Union, Connecticut: Graphite, Forest, and Connecticut's Least-Populated Town

Union's origin is a land sale, not a grant: on July 1, 1720 the Connecticut General Assembly sold 12,500 acres to 12 proprietors for 307 pounds. James McNall became the earliest settler in 1727, and the town was incorporated in 1734; its name is thought to come from being assembled out of leftover sections when surrounding towns' boundaries were fixed. Rough terrain and poor soil made Union the last town settled east of the Connecticut River, and it remains Connecticut's least-populated town — 785 residents at the 2020 census — with roughly a third of the municipality in state park and forest land. During the Revolution, Governor Trumbull drew on a local graphite deposit, first sampled by Massachusetts adventurer John Oldham from Native people as early as 1633, for use at cannon foundries. Alonzo Erastus Horton, born in Union in 1813, later founded modern San Diego, buying 960 acres on San Diego Bay and pushing for the public park that became Balboa Park. Union also claims the highest elevation in Connecticut east of the river: Interstate 84 reaches its statewide maximum, 1,002 feet, inside town.

Union is a car trip, full stop. Interstate 84 runs across the town near the Massachusetts line; leave it at Exit 97 (Route 171, at Mashapaug, the fastest way to Bigelow Hollow) or Exit 93 (Route 190, about two miles west of the town center). Route 171 runs south from Exit 97 to the town center, then east and southeast into Eastford, ending in Putnam. Route 197's western terminus is at Route 171 in Union, running east toward North Woodstock. There is no passenger rail station in Union or any adjacent town; the nearest CTrail Hartford Line and Amtrak stops are far to the west at Hartford Union Station and Windsor Locks, with the line's northern terminus at Springfield Union Station, Massachusetts.