Rural Life 1880-1920:
The Impact of Progress on Connecticut
Farming Communities

Vacationing in the Country

As Connecticut shifted from an agricultural to an industrial state, cities grew at enormous rates. More and more city dwellers had leisure time and the money to travel. Many people who lived in urban areas or near the factories and mills of the river valleys escaped the noise and heat of the cities to vacation in the country and stay in newly formed state parks or in farmhouses converted to inns.

< Inns like this one offered lodging to travelers who wished to stay in the country. As train travel increased, travelers from outside of Connecticut began to come to stay at the state’s many country inns.

Family at Pine Grove
Canaan, 1880s-1890s
Photo CD: 0524 File: Img0080.pcd

< As religious revival meeting became popular, semi-permanent campsites like this one were created. Groups like these Methodist families would spend part of their summer at religious retreats in the country.

< Lakes were popular resort areas. Vacationers embraced the Victorian principles of recreation in fresh air and the merits of a simpler life in the country. These campers established their own campsite near Columbia Lake.

< As trains, trolley lines, and even automobiles reached small towns, residents of rural Connecticut were able to travel to resorts like New York’s famous Coney Island. A Coney Island excursion is advertised in the window of this grocery store.

< As industrial Connecticut grew, foundations like the Charity Organization Society of Hartford, which sponsored this trip, would send families to the country for a break from city life

Link to other essays in this Journey:

>> Introduction: Rural Life in Connecticut
>> Farming: A Way of Life
>> Civic Life
>> Goods and Services
>> Connecticut Agricultural College

>> Guideposts
>> Suggestions for further reading