Blank Connecticut map

What the outline shows

The map shows Connecticut's border only. The north edge with Massachusetts is straight except for a small rectangular notch near the middle, the Southwick Jog, where Massachusetts dips south. The east edge with Rhode Island is straight but not quite north–south. The south is the shore of Long Island Sound, with the mouths of the Connecticut, Housatonic and Thames rivers visible as small inlets. The west edge with New York is straight for most of its length, then bends to form the panhandle that reaches Greenwich. Nothing is drawn inside. Note that Connecticut's eight counties have no county government, and the county map exists for reference only. Capital puts a dot at Hartford, on the river in the north-central part of the state.

Portrait or landscape

Connecticut is about 110 miles east to west and 70 miles north to south, a wide, low shape. Print in landscape. At that scale the state is large on the page and the Southwick Jog, the panhandle and the river mouths are all easy to see. Portrait cuts the map to about half size and is only worth choosing if a long answer list must fit under the map. Because the state is small, the print is close to a true wall-map scale; a hand-drawn Connecticut River will be about six inches long.

Five classroom exercises

1. Draw the Connecticut River entering from Massachusetts north of Hartford and flowing south to Long Island Sound at Old Saybrook, splitting the state into east and west.
2. Draw the Housatonic River from the northwest corner down to the Sound at Stratford, and the Thames from Norwich to New London.
3. Mark the Southwick Jog notch on the Massachusetts border and the panhandle in the southwest, and explain that both are results of colonial boundary disputes.
4. Place Hartford, Bridgeport, New Haven and Stamford; then check which of them sit on the coast and which on the Connecticut River.
5. Shade Long Island Sound and mark the point on the east coast where the state meets Rhode Island at the Pawcatuck River.

How to recognise the Connecticut outline

• A wide rectangle with a ragged bottom edge (the shoreline) and a bump at the lower left.
• A small notch in the top edge near the centre, the Southwick Jog.
• The southwest corner extends past the straight New York line into a panhandle.
• Three river mouths cut into the south coast at roughly equal spacing.

Answer key and related maps

• Connecticut map — the labeled version with capital, cities and borders; use it as the answer key.
• Printable Connecticut map — the same outline with cities, county lines and the capital printed on.
• Connecticut county map — all 8 counties with their seats.
• Hartford — the capital, on the Connecticut River.
• Neighbours: Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York blank maps.
• New England and US coastlines.
• All blank state maps and the printable US maps index.