Hartford Travel Guide — Best Time, Things to Do & Where to Stay

Why Hartford

Hartford is the capital city of Connecticut and the central hub of the Greater Hartford metropolitan region. Positioned along the Connecticut River in Hartford County, the area was originally inhabited by several Algonquian Native American groups, including the Saukiog, Podunk, and Tunxis peoples. Dutch traders first explored the river in 1614 and built a trading post called Fort Hoop in 1623. English colonists arrived from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1636, establishing a settlement that was renamed Hartford in 1637. After sharing capital status with New Haven for over two centuries, Hartford became the state's sole capital in 1875.

As one of the oldest cities in the United States, Hartford contains a notable concentration of historical sites and long-standing institutions. It is the location of the Mark Twain House, where the author lived, raised his family, and wrote his most famous literary works. The city is also home to the Wadsworth Atheneum, the nation's oldest continuously operating public art museum, and Bushnell Park, the second-oldest publicly funded park in the country. Other historic institutions established in the city include the Hartford Courant newspaper and the American School for the Deaf, founded in 1817 by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet.

During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Hartford developed into a prominent precision manufacturing center. Local factories produced a wide range of goods, including firearms, machine tools, sewing machines, bicycles, early electric vehicles, typewriters, and aircraft engines. In the modern era, the city is widely recognized as a major hub for the insurance industry, earning it the nickname Insurance Capital of the World. Additional key economic sectors in the region include healthcare, education, and service industries, alongside joint regional initiatives connecting the area with neighboring Massachusetts.

Visitors to Hartford can experience a varied arts scene supported by multiple performance venues and outdoor public spaces. The Bushnell Theater hosts major Broadway productions, while additional drama performances take place at venues such as Hartford Stage. Along the banks of the Connecticut River, Riverfront Plaza and Mortensen Plaza connect the downtown area directly to the waterfront. These riverfront parks host a range of open-air cultural events throughout the year, featuring live music, dance performances, festivals, and arts and crafts displays.