Connecticut River Valley

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 towns. See Connecticut River for more detail about the entire watershed.

Physical Geography

The Connecticut River valley once contained Lake Hitchcock, which went from present-day Middletown, Connecticut north for over 100 miles.

Political Geography

Parts of four New England states comprise the valley.

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.

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.

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: 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

Connecticut

The valley runs through Connecticut's Hartford, Middlesex, and New London counties.

The largest lower-valley city is Hartford, the capitol of Connecticut. Other significant towns include historic Windsor and Wethersfield.

ee also

* Massachusetts geography
* Upper Valley (Connecticut River)

External links

* [http://neatlas.huh.harvard.edu/NE0-1.html A map of New England counties]