This lesson works well after students read Where I Live: Connecticut, Chapter 1: Geography, pages 5 – 11, and Chapter 3: Quinnetukut Becomes Connecticut, pages 21 – 25. Also recommended: “The State Animal: The Sperm Whale,” whereilivect.org/the-state-animal-the-sperm-whale.

Begin with an in-class discussion about how early settlements were maritime communities driven by maritime activities such as shipbuilding, fishing, whaling, and international shipping and trade.
 
Here are some questions to help guide the discussion.
 
Q. How were Connecticut’s coastal villages founded? 
A. Connecticut’s coastal shoreline borders Long Island Sound. It is rocky and has many small coves and inlets. Native Americans had seasonal villages along the coastline in the summer to take advantage of fishing and collecting shellfish. Dutch traders set up trading bases along the coast and were followed by English settlers who built permanent settlements.
    
Q. What is a peninsula? 
A. A piece of land surrounded by water on three sides and projecting out into a body of water. 
 
Q. What is a borough? 
A. In Connecticut, a portion of a town can incorporate as a borough: usually a small village area. In 2016 there were 9 boroughs in Connecticut. They are all part of a larger town, but they can provide their own police and fire services, street lighting, garbage pickup, and building code enforcement as well as levy taxes.
 
Q. What is a lighthouse? Why were they built? 
A. A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses were built with funding from the federal government, a sign of how important coastal shipping was to the young nation. In 2018 there were 22 lighthouses in Connecticut. 
     
Q. What does immigrate mean?  
A. To move permanently to a foreign country.

Q. Why would people want to go to a new country?
A. For religious freedom, for jobs, to escape a war or disaster like famine, or to be able to build a better life for their family.
 
Q. What types of historic buildings do you think you would find in a maritime village that you wouldn’t find in a mill village or farming town? 
A. Lighthouses, boat houses, docks, wharves, fish packing plants, fishing boats, sea captain’s homes, and customs houses. 

Q. What would it be like to work as fisherman on a fishing boat?  What are the pluses and the minuses of being a fisherman? 
A. Pluses include being outdoors, setting your own schedule, possibly working with your family, and learning on the job. Minuses include the cold weather, danger, boat maintenance, and sometimes you don’t catch fish, so you don’t have anything to sell.