A two-day drive through south-central Connecticut can fill a late summer or fall foliage weekend.
Use this itinerary as a guide to create two separate day trips, or find lodging along the Connecticut shore and make the trip into a loop for a full weekend.
Speaking of the shore, here are two phrases for blending in with the locals:
Continue your exploration of multiple forms of transportation with a train/ferry combination trip encompassing Gillett's castle and the Essex Steam Train. You can start with a tour of the castle at Gillette Castle State Park where you will learn about William Gillette, an actor, who created the phrase, “Elementary, my dear Watson”. Then follow your State Park visit with a steam engine ride on the Essex Steam Train.
Alternatively, if you’re looking to get in a short hike , try the Essex Train Gillette Castle Connection. Passengers take a train, walk to a ferry landing, ride the ferry and hike up the hill to Gillette Castle and tour before heading back and reversing the process. Check their website for details on timing as the connection is only offered twice a day during the summer and into early fall.
Use this itinerary as a guide to create two separate day trips, or find lodging along the Connecticut shore and make the trip into a loop for a full weekend.
Speaking of the shore, here are two phrases for blending in with the locals:
- Refer to Southern Connecticut as the "shore" rather than the "coast" or the "beach"
- When you order a long sandwich that people in other parts refer to as a submarine, ask for a "grinder"
Advance Planning
See if the Goodspeed Opera House has tickets available for an afternoon matinee or evening performance.
Day 1
Driving south along Route 17 in Glastonbury you will pass the Old Cider Mill and several farm stands worth a stop. If you need a great coffee fix try So. G Coffee Roasters before heading to the Rocky Hill Glastonbury ferry.
Take the ferry across the Connecticut River. The cost is $5 per car on weekdays and $6 on weekends.
The ferry itself is a large, car-holding raft which is pushed across the river by a tug boat. Watching the captain maneuver the ferry away from one landing and onto the other is impressive.
From the Rocky Hill ferry landing, drive a short ways to Dinosaur State Park. Displayed under a giant dome are hundreds of actual dinosaur tracks unearthed in the 1960s and preserved. The accompanying exhibit is fascinating for all ages— you may learn how a track can be identified as a swimming track or why tracks and fossilized bones are highly unlikely to be co-located. In addition there are nature trails and picnic tables if you want to bring along a picnic lunch.
Continue south to The Goodspeed Opera house. If you chose not to picnic at Dinosaur State Park, enjoy lunch on the deck at the Gelston House next to the Goodspeed before your matinee.
Day 2
Continue your exploration of multiple forms of transportation with a train/ferry combination trip encompassing Gillett's castle and the Essex Steam Train. You can start with a tour of the castle at Gillette Castle State Park where you will learn about William Gillette, an actor, who created the phrase, “Elementary, my dear Watson”. Then follow your State Park visit with a steam engine ride on the Essex Steam Train.
Additional Stops
Two great additions on either end of this trip are a visit to Mystic Seaport on the Connecticut shore and Applefest in Glastonbury, which is held annually in mid-October. The festival this year is October 17-19, 2014.
