May 9, 2010
My stories on bicycle trips in the Connecticut River valley from the Canadian border to the sea are the cover of today’s Living section in The Hartford Courant, with photos by Mark Mirko and Rich Messina. They can be seen on-line at: http://www.courant.com/features/travel/
The Columbia Bridge spans the Connecticut River between Columbia, N. H. and Lemington, Vt.
The 410-mile-long Connecticut River is New England’s longest river, beginning in spruce forest in northern New Hampshire, where the river is narrow and intimate. It is still bordered by scenic farms in Vermont and New Hampshire and parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut. By the time it reaches the sea at Old Saybrook and Old Lyme it is a mile-wide and heavily tidal. Along the river are covered bridges, lighthouses, historic homes and farms. In fact, it is a river so rich in history, so varied in its landscapes that it captures the essence of New England in one ribbon of water.
The Connecticut is one of only 14 federally designated American Heritage Rivers. The marshes at its mouth are designated as internationally significant under the Ramsar Convention, an international treaty intended to protect especially valuable wetlands. The Connecticut has a long cultural history and rich flora, fauna and scenery that has appealed to artists for centuries.