EXPLORE OUR TOWN MANSFIELDCT.GOV Your place to grow! Welcome to Mansfield! We’re a town known for growing – while sustaining our natural beauty, historic traditions, and progressive thinking for more than 300 years. Many of our early settlers were resourceful farmers. Today, residents and visitors continue to treasure our pristine and preserved fields, forests, lakes, parks, ponds, and trails. Scenic rivers that once powered grist and saw mills, along with the making of silk, tools, bells, cannons, gunpowder, and organ pipes, currently provide invigorating outdoor recreational opportunities. The Storrs Agricultural School established in 1881 became the University of Connecticut, now one of the largest employers in the area. U.S. News & World Report ranks UConn among the top 25 public universities in the nation. UConn has also helped make Mansfield a regional cultural destination, with nationally ranked NCAA Division I athletic teams, museums, theaters, lectures, and musical performances. We invite you to explore our town as a special place to live, learn, do business, work, play, and visit. From homeowners to business owners – students to seniors – families to farmers – canoeing to culture – basketball to lecture hall – parks and rec to innovation and tech – Mansfield is your place to grow! Published by the Town of Mansfield, Connecticut Mansfield Town Hall Audrey P. Beck Municipal Building 4 South Eagleville Road Storrs-Mansfield, CT 06268 For up-to-date information on Mansfield activities, businesses, and organizations, please visit the Town website, www.mansfieldct.gov. For more information, please email [email protected] or call (860) 429-2740. ©2020 Photo credits: Joseph Abad, The Adventure Park at Storrs, John Bell, Kim Bova Photography, Janine Callahan, Molly Deegan, Fitch House Bed & Breakfast, Graduate Storrs, Levin Aerial Works, Milton Levin, MOMIX, Inc. & Charles Paul Azzopardi, Kathleen M. Paterson, Amber Pierce, Dan Uriano. Thank you to the Town of Mansfield and the University of Connecticut for also providing photos. H Mansfield was incorporated in 1702 from the Town of Windham in Hartford County. It was named after Major Moses Mansfield, a part owner of the town site. Mansfield became part of Windham County when that county was formed in 1726. In 1827, Mansfield was then annexed to Tolland County. Northeastern Connecticut – known as “The Quiet Corner” and part of The Last Green Valley National Heritage Corridor – is especially beautiful when blazing autumn colors draw leaf peepers from all over the world. Table of Contents Community • Culture Discover Mansfield........................... 2 Live & Learn ......................................... 4 Country • Campus Have Fun .............................................. 6 Explore Outdoors ............................. 8 Shop, Dine, & Stay ..........................10 Do Business .......................................12 Get Around .......................................14 Connect with the Community ..16 MANSFIELDCT.GOV | 1 Discover Mansfield 45 26,000+ 6,800+ Square Total Population Housing Miles (11,000 year-round) Units The Farwell Barn (also known as Jacobson’s Barn) is a 19th-century post-and-beam framed clapboarded barn that was acquired in 1911 by the Connecticut Agricultural College, which later became the University of Connecticut at Storrs. The barn was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. Explore our scenic roads and historic villages, enjoy world-class arts and athletics, and hit the trails! The Town of Mansfield is a collection of small villages and community neighborhoods nestled in a rolling landscape defined by forests, farmland, and rivers. We cherish our history, which can be seen through the many 18th and 19th century houses that are the heart of our villages and historic districts. Our barns, bed-and-breakfasts, farms, stone walls, walking trails, and waterfalls are all recreational and educational treasures. What’s more, Mansfield offers a unique blend of rural and suburban living in a college-town setting. We have a wealth of cultural and educational offerings as well as an abundance of natural resources. The Mansfield community is particularly able to meet the emerging needs of a young university population, while at the same time providing affordable housing and a wonderful sense of place for raising a family or enjoying a rewarding retirement. Visit our Villages Atwoodville Chaffeeville Chestnut Hill Conantville Eagleville Four Corners Gurleyville Hanks Hill Mansfield Center Enjoying ice cream at the Celebrate Mansfield City Mansfield Festival Mansfield Depot Mansfield Hollow Merrow Mount Hope Perkins Corner 5,000+ Ridges Acres of Natural Spring Hill Parks and Preserves Storrs Wormwood Hill MANSFIELDCT.GOV | 3 11:1 Student-Teacher Ratio (K-8) CT and National Blue Ribbon School Awards Best-in-Class Schools Annie E. Vinton Elementary School Dorothy C. Goodwin Elementary School Southeast Elementary School Mansfield Middle School E.O. Smith High School (Region 19) University of Connecticut #1 in CT for High School Early College Experience Credits More than 50% of Entering UConn Freshmen were in the Top 10% of their High School Class Live & The perfect place Learn for life-long learning! Mansfield is renowned for excellent schools, from pre-K to post- graduate studies. Our three public elementary schools will soon be consolidated into one “net-zero” building (returning as much energy to the power grid as it uses!) and it will be located within walking distance of the Public Library. Our middle school is recognized as one of five in the state with exemplary teaming practices by the Connecticut Association of Schools. Mansfield students consistently perform in the top tiers on test scores, with multiple schools annually earning the School of Distinction designation from the State Department of Education. E.O. Smith High School serves the towns of Mansfield, Ashford, and Willington with rigorous academics, including an award-winning agricultural education program, and numerous clubs and extra- curricular activities. Students can take UConn classes, and E.O. Smith is ranked first in Connecticut for Early College Experience credits earned. UConn’s picturesque main campus spans more than 4,000 acres, and is home to 22,000 undergraduate and graduate students, as well as 80 research centers and institutes. The UConn Center for Learning in Retirement also provides meaningful intellectual activities conducted in an informal and relaxed atmosphere for adults from all walks of life. MANSFIELDCT.GOV | 5 Seasonal & Annual Community Events Storrs Farmers Market (Year-Round) Memorial Day Parade (May) John E. Jackman Tour de Mansfield (June) Summer Concerts on the Square (June & July) Moonlight Movies (Summer) Celebrate Mansfield Festival (September) Trick or Treat (October) Small Business Saturday (November) MOMIX, an internationally renowned dance company based in Washington, Connecticut, performed at the Jorgensen Center for Winter Welcome (December) the Performing Arts on the University of Connecticut campus. Have Fun From tree-tops to tip-offs, movies to museums, you’ll find it in Mansfield! Our many attractions include arts and athletics at UConn, historic sites in our villages, and adventures in our great outdoors. Imagine having a relaxing day fishing or boating – or zipping through the trees on an aerial ropes course – then attending an NCAA Division I sporting event, Broadway- quality show, or old-fashioned drive-in movie that evening. Mansfield offers a wide range of activities for everyone, including several annual and seasonal community events for planning get-togethers with family, friends, and neighbors. The Mansfield Senior Center Choir The Mansfield Community Center is a very active fitness, in concert educational, and recreational resource for the entire region. Enjoy our pools, fitness center, gymnasium, dance and yoga, We also have an outstanding and highly utilized Public teen center, child care, and computer rooms. There are Library. In addition to books, the library helps lend an ear multiple youth athletic leagues, summer camps, and before/ and a hand to everyone in Mansfield. Its many engaging after school programs from which to choose. If the visual and activities range from story-time for toddlers and summer performance arts are more your style, come visit Lenard Hall, reading for tweens and teens – to tool and cake pan loans home of the Mansfield Community School of the Arts. and free seeds for tinkerers, bakers, and gardeners. The Mansfield Senior Center offers a wide variety of activities The Mansfield Historical Society has a museum and and resources to meet the diverse and ever-changing needs research library, which preserves and interprets over 300 of older adults in our community. We offer fitness classes, years of Mansfield history through exhibits, programs, expressive arts groups, wellness programs, recreational and research, and publications. special events, life-long learning, day trips, information and referral services, volunteer opportunities, and more! MANSFIELDCT.GOV | 7 3,500 Acres (12% of Town) is Farmland 18,665 Acres (63% of Town) is Forestland 70 Miles of Walking Trails and Bike Paths Coney Rock is a wooded ridge including a 1,000-foot-long ledge that offers panoramic vistas extending across Mansfield Hollow and Lake Naubesatuck and west to Spring Hill. The Coney Rock Preserve is a 220-acre wooded tract of land owned partly by the Town and partly by Joshua’s Trust. Explore Outdoors