1. Milford Hospital
City: Milford, CT
Category: Health Care
Telephone: (203) 876-4000
Address: 300 Seaside Ave.
Description: Milford Hospital is a 106-bed facility that employs over 300 physicians. It provides a full range of services to New Haven and Fairfield County residents. A recent $28 million renovation insures patients are treated in modern facilities with the most advanced technological innovations. The emergency and urgent-care center sees upwards of 12,000 people a year. Other award-winning centers include the Connecticut Joint Center and the Family Childbirth Center. The hospital was the first in the state to invest in 3-D and 4-D imaging for radiology screening.
2. Cafe Atlantique
City: Milford, CT
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (203) 882-1602
Address: 33 River St.
Description: This is one of the state’s top coffee bars but, oh, so much more. Owned by Sandy Dzialo and Tina Roberts, this corner cafe by the train station serves excellent soups, pastries, salads, crepes, and wraps. Changing art from local artists hangs on the walls, and the Atlantique features poetry and open mike nights. There’s free street parking in Milford, an unusual pleasure, and more across the street near the green. There are a few comfy couches (it is a coffee shop, after all), but if you’re there in the summer, definitely sit on the alley porch, which will take you immediately to another time and place.
3. The Corner
City: Milford, CT
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (203) 882-1150
Address: 105 River St.
Description: Walking into the Corner is a little like walking into an ancient tearoom, or your grandma’s sitting room, complete with hutches stacked with china. You will certainly not be expecting culinary experimentation here. But you would be wrong. You’ll find things like crispy goat cheese medallions on English muffins and apricot French toast. Their most popular dish is probably an African beef hash, with lentils and spices. Their Sunday brunch is legendary, and you can find things like wild boar sausage and alligator wraps. Of course, the Corner also has more traditional food, like buttermilk pancakes and eggs Benedict. But why not go for the gusto? They hand-write lists of the day’s specials and only accept cash, so stop by the ATM on your way here.
4. Stonebridge Restaurant
City: Milford, CT
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (203) 874-7947
Address: 50 Daniel St.
Description: This classic Milford restaurant with its many rooms in a rambling building is popular with people throughout the entire county. If you’re there in the warmer months, make sure to sit somewhere on the huge deck and patio, which overlook the Wepawaug River and its romantic waterfall. Many people come here just for drinks and the lighter-fare menu they offer on the decks. But if you’ve got an appetite, try the littleneck clams and then get the lobster grilled cheese or the fried whole belly clams. If you’re not in the mood for seafood, the steaks here are done just right. The blue crab and lobster cassoulet is a revelation: picked lobster baked under a crab crust, topped with béarnaise sauce. Wow.
5. Collected Stories
City: Milford, CT
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (203) 874-0115
Address: 06460
Description: This small but packed bookstore in the center of Milford has a great collection of used classics in fine condition. There is a large fiction section, along with carefully chosen architecture, essay, and history books, including a sizable local history section, as well as books on pirates and other seafarers. For literature lovers they have a great selection of the Beats and the modernists. Collected Stories also sponsors events like weekly tarot readings. This downtown area of Milford is definitely worth a walk, with many small shops and restaurants, a long village green, and a quaint, protected harbor and marina. Try the Bistro Basque for lunch or head over to the classic Stonebridge Restaurant.
6. Westfield Connecticut Post Shopping Mall
City: Milford, CT
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (203) 878-6837
Address: 1201 Boston Post Rd.
Description: This mall right off of I-95 in Milford is always a buzzing hive of activity. The large stores, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Sears, Target, JCPenney, and Macy’s, anchor the giant 215-store shopping center. You will find many others that will suit your needs, from Generation X to Yankee Candle. There are over 30 places to eat, including Sakura Garden and Buffalo Wild Wings, and a movie theater as well, making the mall a great place to spend the day and evening. The mall is also located along the famous Post Road, which has hundreds more shopping opportunities up and down its length, in case the hundreds of stores at the mall aren’t enough to satisfy your endless shopping needs.
7. Connecticut Audubon Coastal Center And Silver Sands State Park
City: Milford, CT
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (203) 878-7440
Address: 1 Milford Point Rd.
Description: The Connecticut Audubon Society’s Coastal Center at Milford Point is a small nature center with a demonstration tank and salt marsh lab. It is attached to the Smith-Hubbell Wildlife Refuge and Bird Sanctuary, and on the back side of the park, in the mouth of the Housatonic River, the 840-acre Charles Wheeler Salt Marsh and Wildlife Management Area is a prime nesting area. This is a birding hot spot: An amazing 315 species have been identified here. The 70-foot covered observation tower gives panoramic vistas of the coast and the Housatonic River. If you’d rather soak up some rays, head a mile east to Silver Sands State Park, which is partially developed but has a fine beach and is one of the few in the state that won’t require a fee. The tiny Charles Island just across from the park is one of the spots where Captain Kidd reportedly buried gold in 1699. Both of these places are likely to be quiet refuges from the bustle of the coast in the summer, and are absolutely lovely in autumn and early spring.
8. Milford Oyster Festival
City: Milford, CT
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (203) 878-5363
Insider Pick:
Description: This annual Aug event is one of the largest in New England, with over 50,000 people attending every year. Milford has been running the Oyster Festival since 1975, and it seems to get bigger every time. The event only lasts 1 day, but features dozens of food vendors and hundreds of artists and craftspeople. Yes, hundreds. There are boat races, a nationally known headlining band, amusement park rides, cruises on the Sound, and a classic car and motorcycle show. This is also a great time to check out the historic Wharf Lane complex with its 3 18th-century houses (http://milfordhistoricalsociety.angelfire.com). It’s unclear whether the people come for all this great entertainment or the chance to consume dozens of fresh, raw, on the half-shell oysters. Whatever the case, this is one event not to be missed if you’re on the central Connecticut shoreline on the third Sat in Aug. If not, change your schedule around.
9. New England Arts And Crafts Festival
City: Milford, CT
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (203) 878-6647
Description: Run by the Milford Arts Council, this 2-day festival in July features over 100 booths filled with original artwork handmade by artists and craftspeople. On Milford’s expansive green, near the harbor and amid great restaurants and shops, you can wander through the amazing paintings, sculptures, pottery, weaving, and other crafts. The festival also features food vendors, dance lessons, henna tattoos, live music, and other live events. There is a sidewalk chalk contest and a festival of one-act plays, at which you can vote for your favorite. The festival is also juried, so try to guess who will win. All this with free admission and parking.
10. Great River Golf Club
City: Milford, CT
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (203) 878-9623
Address: 130 Coram Ln.
Description: This par 72, 18-hole course in Milford lies right against the Housatonic River, and the scenic views from the links make for a delightful distraction, as well as a water challenge for 12 holes. There are 7 wooden bridges to cross and a 30-foot waterfall by the 11th hole. You can play the course from 5 sets of tees, which make it 2,000 yards longer or shorter for different play levels. Players of all levels are accommodated with 5 sets of tees stretching the course from 5,170 to 7,191 yards. However, the back 9 are definitely more challenging, with a 150 slope. The restaurant, Monty’s, is open Mon through Sat for lunch and dinner and on Sun for brunch until 3 p.m. You should call ahead and make reservations if you want to play this course, and if you plan on eating at the restaurant. The list of awards and stellar ratings is too long to cite here, but we’ll just say they are consistently rated one of the top 10 courses in Connecticut and top 100 public courses in the nation.