Connecticut River Museum

THE "GREAT RIVER" OF NEW ENGLAND
THE CONNECTICUT RIVER

Conclusion

The Connecticut River south of Essex, Connecticut

In the course of its 410-mile, southward journey, the river falls 1,600 feet. Between its source and the Passumpsic River at Barnet, Vermont, the descent is 1,200 feet over 132 miles: to Bellows Falls, 105 miles lower, the descent is 100 feet; for the next fifty-seven miles to Deerfield, it is 160 feet; for the seventy-five miles from Springfield to the sound, the fall is forty feet. In area, the river basin drains 11,260 square miles, representing roughly one-third of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, and a slightly larger fraction of Vermont.

Although the Connecticut River passes by or through four different states, its history may well be told as a unit because it has served to integrate the entire valley area. The first settlements along its banks were in Connecticut, and the next were in lower Massachusetts. Northern Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont were settled by people emigrating from Connecticut, who brought with them the same Puritan ethic that had governed them there. Thus, the entire Connecticut River valley was the site of a very homogeneous population for many years.

Copies of Edmund Delaney's book may be obtained from the museum.

Connecticut River Index