This month’s State Spotlight takes us to charming Connecticut! The Constitution State is known for its quaint seaside villages and rural areas, rich history, easy access to NYC and other east coast hotspots, overall New England charm, and so much more. There are also tons of great travel nurse, allied, and other travel healthcare jobs in this cool state. Read on to learn more about why you should get connected with a great travel healthcare gig in Connecticut!
Travel Nursing in Connecticut
Connecticut is a lovely place for a travel nursing or other travel healthcare assignment. In The Constitution State you’ll have plenty to do and see on your days off while you simultaneously build your skills and resume at work.
Connecticut is home to about 42 hospitals — according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2019/2020 Best Hospitals list. That includes their #1-ranked Connecticut hospital, Yale New Haven Hospital in New Haven, which is nationally ranked in 12 adult specialties and nine pediatric specialties, in addition to being ranked “High Performing” in one additional adult specialty and nine procedures/conditions. Rounding out the top three overall best hospitals in Connecticut are Hartford Hospital in Hartford and St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford.
U.S. News & World Report’s 2019 “Best States” ranked Connecticut #21 overall, as well as #3 for health care and #6 for natural environment. According to Livability.com, some of the best places to live in Connecticut include Stamford, Weston, Westport, Bridgeport, New Haven, and Greenwich.
As for licensing, Connecticut is not currently a walk-through state or a compact state, but it is a NURSYS state. Click here for more, up to date info on licensing in Connecticut.
Connecticut Fast Facts
State Nickname: The Constitution State (or sometimes, The Nutmeg State)
Capital: Hartford
Largest City: Bridgeport
National Parks: 2
State Parks: 54
National Historic and Natural Landmarks: 68
State Motto: “Qui Transtulit Sustinet,” which means “He Who Transplanted Still Sustains”
State Flower: Mountain Laurel
State Tree: The Charter Oak
State Animal: Sperm Whale
State Song: Yankee Doodle
State Cantata: The Nutmeg: Homeland of Liberty
Connecticut was the fifth state and one of the original 13 colonies.
Famed businessman and circus visionary P.T. Barnum is one of the state’s most famous residents. Today you can visit the Barnum Museum in Bridgeport to learn his story.
Native Americans who lived in what is now Connecticut were largely of the Algonquian Indian family.
The global sandwich shop chain Subway started humbly as Pete’s Subway in Bridgeport in 1965.
The first telephone book — which featured a scant 50 listings — was created in New Haven in 1878.
Connecticut’s Hartford Courant launched in 1764 and is the country’s oldest continuously published newspaper. For perspective on this, George Washington once placed ads in the paper to rent out part of Mount Vernon and Thomas Jefferson once sued them for libel! (Jefferson lost that suit, by the way.)
Connecticut was one of two states (the other being Rhode Island) that never ratified the 18th Amendment which outlined Prohibition. Party on, CT!
In 1809, South Killingly, Connecticut’s Mary Kies was the first woman to receive a U.S. patent.
The nation’s first automobile law was passed at the state level in Connecticut in 1901 — it set the speed limit at 12 miles per hour.
The frisbee, cotton gin, Colt .45, can opener, portable typewriter, submarine, vulcanized rubber, ESPN, hamburger, Polaroid cameras, helicopter, lollipops, vacuum cleaner, anesthesia, speed limit laws, and color television were all invented in Connecticut.
The World Wrestling Federation is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.
Connecticut was the first state to issue permanent license plates for cars in 1937.
Famous folks from or who’ve lived in Connecticut include Katharine Hepburn, Christopher Lloyd, George W. Bush, Michael Bolton, Suzanne Collins, Justin Long, Annie Leibovitz, Meg Ryan, Glenn Close, John Mayer, Karen Carpenter, Ernest Borgnine, Ralph Nader, Paul Giamatti, Seth MacFarlane, P.T. Barnum, Mark McGrath, and Betsey Johnson.
Noah Webster, author of the first American dictionary published in 1807, was born in West Hartford, Connecticut.
PEZ Candy is manufactured in Orange, Connecticut.
Yale University is ranked as one of the world’s greatest and wealthiest universities.
Cattle branding actually started in Connecticut when farmers were required by law to mark their pigs.
Famous traitor Benedict Arnold was born in Norwich, Connecticut.
To Do & See in Connecticut
The Constitution State may be small in size, but it offers travel nurses and other travel healthcare professionals a bounty of great places to live, work, and play! Connecticut offers seaside splendor, cool city centers, and beautiful countryside spaces, as well as historical attractions, outdoorsy opportunities, great cuisine, and cool culture — making it a lovely place to for your next travel healthcare adventure.
For city lovers, The Constitution State’s largest cities include Bridgeport, New Haven, Hartford, and Stamford. But even as the state’s largest city, Bridgeport’s population hovers just under 150k, so it’s a great state for those who prefer small towns and humbly sized cities. (But don’t worry city mice — when you’re in Connecticut you’re never too far from a grand metropolis like NYC and Boston.)
Bridgeport is a historic seaport city where you can explore Seaside Park, Beardsley Zoo, The Barnum Museum, The Discovery Museum and Planetarium, and tons more. New Haven is another fun coastal city to explore and it’s famously the home of Ivy League Yale University. Yale, which was founded in 1701, is a really cool, historic campus to explore, and you’ll also want to check out the Yale University Art Gallery and Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.
Speaking of history, as the fifth state and one of the original 13 colonies, Connecticut has a ton of interesting historical sites to explore. There’s the Goodspeed Opera House, Mark Twain House and Museum, Gillette Castle State Park, Fort Trumbull State Park, Weir Farm National Historic Site, Olde Mistick Village, Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, Stonington Lighthouse Center, Castle Craig, and tons more throughout Connecticut’s urban and rural areas.
Connecticut was also heavily featured in two very seminal cultural artifacts: the movie Mystic Pizza and the TV show “Gilmore Girls.” Mystic Pizza, starring Julia Roberts, Lili Taylor, Matt Damon, Annabeth Gish, and Vincent D’Onofrio, was shot largely in Mystic, Stonington, and Groton Connecticut. While the movie came out in 1988, tourists continue to flock to Mystic, Connecticut and the real-life Mystic Pizza restaurant that inspired the movie for their very own “slice of heaven.” And for “Gilmore Girls” fans, while the idyllic Stars Hollow is sadly a fictional town, it was also heavily inspired by real-life Connecticut charm. Showrunner Amy Sherman-Palladino was staying at the Mayflower Grace Inn in Washington, Connecticut when she was inspired to create Stars Hollow in its image. Of course, Lorelai and Rory could also often be found downing coffee and chatting feverishly in Hartford and New Haven.
Hungry from all this history and pop culture? Connecticut’s cuisine will have you licking your chops. From tiny cafes and diners to fine dining foodie hotspots, Connecticut offers a little bit of everything. With its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, Connecticut is definitely known for its seafood, including its iconic white clam pizza.While on assignment in Connecticut you can enjoy other iconic faves like steamed cheeseburgers, homemade ice cream and donuts, hot dogs, apple cider, hot lobster rolls, New Haven-style pizza, grinders and sub sandwiches, shad (the state fish) and shad bake, kettle chips, steamer clams, cod and clambakes, historic Yankee fare, and more.Wash it all down with a Foxon Park Soda and you’ll be living like a true Connecticuter!