The islands carry the town's best story. By long local legend, the privateer Captain William Kidd hid gold among the Thimbles before his capture in 1701 — names like Money Island and Kidd's Cove still nod to the tale, though no treasure has ever turned up. Most of the islets are private homes now, their cottages perched on bare pink rock, and the best way to see them is from one of the tour boats that thread out of Stony Creek harbor on a summer afternoon.
Back on the mainland, Branford kept its handsome shoreline-town bones. The James Blackstone Memorial Library, a domed white-marble landmark, has stood on the Town Green since 1896; the Shore Line Trolley still runs historic streetcars between East Haven and Branford on the oldest continuously operating suburban trolley line in the world; and the Green, the old churches, and the Branford Festival keep the center lively. Today it is a shoreline suburb with a working harbor, island tours, and a few craft breweries to boot.
Why People Visit Branford
Branford blends village greens with island-dotted coves. Visitors mix easy boat rides with libraries, beaches, and shoreline paths, all on Long Island Sound. It is peaceful, nautical, and neighborly, with year-round appeal in its parks, paths, and public spaces. Colonial shoreline history and everyday Connecticut life sit side by side here in a welcoming way, from the Town Green to the granite docks at Stony Creek.
