Ethos

The Burys of Connecticut

Connecticut has a habit of naming towns with the Old English ending -bury — "fortified settlement" — and ten of its towns carry it. Five of them sit within a short drive of each other in the state's western hills, sharing colonial roots, brass-and-hat industrial history, and some of Connecticut's best small-town wandering. This collection gathers our guides to the Burys — start anywhere and follow the connections.

  1. Palace Theater
    Waterbury, Connecticut: A Brass City Travel Guide

    Waterbury, Connecticut

    The Brass City: a Thomas Lamb palace theater, the Mattatuck Museum, and grinders since 1922.

  2. Danbury Railway Museum
    Danbury, Connecticut: Hat City History, Rail Heritage, and Where to Eat

    Danbury, Connecticut

    Hat City: the museum campus that tells how Danbury crowned America, plus a working railway museum.

  3. Quassy entrance
    Middlebury, Connecticut: Quassy, the Greenway, and the Quiet Side of the Valley

    Middlebury, Connecticut

    Quassy, the lakeside amusement park running since 1908, and a trolley line turned greenway.

  4. Lake Zoar
    Southbury, Connecticut: State Parks, Colonial Roots, and the Pomperaug Valley

    Southbury, Connecticut

    Pomperaug valley parks, a one-kettle land legend, and the region's resort-style hotel.

  5. Glebe House
    Woodbury, Connecticut: Antiques Capital, the Glebe House, and Main Street

    Woodbury, Connecticut

    Connecticut's antiques capital, the Glebe House, and the only public Gertrude Jekyll garden in America.