Understand
Middletown is a small college and business town on the Connecticut River about 15 miles south of Hartford. It is considered to be the southernmost city in the Knowledge Corridor region, featuring an inordinate number of prestigious universities and 120,000 university students. Middletown features a large variety of restaurants 3 Mexican places, 3 Indian places, 2 Thai places, a Tibetan place and uncountable Italian places.
There is one major college - Wesleyan University - located up the hill from downtown but aside from the restaurants and bars on Main Street, there aren't many things for college students to do right in Middletown. Where are the bookstores? The import clothing stores? Well, there may be one or two but they're hiding. To find the heart of Middletown you've got to do a little snooping around.
There are excellent resources here for those with an artistic bent. The Buttonwood Tree is an intimate performance art space on the North End of Main St. Oddfellows Playhouse provides a start in the world of theater for kids of all ages. Then there's Kid City - sort of an exploratorium - a great place to take your kids on a rainy afternoon. And of course all the cultural offerings of Wesleyan University. A few years ago it was rated one of the 100 best art towns in America.
Middletown is also the home to Connecticut Valley Hospital, the major psychiatric facility for southern New England. So if you see a few questionable people on the streets, relax, they're outpatients and they're probably properly medicated.
