Things To Do

Rosy Tomorrow's

O'Connor's Public House

Dolce Restaurant & Wine Bar

Tarrywile Park & Mansion

White Memorial Conservation Center

White Memorial Conservation Center in Litchfield features 35 miles of hiking trails in a 4,000 acre wildlife sanctuary. The Center also includes a museum and children’s center.

Dennis Hill State Park

Dennis Hill State Park and Haystack Mountain State Park, both in Norfolk, offer memorable outlooks via short, semi-easy hikes. For those opting not to feel the burn, there’s a paved auto road to the top of Dennis Hill.

Steep Rock Preserve

Steep Rock Reservation is a peaceful 750-acre preserve with wonderful hiking trails along the Shepaug River.

Tapping Reeve House and Law School

The Institute For American Indian Studies

Institute for American Indian Studies in Washington includes a museum with a re-created 17th-century Algonquin village.

Mill House Antiques

The prize for setting goes to Mill House Antiques, a 17th-century former gristmill on the Nonnewaug River. Its selection of English and French furniture from the 1700's and 1800's, both formal and country, is rounded out by custom-made dining tables and chairs.

Jeffrey Tillou Antiques

Jeffrey Tillou Antiques in Litchfield boasts three floors of wares of all description.

Joseph Stannard Antiques

Joseph Stannard Antiques is an outstanding source for French antiques and beautifully woven Oriental rugs.

Hickory Stick Bookshop

The Hickory Stick Bookshop is a notable independent bookstore where bestsellers compete for shelf space with works by the area’s many notable writers.

White Flower Farm Store & Gardens

The Pantry

The Pantry is known for salads and sandwiches that are perfect for taking on the go (but just as good over wine in the quaint café), and homemade pie for dessert is an extravagance you won’t regret.

G.W. Tavern

Comfort food staples such as meatloaf and fish and chips are the order of the day at rustic G.W. Tavern.

West Street Grill

Located on the village green in Litchfield, the West Street Grill is a lunch and dinner favorite of local celebrities and is known for quality local ingredients and creative takes on classic dishes.

Arethusa al tavolo

Arethusa al Tavolo in Litchfield features dishes prepared with prime ingredients, including dairy delights from Arethusa’s famously pampered cows. If you don’t have time for a full meal, you can still grab some cheese for the road at the Arethusa Farm Dairy Store next door, where the ice cream is as fresh — and as delicious — as possible

Community Table

Community Table in Washington adds honey from its own beehive to the cocktails; other raw materials are sourced from local growers, foragers, and producers.

Nodines Gourmet Store

Bring home the bacon, and the ham, and the sausage — even the cheese, trout, and venison, if they’re in stock — from Nodine’s Smokehouse in Goshen; the retail store is tiny but the flavor is big-time.

Hardcore Sweet Cupcakes

Hardcore Sweet in Watertown (a Cupcake Wars winner in 2013) offers more than 150 flavors of cupcakes, truffles, “ponuts” (a pie-doughnut combo), and whoopie pies, including vegan and gluten-free options.

Thorncrest Farm & Milk House Chocolates

The most irresistible crop in Goshen is chocolate. At Thorncrest Farm, cows are meticulously bred and fed to supply sweet milk for individual caramels and truffles for the Milk House Chocolates line of artisanal confections.

Hopkins Vineyard

Sunset Meadow Vineyards

Housatonic River Outfitters

Travel here for a guided float, wading and pike fishing on the ‘Housy’ along with float trips.

Clarke Outdoors

Venture to this location for kayaking and canoeing!

Norfolk

To the east is secluded Norfolk, a warm-weather destination for the wealthy since the 1850's. Stanford White designed the fountain on the village green, and residents are equally proud of their three state parks and the Greenwoods Theater, where plays are staged and classic films are shown.

Litchfield

At the center of the county is the town of Litchfield, an Early American enclave that has been called the finest preserved Colonial town in America. The town has a prominent commercial center and is the site of the nation's first law school (its first class, in 1773, included Aaron Burr). The historic district is located on North and South Streets just off the green. The Litchfield Congregational Church on the Green is one of the most photographed churches in New England.

Washington

Old money also settled farther south, in Washington, a town with two prep schools, a green that dates from 1741, and three historic districts. In preservation-minded Washington, even the drugstore is in a historic building. The township of Washington also comprises tiny New Preston, known for its cluster of antiques shops, and part of scenic Lake Waramaug, eight miles around, ringed with wooded hills.

Woodbury

At the southern end of the county is Woodbury, Connecticut's antiques capital. More than 40 shops line its Main Street, as well as four Early American churches with photogenic cupolas and weather vanes. Woodbury also lays claim to the historic Glebe House—credited as the birthplace of the Episcopal Church in America—and its Gertrude Jekyll-designed garden.