Chestnuts roasting on an open fire conjures up all kinds of iconic images—warming fires, wintry scenes, and home-cooked holiday meals.
Connecticut River Critters: The Spotted Turtle
The spotted turtle is spending the winter in our wetlands and streams tucked under a meandering riverbank or in a wetland submerged under woody debris.
Below the Surface: Alone at the Top—Fish in the Headwaters
The collection of fish in a particular stretch of river can be considered a “community.” The community includes a number of different fish species, all sharing the same habitat and therefore all having similar habitat preferences.
Context is Everything for Nautilus Architects
On a steep hill above the Connecticut River, Greystone shines in the morning sun. The texture of the natural stone contrasts with the clean modernist lines of wood and glass.
Casting About: The Terrestrial Hatch
In the short, dark days of winter, we find ourselves thinking back to the angling season just past, fondly remembering our time on the water.
Nipmuc Mishoon
When Andre Strongbearheart Gaines-Roberson, Jr., came to the phone, he couldn’t help sounding a bit tired, having worked around the clock over the previous ten days, catching an hour or two of sleep in his tent at various times while supervising the “burn” of a mishoon, or canoe, hollowed out from a tree, in the Nipmuc tradition.
Estuary for Young Readers #20
Me and Ray are expert ferrymen, it’s true, but we’re experts with small ferries that shuttle people, animals, and the mail across the Connecticut River between Saybrook and Lyme.
Gardening for Good: Waste Not, Want Not
Before you turn the page, give me a second. Yes, this is still “Gardening for Good,” and yes, the topic is urine—ours. But it’s also about how we can rethink the way things have always been done in favor of better alternatives for the long run.
Wildlife Wonders: Maggie Jones on Barred Owls
Barred owls may look lovable, but don’t be fooled. “Don’t let their adorable puffy heads and big, dark, watery eyes fool you,” Maggie Jones said, “Barred owls are badass. They are fierce.”
Covering Ground: Falling Water and Industrial Ghosts
Welcome Christine Woodside and her new column, Covering Ground.
Tracking Quabbin Reservoir’s Winter Wildlife
On a brisk February afternoon last winter, I set out to look for animal tracks at the northern end of Quabbin Reservoir in central Massachusetts.
Look Again
This article appears in the Winter 2025 issueWilliam Earle William’s ethereal photographs transport us back in time and to another place—familiar, and yet layered with new meaning. Through a two-year residency with the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, Connecticut, culminating in a special exhibition there last year, and now a catalog, Their Kindred Earth, Williams explored the eastern …
Third Annual Early Career Achievement in Environmentalism Award
On behalf of Estuary magazine and its parent The Watershed Fund, we are pleased to announce the winners of the 2025 Early Career Achievement in Environmentalism Award.
The Scourge of Hydrilla
This is the second in a series of stories about hydrilla. For an introduction, see “Hydrilla: The Nine-Headed Serpent in our Estuary Waters,” by Judy Preston, Fall 2020, and at https://www.estuarymagazine.com/2020/11/hydrilla/.
Letter from the Publisher:
estuary…A Magazine about Life of the Connecticut River
A Letter from the Editor:
If you are reading this, there is an excellent chance you love the River as much as we do. The more we speak with readers like you, the more we hear new and interesting stories about the River. This is an invitation to submit those stories to us so that we might share them with other readers. We have a process for doing this. Go to estuarymagazine.com/submissions and read the detailed instructions on how to submit story ideas. You can also submit letters to the editor.
Send Us Your Best
This dramatic photo was taken by Frank Dinardi an amateur wildlife photographer from Connecticut.
An Editorial
When people wore gas masks to protect from the man-made stench of the Connecticut River
A Room with a View
Tom Rose does not live on the Connecticut River, but he lives surrounded by a panoramic River view. His view is not obstructed by buildings, by trees or by traffic-laden roads because he created it himself.