Connecticut does not have just a few significant feathers in its cap; it has a veritable,full headdress of glorious, colorful feathers that fly proudly attesting to the greatness of the state throughout history, its contributions and the pride of place it holds in the nation today.
STATE FUN FACTS
Main crops are dairy, poultry, forest and nursery, tobacco, vegetables and fruit.
Connecticut's motto is Qui Transtulit Sustinet -- "He Who Transplanted Still Sustains".
Connecticut and Rhode Island never ratified the 18th Amendment (Prohibition).
State residents are called : Nutmeggers/Connecticuters
The highest peak is Bear Mountain.
The highest elevation is the slope of Mount Frissel at 2380'
The most remote site is Mount Bradford in Canaan.
Connecticut was only 10% forested in 1800 is about 60% forested today.
Pachaug State Forest is Connecticut's largest state forest at 29,292 acres.
Connecticut has 332 miles of jagged coastline, including bays, harbors and coves.
With its salt-water courses it has 1,065 miles of coastal shoreline.
Approximately 82 miles of coastline are protected through conservation.
All three rock types are found : Sedimentary, Metamorphic and Igneous.
Dinosaur tracks in Rocky Hill were discovered in 1966.
Connecticut was covered by two glaciations: 150,000 and 26,000 years ago.
The last glacier melted 15,000 years ago, hence, comparatively the landscape is very young.
Sassafras was the colonists' first export to England.
Deposits are paid on approximately 1.8 billion cans and bottles each year.
The average motorist drives about 24,000 miles annually; up from 17,000 in 1980.
All the steel products are made from at least 25% recycled steel.
Connecticut's air is virtually free of airborne lead due to no-lead gas and emissions controls.
Best striped bass fishing occurs in the Sound from spring to fall.
Best trout fishing is late April through May.
Each year, over 400,000 anglers spend nearly $300,000,000 on fishing.
750,000 recreational anglers from New York and Connecticut use the Long Island Sound p.a.
Hunters spend more than $40,000,000 annually.
Approximately 85,000 boats utilize LIS each boating season, about 10,000 boats per day.
57 pump out and dump stations to protect Long Island Sound's water quality.
STATE SYMBOLS
State Insect-Praying Mantis
State Bird-American Robin
State Animal- Sperm whale
State Tree-Charter Oak
State Gem-Garnet
State Flower-Mountain Laurel
State Shellfish-Eastern Oyster
State Hero-Nathan Hale
State Ship-USS Nautilus
State Song-"Yankee Doodle"
State Fossil- Eubrontes

SOME NOTABLE PEOPLE

Doctor Samuel Higley of Simsbury started the first copper coinage in 1737.
Mary Kies, of S. Killingly was the first woman to receive a U.S. patent: weaving straw with silk.
Ella Grasso was elected a state governor in 1974.
Dr. Henry Bronson, professor at Yale Medical School in 1832, first expert in treatment of Asiatic

Cholera
West Hartford is the birthplace of Noah Webster, the author of the first dictionary published in 1807
Henry Ward Beecher was a prominent Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, abolitionist, and speaker. 
Writer Harriet Beecher Stowe, educators Catharine Beecher and Reverend Thomas K. Beecher, and activists Charles Beecher and Isabella Beecher Hooker. 
Mark twain made Hartford his home from 1872 to 1891.
Samuel Huntington (1731 to 1796) one of the maverick public servants of the era.
Israel Putnam 1718-1790 – a famous militia man
Thomas Hooker, 1586-1647, Founder of the State of Connecticut, Father of American Democracy."
Eli Whitney-1765 1825, inventor of the cotton gin.
Eli Terry -1772 – 1852 – clock-making industrialist
Roger Sherman -1721-1793- signer of declaration of independence.
Charles Goodyear - 1800 to 1860-revolutionized the rubber industry.
Jonathan Trumbull 1710 to 1785 merchant, businessman and governor of CT.
Katharine Hepburn 1907 to 2003 – Oscar winning actress. 
CITIES
The World Wrestling Federation (WWF) is headquartered in Stamford.
Bristol is considered the "Mum City" because of the Chrysanthemums grown and sold to various states and Canada.
In 1784 New Haven was incorporated as a city.
Danbury, an important military depot for the American Revolutionary armies was burned and looted in April 1777 by the British under Major General William Tryon.
The Submarine Force Museum in Groton is the official submarine museum of the US Navy.
Middlebury derives from the central position the Town's meetinghouse six miles from three older neighbors, Waterbury, Southbury and Woodbury.
The first inhabitants of Burlington were the Tunxis Tribe, of the Algonqian confederation. Legend holds they used the area as a hunting ground.
The first English settlers arrived in 1636, settling Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield.
The Monroe Town seal is circular with the words "Town of Monroe Connecticut" in the outer rim. Enclosed is a profile of James Monroe, fifth President of the U.S.-1817-1825.
Montville, Groton and Waterford were originally part of New London.
New London was settled in 1646 as Pequot, after the Pequot Indians: the name changed in 1658.
7-year-old James Thorsell designed the New Hartford "Town Bicentennial Emblem".
New Milford's worst disaster, the "Great Fire", struck in 1902.
Named in 1724 after the rocky, hilly countryside, North Stonington was incorporated in 1807.
Wallingford has earned a worldwide reputation for the production of silverware.
West Haven is Connecticut's youngest city, being incorporated in 1972; as a community it dates back over 360 years; one of the oldest settlements in the country.
PEZ® Candy is made in the city of Orange.
Some of the world's most famous cloth is woven in the Stafford textile mills.
Washington was incorporated in 1779 in honor of General George Washington.
Hartford has remained the capital city of Connecticut since 1875.
INVENTIONS & BUSINESS
Copper discovered in Simsbury: 1705
Colt revolver: 1836
Portable typewriter: 1843
Sewing machine: 1846
Ice-making machine: 1853
Can opener: 1858
Tape measure: 1868
Pay phone: 1877
Collapsible toothpaste tube: 1892
Hamburger: 1895
Electric light socket with pull chain: 1896
Erector set: 1911
Frisbee: 1920
Vacuum cleaner: 1933
Polaroid camera: 1934
Helicopter: 1939
Color television: 1948
FAMOUS FIRSTS in CONNECTICUT

1639-First written constitution- "The Fundamental Orders"
1656- First public library-New Haven
1728-The first steel mill started operations in Simsbury.
1762- The first blast furnace in Connecticut was built in Lakeville
1764- The oldest newspaper still being published: The Hartford Courant, was established
1775-First submarine launched by David Bushnell of Saybrook
1777-First trimmed and illuminated Christmas tree-Windsor Locks
1780-First U.S. traitor-Benedict Arnold of Norwich
1784-First law school founded by Tapping Reeve in Litchfield
1794- First cotton gin by New Haven's Eli Whitney
1796-First American cookbook, by Amelia Simmons published in Hartford
1796-First statehouse-Hartford
1806-First dictionary by West Hartford's Noah Webster
1834-Thomas Sanford made the first friction matches in Beacon Falls.
1836-The first safety fuse was manufactured in Simsbury.
1846-First amusement park-Lake Compounce Theme Park, Bristol
1873-First football game, played at Yale
1875-First agricultural experiment station in New Haven
1878- The first telephone book ever issued was published in New Haven in 1878 with 50 names.
1878- New Haven had the world's first subscribers to a telephone exchange .
1881-First three-ring circus, staged by Bethel's P.T. Barnum
1901 The first automobile law was passed in 1901.
1903-First municipal rose garden in the U.S., Hartford's Elizabeth Park Rose Garden
1908 The first lollipop-making machine (after the racehorse) was manufactured in New Haven
1917-The first women’s only golf tournament was held in Waterbury.
1937- The first state to issue permanent license plates for cars.
1954- The USS Nautilus - the world's first nuclear powered submarine was built in Groton.
America's first trade association was founded in Naugatuck Valley.
B.F. Clyde's Cider Mill in Mystic is the only steam-powered Cider Mill in the US.

Impressive feathers in Connecticut's cap!