The River Valley Book is a one-of-a-kind community guide and business directory that covers the river towns from Glastonbury to Essex. We’re dedicated to uncovering a bundle of surprises for visitors and to offering useful, everyday local information for residents.

For purposes of overall perspective as well as local focus, we’ve divided the River Valley into its upper, central, downriver and river-mouth sections. The Upper River towns — Glastonbury, Wethersfield and Rocky Hill — were originally one settlement and are closely tied to Hartford. Middletown, as its name would suggest, is the hub of the Central Valley closely tied to Portland and East Hampton, which were once part of the first settlement there. Downriver the Haddams and Chester take a little city bustle from Middletown and, each in its distinctive way, shares the seagoing charm and cache of Essex. Essex is the focal point of the lower valley at the mouth of the river.

The ten communities we feature share a common history that stems from the river and the fertile farmland along it that dominated their economy. Today they tie together a swath of central Connecticut with a population of more than 130,000 where the fast pace of modern suburbia near Hartford and quiet grace of lower valley towns are in marked contrast. The good news is they offer the best of both worlds.

Glastonbury is blessed with a strong collection of “white collar” employers, a stellar school system and the best of the hip contemporary restaurants. But big chunks of its hilly farmland remain undeveloped, as do its fertile meadows along the river. Chester and Essex combine quaint and quiet with timeless good taste in arts and foods as well as unspoiled countryside bathed in river breezes. Middletown marries blue collar with blue blood as the esteemed Wesleyan University, sitting up on High Street, couples with ever prettier, classic-postwar Main Street down the hill. East Haddam and Ivoryton offer the last of a dying breed—professional summer musicals presented in vintage theaters.

The River Valley Book is a part of Distinctive Directories, a group of annuals for local communities including The Farmington Valley, West Hartford and the Connecticut Shoreline.
Our other key features— comprehensive web sites—use weblinks to connect local people and visitors to local businesses. The four websites are linked together to offer you Connecticut’s strongest combination of easy-to-use print and on-line community information.

Thanks for bringing us into your home. Please enjoy our 2010 edition. Use us for all your regular shopping, reference and information needs and share us with your visitors. Google us for showtimes, weather, restaurant menus and businesses links, along with everything in the book.

At its mouth at Essex and Old Saybrook, the Connecticut River flows into Long Island Sound after a 410-mile journey that starts as a small stream in Northern New Hampshire, on its way pulling tributary water from 11,500 square miles of watershed, scribbling oxbows and meanders, flooding farmland and making meadows grow. At the Shoreline, where the towns retain a historic persona of tidy coastal charm, the river connects with the sea in a timeless and elemental way.