Connecticut / River Valley

Retire in the Heart of the Connecticut River Valley

In this lush forested valley, natural beauty envelops tiny villages that bear resemblance to their 350-year-old settlements. History lives here in Chester’s stone buildings and crooked Main Street. Old Saybrook’s stately lighthouses, the quirky Gillette Castle in East Haddam, and the areas many porches, porticos, barns and bistros, provide the feeling of another era.

In Essex, a 1920s steam train rambles through scenic towns past meadows and farms, a millpond and waterfall. Along the river, our area’s seafaring tradition continues. Marinas dot the waterways.  An old-fashioned riverboat drifts from Deep River to East Haddam. Tall-masted sailboats glide in and out of Hamburg Cove. And, the Hadlyme Ferry, continuously running since 1769, still gracefully bridges the majestic Connecticut River.