St. Mary's Episcopal Church

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  • Home
  • Who We Are
    • Worship/Sacraments
    • Sharing God's Space
    • Pastoral Care
    • Liturgical Ministries
    • Leadership and Staff >
      • Clergy and Lay Staff
      • Vestry
    • History and Campus
    • Partners in Faith and Community
  • Faith In Action
  • Visitors
  • News/Events
    • Happenings

Greater Manchester Community

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
                                              
                              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, South Windsor
                                             Farmers Markets in Manchester, Coventry, South Windsor and Ellington
                              Historic Attractions:
                                             Mark Twain House
                                             Nathan Hale Homestead
                                             Old Sturbridge Village
                                             Bradley Air Museum
                                             Cheney National Historic District
St. Mary's Episcopal Church
41 Park Street, Manchester, CT  06040
860-649-4583