Mystic Country

Mystic Country covers the southeastern quarter of Connecticut, the coastal-and-inland country running from Long Island Sound up through the rural Quiet Corner to the Massachusetts and Rhode Island lines. The terrain shifts from working harbors at New London and Mystic up through gently rolling hardwood country in Windham — wetter and more wooded than the western half of the state. New London and Windham counties cover the region. Anchor towns include Mystic, New London, Stonington, Groton, Norwich, Putnam, Pomfret, Brooklyn, and Woodstock. Mystic Seaport Museum (the country’s largest maritime museum) and Mystic Aquarium pull most of the regional visitor weight; Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun sit in Ledyard and Uncasville; the United States Coast Guard Academy and the Submarine Force Museum (with the USS Nautilus) anchor New London and Groton. Most trips split between the coast and the interior. Mystic handles maritime history and aquarium days; the casinos run their own multi-day itineraries; Stonington and Watch Hill (just over the Rhode Island line) handle the New England fishing-village scene. Putnam and the Quiet Corner draw antique-and-bookshop weekenders.