Connecticut River Valley
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It has been suggested that Upper Valley and Pioneer Valley be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) |
The Connecticut River Valley stretches from the New Hampshire and Quebec border to Long Island Sound on the Connecticut coast. Orographically, the Connecticut River Valley stretches beyond the floodplain to encompass some inland towns. See Connecticut River for more detail about the entire watershed.
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[edit] Physical Geography
The Connecticut River valley once contained Lake Hitchcock, which went from present-day Middletown, Connecticut north for over 100 miles.
[edit] Political Geography
Parts of four New England states comprise the valley.
[edit] New Hampshire
New Hampshire is on the eastern side of the northern half of the valley, bordering Vermont.
The New Hampshire counties in the valley are: Coos, Grafton, Sullivan and Cheshire.
The largest communities are the towns of Hanover, and Littleton and the small cities of Lebanon, and Claremont. Except for Hanover, each of these communities' centers is located five miles (8 km) or more away from river.
[edit] Vermont
The Vermont counties in the valley are: Essex, Caledonia, Orange, Windsor and Windham.
Significant towns on the Vermont side of the valley are Saint Johnsbury, White River Junction, Bellows Falls and Brattleboro.
[edit] Massachusetts
The Western Massachusetts part of the Connecticut River Valley is also known as the Pioneer Valley, and consists of three counties: Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden.
Hampden County has the most populous collection of cities along the valley: Agawam, Springfield, Holyoke, West Springfield, and Chicopee. Other significant locales are the cities of Greenfield in Franklin County and Northampton in Hampshire County as well as the college towns of Amherst and South Hadley
[edit] Connecticut
In Middletown, the Connecticut River tracks eastward out of the Connecticut Valley through low lying areas of the Eastern Uplands of Connecticut. This is a result of the presence of the Metacomet Ridge. The valley itself continues south towards New Haven. The modern-day Interstate 91 was constructed following the middle of the Connecticut Valley. The valley is one of the two geographic regions of Connecticut containing a significant portion of the population of the state (the other is the coastal area).
The largest lower-valley city is Hartford, the capitol of Connecticut. Other significant towns include historic Windsor and Wethersfield.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The Face of Connecticut - Chapter 2 describes the geology of the Connecticut of the valley
