Talk:Northeastern Connecticut

Big Rant

It is important not to overstate the rural character of this region. I live here. Yes there are some farms but most people are employed in other industries than agriculture. Most communities are bedroom communities. The best comparison may be southern New Jersey. This is no Maine or Northern Minnesota. It is not that rural. Northeast CT towns are NOT in commuting distance to Boston. I live in Ashford near I-84. It would take me 90 minutes to get to downtown Boston if not traveling during rush hour. A rush hour commute would probably be two hours. However Providence and Hartford are each about 30 to 45 minutes away depending on the town. Eastern towns, along I-395 / in the Quinnebaug River Valley towns are bedroom communities for Providence / Worcester. While the western towns such as Ashford, Mansfield, etc, near I-384 and I-84 are in the Hartford / Springfield commuting area. There little more than superficial "New England" cultural qualities to the area as most families do not descend from original settlers but rather recent arrivals, and early 20th century Eastern European and French Canadian immigrants. From about 1850 to 1950 most towns in northeast Connecticut lost population. My town Ashford lost about half its population to western migration. After the development of the interstate highway system population began to grow again. The Quinnebaug valley has a lot of small and medium manufacturing firms, especially in the plastics industry. Eastford is home to supplier of Pratt and Whitney engine parts and a large apple orchard. Woodstock is probably the most agricultural town. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.9.157.86 (talk) 16:01, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

I feel thus that Quiet Corner is a bit of a misnomer or marketing ploy. North Western CT, Western Mass, etc, are more rural and Quieter. I respectfully disagree about it not being quiet and just a marketing ploy. I live here too and the region/area is distinctly different than suburban areas around the cities you mention. Rural is a relative thing. Travel to parts of Idaho, Utah or Wyoming and tell me that any place (except maybe extreme northwestern Maine) is rural in New England. You mentioned farms when you said rural...farms don't make a place rural. The census bureau says it's anyplace with less than 5,000 people is rural but it's more than that. If you travel enough on back roads across the country you'd see that one town looks like another but you're just further from a city than in NE CT. It doesn't make this corner of CT less rural than other places just because you can travel a shorter distance to a city.

I think that NE CT is more rural than even NW CT because there are more acres of forest here than there and NW CT is filled with people's second homes from New York City so it's more "groomed" than here. Parts of western Mass. I would agree are more remote but I would challenge you to tell the difference between a place like Westford and Union, CT from Worthington & Granville, MA for example. For that matter I'd say show me the difference between Putnam & Pomfret from Van Wert, OH & Elmwood, IL which by most standards are considered rural. They are bedroom communities that have small shops and factories just like the ones in NE CT. NE CT shouldn't be penalized because it's a short driver to a city. But then again, would Hartford or Providence be considered real cities when compared to New York City?

Perhaps it is a marketing ploy, but it is deserved. It is quiet compared to the rest of the state! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dbroer (talk • contribs) 18:44, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

I wonder why Willington, Stafford, Lebanon, Franklin, Sprague, Voluntown and Sterling are not included in the "Quiet Corner" especially Willington and Stafford. Northern Stafford near the Mass. State Line is one of the most undeveloped areas of Eastern CT. It is just like Union. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.9.157.86 (talk) 17:50, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Alright, I know you may be mad about it being "rural", but except for Willimantic and other small areas, a lot of the area is pretty much forest. Down in the more southern area (Scotland, Lebanon) can have a lot of farms (I know, I live in this area). But the northern area can be pretty farm too. Woodstock is a good example of a mainly agricultural economy, with a low amount of shops near by Putnam.— JJBers|talk 17:01, 1 November 2016 (UTC)

That was a big rant, and a bit of it was deserved, but overall the article was informative and encyclopedic. Per the 'rant', I think the rural character issue is largely caused by the inclusion of Willimantic and UConn/Storrs. I added geo coords (my favorite gnoming pastime), and used Willimantic as a base for the coords, and it simply looked like central CT. I then used Putnam as a coord proxy, and it looks pretty central to the 'Quiet Corner'. As a geography editor in NE, I feel that I can move this to "C" class, with the note that I would like the article to concentrate on the 'blue' area of the map provided. BTW, I'm glad it mentions the Prudence Crandall House...great little museum. Bill McKenna (talk) 06:21, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

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