Connecticut County Histories

Connecticut is in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south. Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately bisects the state.

Called the Constitution State, Nutmeg State, and “The Land of Steady Habits”, Connecticut was influential in the development of the federal government of the United States.

Connecticut’s first European settlers were Dutch and established a small, short-lived settlement in present-day Hartford at the confluence of the Park and Connecticut rivers, called Huys de Goede Hoop. Initially, half of Connecticut was a part of the Dutch colony, New Netherland, which included much of the land between the Connecticut and Delaware rivers.

The first major settlements were established in the 1630s by the English. Thomas Hooker led a band of followers overland from the Massachusetts Bay Colony and founded what would become the Connecticut Colony; other settlers from Massachusetts founded the Saybrook Colony and the New Haven Colony. Both the Connecticut and New Haven Colonies established documents of Fundamental Orders, considered the first constitutions in North America. In 1662, the three colonies were merged under a royal charter, making Connecticut a crown colony. This colony was one of the Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution.

Of its current eight counties four—Fairfield, Hartford, New Haven and New London—were created in 1666, two—Litchfield and Windham—were created during colonial times, and two—Middlesex and Tolland— were created after American independence, both in 1785. Six of the counties are named for locations in England, where many early Connecticut settlers originated.

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