The Connecticut shore is a popular summer resort area, and the protected waters of Long Island Sound lure boating enthusiasts. Bridgeport is the largest city, with Hartford, the capital, and New Haven next in size.
Though famed for its rural loveliness, Connecticut derives most of its wealth from industry. Textiles, silverware, sewing machines, and clocks and watches are among Connecticut's historic manufactures. The state's principal industries today produce jet engines and parts, electronics and electrical machinery, computer equipment, and helicopters. Much of Connecticut's manufacturing is for the military. Firearms and ammunition, first produced here at the time of the American Revolution, are still made, and Groton is still a center for submarine building.
Sadly, agriculture accounts for only a small share of state income; dairy products, eggs, vegetables, tobacco, mushrooms, and apples are the leading farm items. High-grade broadleaf tobacco, used in making cigar wrappers, has been a specialty of Connecticut agriculture since the 1830s. Largely shade-grown in the Connecticut Valley, it remains a valuable crop. Many varieties of fish, as well as oysters, lobsters, and other shellfish, are caught in Long Island Sound, but the fishing industry is small and has been hampered by pollution of the waters. Stone, sand, and gravel account for most of the limited income derived from mining.
Insurance is important in Connecticut; the Hartford metropolitan area is one of the industry's world centers, with the home offices of many insurance companies. Financial, real estate, and service industries are also of major importance. The Foxwoods gambling casino and resort on the Mashantucket Pequot reservation has since its opening in 1992 become one of the largest employers in the state, and the nearby Mohegan Sun casino has joined it in attracting visitors to Southeast Connecticut. |
 |
Inspired by a memorial from the Anna Warner Bailey Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Governor O. Vincent Coffin, on May 29, 1895, introduced to the General Assembly the first proposal for the adoption of a State Flag.
On that same day the Assembly passed a resolution appointing a special committee to prepare a designation of the flag already generally accepted as the official flag of the state.
|
 |
The General Assembly of 1897 provided an official description of the flag setting the dimensions at five feet, six inches in length and four feet, four inches in width, of azure blue silk, with the armorial bearings in argent white silk with the design in natural colors and bordure of the shield embroidered in gold and silver. Below the shield there is a white streamer, cleft at each end, bordered in gold and browns, the streamer bearing in dark blue the motto "Qui Transtulit Sustinet."
(Above text from "Connecticut Sites, Seals & Symbols") |
|
 State Information:
State Motto: "Qui Transtulit Sustinet" (He Who Transplanted Still Sustains)
State Bird: The American Robin (Turdus Migratorius)
State Flower: Mountain Laurel (Kalmia Latifolia)
State Tree: The Charter Oak (White Oak Quercus Alba)
State Insect: European Mantis (Mantis Religiosa)
State Animal: Sperm Whale (Physeter Macrocephalus)
State Mineral: The Garnet (Almandine Garnet)
State Shellfish: Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea Virginica)
State Ship: USS Nautilus (SSN-571)
State Fossil: Eubrontes Giganteus
State Hero: Nathan Hale 1755-1776
State Heroine: Prudence Crandall 1803-1890
State Song: "Yankee Doodle"
State Composer: Charles Edward Ives (1874-1954) |
