Biology & Geology
This is a big page with lots of stuff. Outdoor stuff. You won’t find nature or Audubon centers here, as they are on the massive museums list. I’ll let you sort out whatever else you’re looking for.
Jump to Animals (Aquaria, Zoos, Wild Animals, etc.)
Jump to Plants (Trees, Plants, & Gardens)
Jump to Geology (Rocks, Caves, & Waterfalls)
Animals (Aquaria, Farms, Wildlife and Zoos)
If you were looking for a particular nature center, use the search feature. It works. I just don’t feel like listing them here.
Aquaria
Connecticut River Valley Wildlife Museum, East Hartford
Riverside Reptiles Education Center, Enfield
Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk, Norwalk
Mystic Aquarium, Stonington
SeaQuest, Trumbull
Zoo, Zoo-Like Places, and Fish Hatcheries
Bakerwoods Farm, Ashford
Beardsley Zoo, Bridgeport
Burlington State Fish Hatchery, Burlington
Silverman’s Animal Farm, Easton
Riverview Farms, Glastonbury
Action Wildlife Foundation, Goshen
Aussakita Acres Farm, Manchester
Summer Brook Valley Farm Alpacas, Middletown (Closed)
Quinebaug Valley State Trout Hatchery, Plainfield
One Hump Farm, Ridgefield
Flamig Farm, Simsbury
Westmoor Park, West Hartford
High Wire Deer and Animal Farm, Woodbury
Wildlife in the Wild
“Wild” Guinea Fowl!, Colebrook
Bears!, Granby
Magicicada Preserve, Hamden
Monk Parakeet Invasion, Milford
Great Blue Heron Rookery, Simsbury
Bald Eagles!, Southbury
Bears!, Suffield
Bears!, West Hartford
Ominous Turkey Vultures!, West Hartford
Bobcat family!, Windsor
Ring-neck pheasant!, Windsor
Albino squirrels, TBD
Moose, TBD
River otter, TBD
Rattlesnake, TBD
Non-Wild Animals
Bears!
Fidelco Guide Dogs, Bloomfield
Last Post Cat Retirement Home, Canaan
Two-headed Goat, Glastonbury (Gone)
Neon turkeys, Guilford
Diving Horses, Niantic
Farms Worth Visiting
While there are hundreds of farms in Connecticut, these joints offer tours or other such ways to spend a fun farm day. I do have a separate pages for farms that serve homemade ice cream, cheese or and chocolate or wine which are often at farms.
The Farmer’s Cow Farms
Hytone Farm, Coventry
Cushman Farms, Franklin
Mapleleaf Farm, Hebron
Graywall Farms, Lebanon
Fort Hill Farms, Thompson
Fairvue Farms, Woodstock
Auer 4-H Farm, Bloomfield
Fish Family Farm, Bolton
Creamery Brook Bison, Brooklyn
Ray of Light Farm, East Haddam
Beltane Farm, Lebanon
Arethusa Farm, Litchfield
Bunnell Farm, Litchfield
UConn Animal Barns, Mansfield
Rowanwood Farm, Newtown
Field View Farm, Orange
Hurricane Farm, Scotland
Foster Family Farm, South Windsor
Hilltop Farm, Suffield
Strong Family Farm, Vernon
Kingdom Plantae (Trees, Gardens, Greenhouses, & Other Cool Plants)
I like trees. And gardens. And plants. I’m not sure how many (if any) of the tree walks around the state I’ll do, but I will check out some of the cooler and more unique ones (there are a lot more than you think).
Jump to:
Arboretums and Pinetums
Gardens & Greenhouses
Trees
Plants
Arboreta and Pinetums
Yes, “arboreta” is as accepted as “arboretums” and I wanted to conserve as much space in the title as possible. Pinetums are evergreen arboretums. We have several scattered around the state – and some of them are historically important. Most of these places offer tours as well.
Montgomery Pinetum Park/Pomerance, Greenwich
Colonel C.S. Wadsworth Arbortetum, Middletown
New Canaan Nature Center Arboretum, New Canaan
Connecticut College Arboretum, New London
Highstead Arboretum, Redding
Dinosaur State Park Pinetum, Rocky Hill
Bartlett Arbortetum and Gardens, Stamford
Gardens & Greenhouses
Not just any ol’ gardens and greenhouses, but the big ones. The important and historic ones. Heck, someone has even created a collective of Connecticut’s Historic Gardens (see below) for me to have another list to work my way through. Almost all of these places I’ve considered museums or are part of museums. So they’ll be some repetition here, but that’s okay. You don’t care.
Connecticut’s Historic Gardens: This is a collection of 14 gardens around the state, all of which have relatively cool story to boot. Here’s the official site –
Here are my reports on my visits. Much cooler than you think.
Other Gardens & Greenhouse Visits:
Chrissie D’Esopo’s Flower House, Avon
Bunny Williams’ Garden Conservancy, Canaan
The Bedding Plant Capital of Connecticut, Cheshire
Elizabeth Park Garden History Tour, Hartford
UConn Greenhouses, Mansfield
Marsh Gardens and Greenhouses, New Haven
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, Hamden
Shoyoan Teien (Japanese Garden) at Wesleyan, Middletown
Garden of Ideas, Ridgefield (Closed)
Maywood Gardens, Bridgewater (info)
Sundial gardens, Higganum
Hollister House Garden, Washington (Info)
Greenbrier Greenhouse and Crosby Conservatory at Edgerton Park, New Haven
Some more Connecticut Gardens, most of which I won’t be visiting.
Herein you’ll find one of my favorite lists on this entire massive website. We have six National Champion trees here in Connecticut and I will find them all. You’ll also find CTMQ’s very first page which also happens to be one of the most visited over the years (The Pinchot Sycamore.) I’ll also be doing a few of the better Tree Walks around the state. I know there are tons of these things, and I don’t plan on doing them all either.
2012 Update: As anyone in northern CT knows, we had a devastating snowstorm on Halloween weekend in 2011. With the leaves still on the trees, and the snow being the heavy/wet variety, tens of thousands of trees snapped – taking down power lines. 830,000 people lost power. We lost ours for 7 days in West Hartford. Worse things have happened to many more people, but know this: it was not fun around here for that week. FEMA was called in and I never would ever have thought I’d see FEMA trucks on my street. Here’s a video from some guy which is cool because he captures what it was like outside the night trees started snapping and transformers started blowing up.
But we survived, wholly intact. Many of our historic and champion trees did not. And that bums me out. I’ll put updates on the trees’ pages as to which were destroyed and which are probably doomed.
I don’t know if it’s because my last name is Wood, but I have an affinity for trees. And really, you should too.
National Champion Trees of Connecticut – You really (really) should go to my main page about the Champions.
Other Trees
Connecticut’s Biggest Tree, The Pinchot Sycamore, Simsbury, 9/8/2006 (The very first page written for CTMQ!)
Connecticut’s Coolest Tree, The Granby Oak, Granby, 9/23/2007
Site of The Charter Oak, Connecticut’s Most Historic Tree, Hartford
111-Yr-Old (and counting) Lemon Tree, Danielson (Info)
Site of The Washington Oak, Gaylordsville/New Milford
Auncient Oak, Bethlehem (Auncient Oak Drive)
The Ashford Oak, Ashford
Colonial Pine, Colebrook
Bushnell Park Tree Walk, Hartford
Institute of Living Tree Walk, Hartford
Elizabeth Park Tree Walk, West Hartford
Cathedral Pines, Cornwall
Other Plants and rarities
I expect to happen upon a few wacky or interesting plants in my travels. Here they are:
Pond Meadow Natural Area (Cranberry Bog), Killingworth
Corpse Flower, Mansfield
Prickly Pear Cacti , Plainville
Carlson Cranberry Bog, Portland
Geology
Rocks. Majestic, artistic, historic, or otherwise interesting. You’d be amazed at how much one can write about rocks.
Jump to:
Waterfalls
Historic Rocks, Painted Rocks, & Named Rocks/Rock Formations
Cool Geology
Caves, Dens & “Caves”
Waterfalls & Cascades
I used to discount our state’s panoply of falls as being fairly lame, but I’ve since changed my view. Waterfalls are cool, darnit, so I figure I should give them their due. And not just because the 2013 Connecticut Waterfalls Guide cited me and this very website a few times.
The guide lists 94 falls, former falls, and cascades in the state. Some are silly in my opinion, but since Dunn and Butler got their guidebook published with 94 falls, I shall go find 94 falls. Others listed below are from this site. Still others are my own – or my friends’ additions.
Falls along Falls Brook Trail, Hartland
Many were visited while hiking – well before I maintained this list. As a result, many of my “reports” are terrible. My pictures are worse. Fortunately for all of us, my friend Justin Coleman has allowed me to post his incredible pictures of the falls we’ve mutually visited. The juxtaposition of his pictures vs. mine are, frankly, hilarious.
Pixie Falls, Ashford
Falls Cut Off Trail Falls, Barkhamsted
Spruce Brook Falls, Beacon Falls
Ragged Mountain Cascade, Berlin
Hopp Brook Falls, Bethany
Griffin Cascade, Bloomfield
Van Otterloo Cascade, Bloomfield
Johnson Pond Falls, Bolton
(Private) Bozrah Falls, Bozrah
Cusgutter Brook Cascades, Bristol
Brookfield Falls, Brookfield
Bunnell’s/Burlington Falls, Burlington
(Private) Fetzer Falls, Burlington
Sessions Woods Falls, Burlington
Dean’s Ravine, Canaan
Great Falls, Canaan
Roaring Brook Nature Center Falls, Canton
Diana’s Pool Falls, Chaplin
Roaring Brook Falls, Cheshire
Brushmill Falls, Chester
Day Pond Brook Falls, Colchester
Beulah Falls, Colebrook
Colebrook Falls, Colebrook
Still River Gorge, Colebrook
Bynes Falls, Coventry
South End Avenue Ice Mill Falls, Durham
Stair Brook Falls, Durham
Cameron Farm Falls, East Haddam
Chapman Falls, East Haddam
Chapman Pond Preserve Cascades, East Haddam
Moodus Falls, East Haddam
Muddy Brook Falls, East Haddam
Sheepskin Hollow Preserve Falls, East Haddam
Succor Brook Falls, East Haddam
Glen Falls, East Hampton/Portland
Pine Brook Falls, East Hampton
Leesville Falls, East Hampton
Shipyard Falls, East Hampton
Tartia Falls, East Hampton
Paper Mill Falls, East Hartford
Broad Brook Falls, East Windsor
Scantic Rapids, Enfield
Bailey’s Ravine Falls, Franklin
Blackledge Falls, Glastonbury
Cotton Hollow Cascades, Glastonbury
Flat Brook Falls, Glastonbury
Carpenter’s Falls, Granby
Enders Falls, Granby
Lost Acres, Silver Street, Beach Falls, Granby
Sheep Farm Falls, Groton
Lost Lake Falls, Guilford
Higganum Creek Falls, Haddam
Bear Hill Falls, Haddam
Seven Falls, Haddam & Middletown
Clark Creek Falls, Haddam
Gorge Cascade Falls, Hamden
Wolcott Falls, Hamden
Balance Rock Road Falls, Hartland
Falls Brook Trail Falls, Upper & Lower, Hartland
Grayville Falls, Hebron
Bulls Bridge Cascades, Kent
Housatonic River Gorge, Kent
Kent Falls, Kent
Macedonia Gorge Falls, Kent
Shaghticoke Road Falls, Kent
Thayer Brook Falls, Kent
Ninevah Falls, Killingworth & Madison
Foxwoods’ Fake Falls, Ledyard
Humaston Brook Falls, Litchfield
Knife Shop Falls, Litchfield
Indian Rock Shelter Trail Falls, Madison
Case Falls, Manchester
Center Springs Falls, Manchester
Wyllys Falls, Manchester
Codfish Falls, Mansfield
Mansfield Hollow Cascades, Mansfield
Shelter Falls, Mansfield
Black Pond Falls, Middlefield
Wadsworth Falls, Middlefield
Wadsworth Little Falls, Middlefield
Seven Falls, Middletown & Haddam
Westfield Falls, Middletown
Black Pond Falls, Meriden
Taughannick Falls, Montville
Silver Falls, Montville
Wintergreen Falls. New Haven
(Site of ) Great Falls, New Milford
Harrybrooke Park Falls, New Milford
Pratt Valley Preserve Falls, New Milford
Mill Pond Falls, Newington
Prydden Brook Falls, Newtown
Buttermilk Falls, Norfolk
Campbell Falls, Norfolk(ish)
Waterfall on Blackberry River, North Canaan
Clarks Falls, North Stonington
Yantic Falls (Indian Leap), Norwich
Cedar Mill Brook Falls, Oxford
Buttermilk Falls, Plymouth
Horseshoe/Pequabuck Falls, Plymouth
Carr Brook Falls, Portland
Crystal Cascade, Portland
Quarry View Falls, Portland
Cargill Falls, Putnam
Saugatuck Falls, Redding
Dividend Falls, Rocky Hill
Caroline Glen Cascade, Roxbury
Jack’s Brook Cascade, Roxbury
Roxbury Falls, Roxbury
Riga Falls, Salisbury
Sages Ravine, Salisbury
Wachocastinook Falls, Salisbury
Wetauwanchu Brook Falls, Salisbury
Naugatuck Falls, Seymour
Hatch Brook Falls, Sharon
Pine Swamp Brook Falls, Sharon
Farmill River Falls, Shelton
Indian Well Falls, Shelton
White Hills Brook Cascades, Shelton
Cathles Trail Waterfall, Simsbury
Tariffville Gorge Cascades, Simsbury
Northgate Falls/Westledge Trail Cascades, Simsbury
Kettletown Brook, Southbury
Southford Falls, Southbury
Great Unconformity Falls, Southington
Little Muk Falls, Sprague
Greenleaf Falls, Stamford
Rippowam Falls, Stamford
Burr Falls, Torrington
Madden Pond Falls, Torrington
Pequonnock River Valley SP Falls, Trumbull
Dobsonville Falls, Vernon
Hockanum Falls, Vernon
Talcott Ravine Falls, Vernon
Valley Falls Falls
Lowden Brook Cascades, Voluntown
Spruce Glen Falls, Wallingford
Aspetuck Falls, Washington
Hancock Brook Cascades, Waterbury
Ambler Cascade, Weston
Devil’s Glen, Weston
Merwin’s Falls, Wilton
Sheep Falls, Wilton
Still River Cascades, Winchester
Mad River Cascades, Wolcott
Sperry Falls, Woodbridge
Wepawaug Falls, Woodbridge
East Meadow Brook Falls, Woodbury
Pomperaug Falls, Woodbury
Nonnewaug Falls, Woodbury
Historic Rocks, Painted Rocks, & Named Rocks/Rock Formations
This is not remotely an exhaustive list. It’s something I put together in 2009 or so and never spent time expanding it.
Ladies Room Rock, Ashford
Bethel Snake(?) Rock, Bethel
Drum Rock, Canton
Frog Rock, Cornwall
Stone Table, Cornwall
Dog Rock, Danbury
Link to Bear Rock, Durham
Selectman’s Stones, Durham, Madison, & Guilford
Frog Rock, Eastford
Hospital Rock, Farmington
Al E. Gator, Glastonbury
Turtle Rock, Marlborough
Shopboard Rock, Haddam
Bible Rock, Haddam
Pulpit/Flag/Lorenzo Dow’s Rock, Haddam
The Brethren, Hamden
Carl Andre’s Stone Field Sculpture, Hartford
Eagle Rock, Hebron
Prophet’s Rock, Hebron
Molly Fisher Rock, Kent
Shark Rock, Madison
Joshua’s Rock, Madison
Giant cairn, Manchester
The Little Stone House, Mansfield
Sparky the Dog Rock, Montville
Cochegan Rock, Montville
The Yale Boulder, Old Saybrook
Indian Rock, Oxford
Boy Rock, Indian Head, Great Stone Face, Plainville
Indian Chair & Table Rock, Pomfret
Snoopy Rock I, Preston
Snoopy Rock II, Preston
Settlers Rock, Ridgefield
Crying Child Rock, Salisbury
Indian Head Rock on the Housatonic, Shelton
Chicken Rock, Sherman
Elephant Rock, Simsbury
The Pinnacle, Washington
Dog, Bear, Dog painted rocks, Winchester
Orenaug Park Pillars. Woodbury
Eliot and Pulpit Rocks, Woodstock
Other Cool Geology Like You Learn About in College
Pillow Basalt formation, Meriden
Jobs Pond/Mystery Lake, Portland
The Great Uncomformity, Southington
Wilsonville Fault, Thompson
Matianuck Sand Dunes, Windsor
Caves, Dens & “Caves”
Connecticut has an embarrassing habit of naming caves that are not really caves. By my reckoning, there are only a couple real caves in Connecticut – and they are tiny to say the least. The Central Connecticut Grotto states there is only one “real” cave – Tory Cave in New Milford. But hey, I don’t make the rules; I just copy the lists and visit them. Actually, many of these places have cool histories that make them much more interesting.
Indian Council Caves, Barkhamsted
Phillips Cave, Bethel
Squaw Cave, Bolton
Hopemead State Park Root Cellar/Den
Tory Den, Burlington
The Legend of Colebrook Cave, Colebrook
The Danbury Chamber, Danbury
Link to Coginchaug Cave, Durham
Bakers Cave, East Lyme
Will Warren’s Den, Farmington
Rachel’s Hut & Devil’s Den, Franklin
Pahke’s (aka Wright’s) Cave, Hartland
Judges Cave, New Haven
Devil’s Dens Plainfield
Wolf Den, Pomfret
Gamaliel’s Den, Roxbury
Twin Lakes Cave, Salisbury
King Phillip’s Cave, Simsbury
Devil’s Dens Sterling
(One of) Leatherman’s Cave at Crane’s Lookout, Watertown
Leatherman’s Cave via Park Road, Watertown
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