Flashback 200 years. You have to travel from Hartford to NYC. How do you get there? Not by train (it didn’t exist yet) and certainly not by road (2-3 days by stage coach on dirt roads). No, the best option was by boat.
Long before the railroad
stitched Hartford to New York City, the Connecticut River served as the city’s
lifeline to the outside world. From the late 1700s through the mid-1800s, an
evolving fleet of sail and later steam-powered vessels carried passengers and
cargo between Hartford and Manhattan, offering a vital and—by the standards of
the day—relatively comfortable mode of travel.
At one point, Hartford saw
2000 ship arrivals and departures each year departing from the State Street or
Talcott Street wharfs in Hartford,
In the early 1800s, packet
sloops and schooners plied the river, their sails filling with wind as they
made their way downriver to Long Island Sound. But the trip could still take
several days, depending on weather and tides. Passengers brought food and
bedding, and travel was anything but posh. Yet it was the only practical way to
move not only people but bulk goods like timber, livestock, tobacco, and farm
produce between inland Connecticut and the growing metropolis to the south.
The revolution came in 1813, when Captain Samuel Ward, inspired by Robert Fulton, launched the Connecticut, the first steamboat to serve the river. By the 1820s and 1830s, steam travel had become a fixture, offering more predictable service regardless of wind or tide. Steamboats like the 273-foot-long City of Hartford and the Granite State could make the journey from Hartford to New York City in 14 to 18 hours, often departing in the evening and arriving the next morning—ushering in the age of the “night boat.”
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| Steamboat "City of Hartford" |
Fares were remarkably
affordable. A cabin ticket—which included sleeping quarters and meals—typically
cost $1.50 to $2.00 one way (about $75 today). Budget-conscious travelers could
ride “deck passage” for just $0.50 to $1.00, though they had to supply their
own bedding and brave the weather.
Passengers boarded at
steamboat docks in Hartford, stopping at Middletown, Essex, and other towns
along the river before entering Long Island Sound for the final leg to Manhattan’s
bustling piers.
This watery highway remained
dominant until the 1850s, when the completion of the Hartford and New Haven
Railroad (opened in segments in 1844) and its southern connection to New York
created the first through-train service. The railroad made the trip in 5-6
hours offering swanky parlor cars. By 1872, rail mergers made seamless rail
travel commonplace, gradually eclipsing river travel in speed and convenience.
The last steam boat between
the two cities ran in the 1930’s due to declining passenger demand and the
Depression.
So the next time you’re
enjoying the (up to) three hour drive to The Big Apple, think back to simpler
times when the trip was longer, but certainly more scenic.
