If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness.

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

– Henry David Thoreau

40 enchanting pictures from Connecticut’s past

This collection of pictures reveals a side of Connecticut that many have never seen.

Map of Pioneer Hartford, CT highlights life in the 1600’s

This vintage map of Hartford, CT shows the city as it looked in the 1600’s.

Beautifully restored map of Stonington, Connecticut from 1879

Historic bird’s eye view of Stonington, Connecticut as it used to be

Vintage hand-colored map of Connecticut from 1857

This beautiful hand drawn map of Connecticut was created in 1857 by Laura Roys, a student who attended Hartford Female Seminary, an all-female academy in Hartford, Connecticut. The map is beautifully colored, with shades of blue, orange, red, pink, yellow, and violet adorning the border of each city and town.

Beautifully restored map of Bethel, Connecticut from 1867

Vintage landowners map of Bethel, Connecticut as it used to be