Southeastern Connecticut

Last updated
Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments (SCCOG)
Agency overview
Formed2013
JurisdictionSoutheastern Connecticut region
Headquarters5 Connecticut Avenue, Norwich, CT 06360
Agency executive
  • Amanda E. Kennedy, Executive Director
Website seccog.org
Map of Connecticut showing the Southeastern Connecticut region Map of Connecticut highlighting New London County.svg
Map of Connecticut showing the Southeastern Connecticut region

The Southeastern Connecticut region comprises, as the name suggests, the southeastern corner of the state of Connecticut. It is sometimes referred to as New London County or by the tourist slogan Mystic and More[ citation needed ].

Contents

Southeastern Connecticut has historically been an area heavily dependent on traditional New England economic activities such as fishing, whaling, oystering, and the defense industry. In the present day, the area remains the primary home of the state's fishing and shellfish activity but has since diversified its economic base to include tourism, gambling, and other services.

The area is home to the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, a United States Navy base in Groton (also home to Electric Boat where the first U.S. nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus, was launched, on January 21, 1954), a Pfizer research facility, and the Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods casinos.

Definitions

There are several official definitions for the region. In all definitions, the following 20 towns are always included:

Southeastern Connecticut

This is an official region administered by the Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments. It consists of 18 towns and oversees land use and transportation infrastructure planning for its member towns.

Southeast Service Delivery Area

This definition adds the towns of Lyme, Old Lyme, and Voluntown to the 16 core towns listed above for a total of 19 towns.

New England City and Town Area

The Norwich-New London-Westerly NECTA is the metropolitan area surrounding the Norwich/New London urbanized area using towns as building blocks. This definition contains 22 towns and adds the towns of Canterbury, Lyme, Old Lyme, Voluntown, as well as the towns of Westerly and Hopkinton in Rhode Island (the latter of which now became part of the Providence–Fall River–Warwick, RI-MA NECTA).

Metropolitan Statistical Area

The Norwich-New London MSA is a metropolitan area definition using counties as building blocks. It consists of the 21 towns of New London County and adds the towns of Lyme and Old Lyme.

New London Labor Market Area

This definition contains 22 towns and adds the towns of Canterbury, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, and Plainfield, as well as two towns in Rhode Island: Hopkinton and Westerly.

Ethnicity

Southeastern Connecticut's largest ethnic group is composed of Irish-Americans, followed by Italian-Americans, Polish-Americans, and colonial British descent Americans historically referenced as “Swamp Yankees.” There is also a large Latino population mainly from Puerto Rico, followed by the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, and Ecuador. There is an African-American presence in many municipalities, and many Asian communities in different parts of the region. The Pequot and Mohegan tribes both have their own reservations and casinos, along with a strong identity to their culture, though most tribal members only have partial Native American ancestry. Southeastern Connecticut is an ethnically diverse region.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">New London County, Connecticut</span> County in Connecticut, United States

New London County is in the southeastern corner of Connecticut and comprises the Norwich-New London, Connecticut Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Hartford-East Hartford, Connecticut Combined Statistical Area. There is no county government and no county seat, as is the case with all eight of Connecticut's counties; towns are responsible for all local government activities, including fire and rescue, snow removal, and schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montville, Connecticut</span> Town in Connecticut, United States

Montville is a town in New London County, Connecticut in the United States. The town is part of the Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region. The population was 18,387 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Stonington, Connecticut</span> Town in Connecticut, United States

North Stonington is a town in New London County, Connecticut which was split off from Stonington in 1724. The town is part of the Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region. The population was 5,149 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voluntown, Connecticut</span> Town in Connecticut, United States

Voluntown is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Northeastern Connecticut Planning Region. The population was 2,570 at the 2020 census. Voluntown was part of Windham County from 1726 to 1881, after which it became part of New London County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norwich, Connecticut</span> City in Connecticut, United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westerly, Rhode Island</span> Town in Rhode Island

Westerly is a town on the southwestern coastline of Washington County, Rhode Island, United States, first settled by English colonists in 1661 and incorporated as a municipality in 1669. It is a beachfront community on the south shore of the state with a population of 23,359 as of the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pawcatuck River</span> River in the U.S. states of Rhode Island and Connecticut

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Southern New England at one time had a large network of street railway lines, including several true interurban streetcars. It was possible to go from New York City to Boston completely on streetcars on at least three routes: via Hartford, Connecticut, Springfield, Massachusetts, and Worcester, Massachusetts; via New London, Connecticut and Worcester, or via New London and Providence, Rhode Island.

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The headquarters of the Connecticut Rivers Council of the Boy Scouts of America is located in East Hartford, Connecticut. The present council was formed as the result of the merger between the Indian Trails Council of Norwich, Connecticut and Long Rivers Council of Hartford, Connecticut. Now it is the largest council in the state with a youth membership of over 17,000 and a volunteer base of nearly 10,000 adults, serving for over half of the state.

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Coastal Connecticut, often called the Connecticut Shore or the Connecticut Shoreline, comprises all of Connecticut's southern border along Long Island Sound, from Greenwich in the west to Stonington in the east, as well as the tidal portions of the Housatonic River, Quinnipiac River, Connecticut River, and Thames River. It includes the southern sections of the state's Fairfield, New Haven, Middlesex and New London counties.

<i>The Westerly Sun</i> Daily newspaper in Westerly, Rhode Island, US

The Westerly Sun is a seven-day daily newspaper published in Westerly, Rhode Island, United States, covering portions of Washington County, Rhode Island, and New London County, Connecticut. The Sun is issued mornings 7 days a week. Until 1995, it published its Sunday edition in the afternoon, and was the only such paper to do so at that time.

Sun Publishing Company is a daily and weekly newspaper publisher in southwest Rhode Island and southeast Connecticut, United States. It is a Westerly, Rhode Island-based subsidiary of RISN Operations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southeast Area Transit</span> Connecticut bus service provider

Southeast Area Transit is a provider of local bus service in eight towns and two cities in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Connecticut: East Lyme, Griswold, Groton, Ledyard, Montville, New London, Norwich, Stonington, and Waterford. Under contract to Amtrak, SEAT also provides Amtrak Thruway service from New London to Foxwoods.

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The Narragansett Trail is a 16-mile hiking trail located in Connecticut. It is one of the Blue-Blazed Trails maintained by the Connecticut Forest and Park Association, the Narragansett Council, and The Rhode Island chapter of Scouts BSA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norwich and Westerly Railway</span>

The Norwich and Westerly Railway was an interurban trolley system that operated in Southeastern Connecticut during the early part of the 20th century. It operated a 21-mile line through rural territory in Norwich, Preston, Ledyard, North Stonington, and Pawcatuck, Connecticut to Westerly, Rhode Island between 1906 and 1922. For most of its length, the route paralleled what is now Connecticut Route 2.

John Gallup was an early settler and militia captain in Southeastern Connecticut.

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