Chester in Connecticut River Valley

Hardly more than a 3-block business center, the riverside hamlet of Chester still deserves savoring. Main Street offers up antiques shops, galleries, and several eateries. Ceramica, 36 Main St. (tel. 800/270-0900; www.ceramicadirect.com), an outlet of a small chain, carries a line of uniformly gorgeous hand-painted bowls, pitchers, vases, and teapots from Italy.

Nearby is Devil's Hopyard State Park, 366 Hopyard Rd., East Haddam (tel. 860/873-8566; www.ct.gov), with hiking, camping, a reputation for some of the finest birding in the state, and fishing -- brook trout, in particular.