“Inhabitants of this {Connecticut River} valley ... are so remote from a market as to be perfectly free from that sense of inferiority customarily felt by the body of people who live in the neighborhood of large cities. Hence a superior spirit of personal independence is generated and cherished.’’

— Timothy Dwight (1752-1817), in Travels in New England and New York. Born in Northampton, Mass., he was president of Yale in 1795-1817 as well as a noted author and theologian.