Connecticut has a rich history, a commitment to the arts, and abundant natural beauty--all of which are easily accessible in this compact state, which measures 60 miles from north to south and some 90 miles across. The dynamic 18th century is memorialized in significant sites in virtually every part of the state. A few of these include the Wethersfield house, where Washington planned Revolutionary War strategy; the West Hartford farmhouse and birth place of Noah Webster; the New London and East Haddam schoolhouses, where patriot Nathan Hale taught; and the Old State House in Hartford, the oldest in the nation. Every year thousands visit the elaborate Victorian mansion of Mark Twain, in Hartford. Next door is the home of Harriet Beecher Stowe.