a geodesic dome at Dinosaur State Park where visitors learn about the creatures who once walked on this very spot.
In Hartford, take a peek inside America's oldest public art museum, the Wadsworth Athenaeum, and step back in time to the gilded age in the house where Mark Twain created "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and other tales. Nearby Bristol, is home of the new High Definition production studios of ESPN. It's all here in the small state of Connecticut, rich in culture and remarkable because of its people.
(Discoveries America New England 6 DVD collection includes 5% discount: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Condensed version also available with 6 DVD's in a single case.)
DVDDACT REVIEW: Discoveries America: Connecticut
"It may be the 3rd smallest state, but Connecticut can claim some historic "firsts": the first daily newspaper, the first art museum, and the first insurance company, just to name a few.
Discoveries America, Connecticut captures the state's rural charm, which makes it a popular retreat from the hustle and bustle of New York City, Philadelphia, and Boston. While 75% of Connecticut's population resides along its extensive sea shore, most of the state is comprised of rich farmland. Connecticut also boasts the oldest still-functioning state capital building in the United States (a beautifully ornate gingerbread structure), and the oldest agricultural fair in the country (and largest in New England) - the Brooklyn Fair, featuring everything from hands-on children's exhibits to noisy tractor races.
Along the Atlantic coast, this program takes armchair tourists to the historic village of Mystic Seaport, where authentic wooden ships fill the harbor, as well as the "submarine capital" Groton, and a geodesic dome at Dinosaur State Park that preserves 200-million-year old footprints discovered by accident in 1968. Recommended."
