The Last Green Valley National Heritage Corridor is a federally designated National Heritage Corridor in northeastern

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

and portions of

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. It has a rural character with rolling hills, farmland and classic

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

scenery. This area was designated because it is one of the last remaining stretches of green in the

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

heavily urbanized corridor. The valley also has the largest stretch of dark night sky in the Northeast megalopolis corridor. It contains some of the largest unbroken forests in Southern New England, in a region of Connecticut known as the

Quiet Corner Northeastern Connecticut, better known as the Quiet Corner, is a historic region of the state of Connecticut, located in the northeastern corner of the state. It is generally associated with Windham County, but also sometimes incorporates east ...

Geography

The corridor consists mostly of the Eastern New England Upland, transitioning to the coastal forests to the south and east. The rolling hills in the southern part of the Corridor become more rugged in the northern part of the corridor. The highest elevation is Burley Hill in Union, CT. The corridor has a high concentration of state parks, state forests and other reserves, such as the

Yale-Myers Forest The Yale-Myers Forest is a 7,800-acre (32 km2) forest in Northeastern Connecticut owned by Yale University and administered by the Yale School of the Environment. Located in the towns of Union, Ashford, Eastford, and Woodstock, the forest ...

, Pachaug State Forest, and the Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary. Of the area's over 700,000 acres, over 77% is made up of forest and farms. The 35-town region is home to over 300,000 people. The Last Green Valley is half the size of Grand Canyon National Park and more than ten times that of

Acadia National Park Acadia National Park is an American national park located along the mid-section of the Maine coast, southwest of Bar Harbor. The park preserves about half of Mount Desert Island, part of the Isle au Haut, the tip of the Schoodic Peninsula, an ...

, New England's only national park. The over 1,100 square miles of protected territory extend from the northernmost point of East Brookfield, Massachusetts to the southernmost point of

Preston, Connecticut Preston is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 4,788 at the 2020 census. The town includes the villages of Long Society, Preston City, and Poquetanuck. History In 1686, Thomas Parke, Thomas Tracy, and seve ...

History

Beginning in the 1980s, developmental pressures pushed citizens into creating organizations to protect lands, especially farmland from development. A report in 1988 by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

outlined solutions and it led to the creation of the Quinebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor in 1994. It was expanded in 1999 to include several communities in Massachusetts. In December 2014, Congress passed a law officially renaming the area the Last Green Valley National Heritage Corridor. Autumn at Roseland Park, Woodstock Connecticut

Autumn at Roseland Park, Woodstock Connecticut

Boston Hollow Boston Hollow is a deep ravine in Ashford, Connecticut. It is a unique location in several ways. In geological terms it is an ancient fault in the Central Maine Terrane of the eastern highlands of Connecticut. More specifically, it lays within the ...

* Bigelow Hollow State Park * Chelsea Harbor, historic downtown Norwich, Connecticut * Historic Norwichtown Green * Leffingwell House Museum * Pachaug-Great Meadow Swamp
Uncas Leap Heritage Area
Norwich, Connecticut

Recreation

* Air Line State Park Trail * Beaver Brook State Park, Windham, Connecticut * Bigelow Hollow State Park, Union, Connecticut * Brimfield State Forest, Brimfield, Massachusetts * Buffumville Lake, Oxford, Massachusetts * East Brimfield Lake, Sturbridge, Massachusetts * James L. Goodwin State Forest, Hampton, Connecticut * Hodges Village Dam, Oxford, Massachusetts * Hopeville Pond State Park, Griswold, Connecticut * Killingly Pond State Park, Killingly, Connecticut * Mansfield Hollow Lake, Mansfield, Connecticut * Mansfield Hollow State Park, Mansfield, Connecticut *

Mashamoquet Brook State Park Mashamoquet Brook State Park ( ) is a public recreation area in the town of Pomfret, Connecticut. Notable features of the state park include the Wolf Den national historic site, the Brayton Grist Mill, and the Table Rock and Indian Chair natur ...

, Abington, Connecticut
Mohegan Park
Norwich, Connecticut * Mohegan State Forest, Scotland, Connecticut * Mooween State Park, Lebanon, Connecticut * Mountain Laurel Sanctuary, Union, Connecticut * Natchaug State Forest, Eastford, Connecticut * Nathan Hale State Forest, Coventry, Connecticut * Nipmuck State Forest, Union, Connecticut * Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary, Wales/Holland, Massachusetts
Norwich (Chelsea) Harbor Water Trail
Norwich, Connecticut * Old Furnace State Park, Killingly, Connecticut * Pachaug State Forest, Sterling, Voluntown, Griswold and Plainfield, Connecticut * Pomeroy State Park, Lebanon, Connecticut * Quaddick State Park, Thompson, Connecticut * Quinebaug Lake State Park, Killingly, Connecticut * Ross Pond State Park, Killingly, Connecticut * Streeter Point Recreation Area, Sturbridge, Massachusetts *

, Union, Connecticut * Wells State Park, Sturbridge, Massachusetts * West Thompson Lake, Thompson, Connecticut * Westville Lake, Sturbridge, Massachusetts

References

External links

* Official site
The Last Green Valley, Inc
* Tourism site
The Last Green Valley Tourism
{{Authority control Geography of Hampden County, Massachusetts Geography of New London County, Connecticut Geography of Tolland County, Connecticut Geography of Windham County, Connecticut Geography of Worcester County, Massachusetts Tourist attractions in Hampden County, Massachusetts Tourist attractions in New London County, Connecticut Tourist attractions in Tolland County, Connecticut Tourist attractions in Windham County, Connecticut Tourist attractions in Worcester County, Massachusetts National Heritage Areas of the United States