Life in the Manchester Area
Manchester has the virtue of being an authentic place with a personality all its own. While it is technically a suburban town, it has none of the blandness that the term “suburban” often brings to mind. Like most towns, Manchester has undergone changes over the years, yet it has retained many of the characteristics that enable it to live up to its motto, “City of Village Charm.”
Manchester boasts a healthy Downtown area along Main Street. This area has restaurants, businesses, professional offices, several churches, a branch of the community college and the town’s main library. Downtown is the site for numerous events throughout the year, including the start and finish lines for Manchester’s world-famous Thanksgiving Day Road Race. Other events include Cruisin’ on Main, a vintage car show begun in 2001 that annually attracts hundreds of show cars and tens of thousands of visitors. A series called Imagine Main Street brings art and performance programs to the area. Downtown features creative scarecrows and daytime trick-or-treating at Halloween, specially designed runner manikins in November and holiday decorations at year’s end. Restaurants serving Thai, Italian, Mexican, traditional American and numerous other cuisines are all within walking distance of one another on Main Street.
The north end of Manchester is home to a regional retail destination, with a large mall and many retail plazas conveniently clustered together.
The town has many charming residential neighborhoods ranging from the historic to the new; a K-12 school system that offers a wide range of academic and extracurricular opportunities; four religious schools; two magnet schools; and the largest of the state’s 12 community colleges.
Anyone who enjoys outdoor recreation will appreciate Manchester’s exceptional array of biking and hiking trails, athletic fields, playgrounds and parks. A full list of these and other resources appears at the end of this entry.
Many attractive destinations are easily available from Manchester. Connecticut’s capital city of Hartford, with its performance venues, museums, historic sites, restaurants and more, is only 20 minutes away. New York City and Boston are each about two hours away by car. Residents can reach the Connecticut shoreline in an hour and Massachusetts’ beautiful Berkshire Mountains in about 90 minutes. Bradley International Airport, only a half-hour from Manchester, is a gateway to the rest of the world.
More information about Manchester may be found at http://www.townofmanchester.org/
Here is a list of notable cultural, arts, educational and recreational resources in and around Manchester:
Colleges and Universities:
The University of Connecticut
The University of Hartford
Manchester Community College
Goodwin College
Capital Community College
Trinity College
Central Connecticut State University
Eastern Connecticut State University
The University of Saint Joseph
Outdoor Recreation:
Case Mountain Recreational Area – hiking, mountain biking
Wickham Park – gardens, playgrounds, picnicking
Center Springs Park – trails, sledding and ice skating
Northwest Park – trails, baseball, children’s playground and picnics
Charter Oak Park – sports
Rails to Trails – biking, walking
East Coast Greenway – biking, walking
Performance Venues:
Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts
Hartford Stage
XFINITY Theater
Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts
Little Theater of Manchester
Manchester Band Shell
Several movie theaters
Sports:
Manchester Road Race
University of Connecticut
Storrs, Gampel Pavilion and other – Basketball, baseball, soccer, field hockey
East Hartford, Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field – Football
Hartford, XL Center – Ice hockey
Hartford Wolfpack, Hartford, XL Center – Ice hockey
Hartford Yard Goats – Baseball
New Britain Bees – Baseball
Arts:
Wadsworth Athenaeum
New Britain Museum of American Art
Children’s Museums:
Connecticut Science Center
Lutz Children’s Museum
The Children’s Museum (West Hartford)
Shopping and Restaurants:
Main Street, Manchester
The Shoppes at Buckland Hill Shopping Mall
Evergreen Walk
Farmers Markets – Manchester, Coventry, South Windsor, Ellington
Historic Attractions:
Mark Twain House
Nathan Hale Homestead
Old Sturbridge Village
Bradley Air Museum
Cheney National Historic District
Manchester has the virtue of being an authentic place with a personality all its own. While it is technically a suburban town, it has none of the blandness that the term “suburban” often brings to mind. Like most towns, Manchester has undergone changes over the years, yet it has retained many of the characteristics that enable it to live up to its motto, “City of Village Charm.”
Manchester boasts a healthy Downtown area along Main Street. This area has restaurants, businesses, professional offices, several churches, a branch of the community college and the town’s main library. Downtown is the site for numerous events throughout the year, including the start and finish lines for Manchester’s world-famous Thanksgiving Day Road Race. Other events include Cruisin’ on Main, a vintage car show begun in 2001 that annually attracts hundreds of show cars and tens of thousands of visitors. A series called Imagine Main Street brings art and performance programs to the area. Downtown features creative scarecrows and daytime trick-or-treating at Halloween, specially designed runner manikins in November and holiday decorations at year’s end. Restaurants serving Thai, Italian, Mexican, traditional American and numerous other cuisines are all within walking distance of one another on Main Street.
The north end of Manchester is home to a regional retail destination, with a large mall and many retail plazas conveniently clustered together.
The town has many charming residential neighborhoods ranging from the historic to the new; a K-12 school system that offers a wide range of academic and extracurricular opportunities; four religious schools; two magnet schools; and the largest of the state’s 12 community colleges.
Anyone who enjoys outdoor recreation will appreciate Manchester’s exceptional array of biking and hiking trails, athletic fields, playgrounds and parks. A full list of these and other resources appears at the end of this entry.
Many attractive destinations are easily available from Manchester. Connecticut’s capital city of Hartford, with its performance venues, museums, historic sites, restaurants and more, is only 20 minutes away. New York City and Boston are each about two hours away by car. Residents can reach the Connecticut shoreline in an hour and Massachusetts’ beautiful Berkshire Mountains in about 90 minutes. Bradley International Airport, only a half-hour from Manchester, is a gateway to the rest of the world.
More information about Manchester may be found at http://www.townofmanchester.org/
Here is a list of notable cultural, arts, educational and recreational resources in and around Manchester:
Colleges and Universities:
The University of Connecticut
The University of Hartford
Manchester Community College
Goodwin College
Capital Community College
Trinity College
Central Connecticut State University
Eastern Connecticut State University
The University of Saint Joseph
Outdoor Recreation:
Case Mountain Recreational Area – hiking, mountain biking
Wickham Park – gardens, playgrounds, picnicking
Center Springs Park – trails, sledding and ice skating
Northwest Park – trails, baseball, children’s playground and picnics
Charter Oak Park – sports
Rails to Trails – biking, walking
East Coast Greenway – biking, walking
Performance Venues:
Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts
Hartford Stage
XFINITY Theater
Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts
Little Theater of Manchester
Manchester Band Shell
Several movie theaters
Sports:
Manchester Road Race
University of Connecticut
Storrs, Gampel Pavilion and other – Basketball, baseball, soccer, field hockey
East Hartford, Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field – Football
Hartford, XL Center – Ice hockey
Hartford Wolfpack, Hartford, XL Center – Ice hockey
Hartford Yard Goats – Baseball
New Britain Bees – Baseball
Arts:
Wadsworth Athenaeum
New Britain Museum of American Art
Children’s Museums:
Connecticut Science Center
Lutz Children’s Museum
The Children’s Museum (West Hartford)
Shopping and Restaurants:
Main Street, Manchester
The Shoppes at Buckland Hill Shopping Mall
Evergreen Walk
Farmers Markets – Manchester, Coventry, South Windsor, Ellington
Historic Attractions:
Mark Twain House
Nathan Hale Homestead
Old Sturbridge Village
Bradley Air Museum
Cheney National Historic District