If you grew up in Ellington, or you’ve ever spent a summer afternoon at Crystal Lake, you’ll find your town on this map just as it stands in 2026. Look for your road. Main Street, Maple Street, Crystal Lake Road, Sandy Beach Road, Somers Road, Pinney Street, West Road, Mountain Road, Shenipsit Lake Road, Wappingwood Road, Cider Mill Road and Muddy Brook Road are all printed by name, along with many more.
Ellington is in Tolland County, in the northern part of the Connecticut River Valley.
KNOWOL made this map in 2026 from public survey data, and gave it the look of an old atlas. The shaded ground, from the farm fields around Ellington Center out to Crystal Lake and the state forest, comes from United States Geological Survey elevation data. The streets and the town line come from the Census Bureau, right down to small roads like Burbank Road. Ellington, Crystal Lake, Shenipsit Lake and Sandy Beach are printed by name. A guide of 34 numbered landmarks runs along the bottom, with the National Register sites marked, and we checked those against National Park Service records.
See it on a wall
The Ellington map as a framed print. Swipe for more.
Great Marsh to Ellington
The Native people here called the land Weexskashuck, meaning “Great Marsh,” and the earliest settlers called it Great Marsh or Goshen. In 1671 the town of Windsor bought the land that’s now East Windsor and Ellington, though no one tried to settle its fertile ground for another 50 years. Samuel Pinney was the first settler in today’s Ellington. In 1733 Ellington became a parish of Windsor, and in 1768 it went with the new town of East Windsor. Ellington split off and was incorporated in May 1786, the year on the title panel: Incorporated 1786.
Ellington has always been known mostly as a farming town, and cattle and corn farms still cover a lot of its land. In August 1818 Phoebe Hinsdale Brown wrote the hymn “I love to steal awhile away” here, based on her own experience. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Ellington became the center of a community of Jewish immigrant farmers, settled here by the Jewish Colonization Association of the philanthropist Baron Maurice de Hirsch. On January 1, 1967, in thick fog, Ellington made national news when people gathered at the town’s unlit airstrip, Hyde Field, and lit the runway with their car headlights so a pilot in trouble could land safely. Today Ellington is one of the fastest-growing towns in Connecticut. Click here to learn more about the history of Ellington.
Click to explore a larger preview. The digital watermark does not appear on printed maps.
Ellington Center
The cluster of numbers in the middle of the map is Ellington Center. The Ellington Center Historic District (17) covers 80 acres around the town green and the streets that lead to it, with 103 contributing buildings. The green is mostly open space under tall shade trees, and a granite monument marks the site of the first meetinghouse in Ellington Center, built in 1739. The district is known for its well-preserved Federal buildings of the early 1800s, and it has two churches. It was listed on the National Register in 1990.
The Hall Memorial Library (7), a Neo-Classical Revival building of brick and limestone, is one of the largest buildings in the district. Ellington Town Hall (21) and the Ellington Post Office (5) are close by. Center School (2) is a brick building from 1949 that replaced a one-room schoolhouse of 1852. Arbor Park (1) is just southeast of the green, and Ellington High School (24) is a short way east.
Southwest of the center, on Pinney Street, is the Knesseth Israel Synagogue (13). The congregation was founded in 1906 by Yiddish-speaking farmers from Russia and Eastern Europe, and its Colonial Revival building went up in 1913, paid for partly by the Jewish Colonization Association. It was moved to Pinney Street in 1954. Known as the Ellington Shul, it’s still in use by an active Modern Orthodox congregation, and it was listed on the National Register in 1995. Ellington Middle School (9) and the Ellington YMCA (20) are to the south.
Crystal Lake and Shenipsit
The town has a panhandle that reaches east to the Willimantic River and takes in Crystal Lake. From the late 1890s through the Great Depression, Crystal Lake was a popular summer resort. Sandy Beach (18) and Veterans Memorial Park (25) are out in that eastern end of town.
A large part of eastern Ellington is Shenipsit State Forest (23). Its headquarters is home to the Civilian Conservation Corps Museum, and its highest point, Soapstone Mountain, rises 1,075 feet and was the site of a soapstone quarry in colonial times. The Shenipsit Trail crosses its summit. Shenipsit Lake, known locally as “The Snip,” lies on the line with Tolland and Vernon, and it’s the source of the Hockanum River. Kimball Forest (19), the Sunset Hill Preserve (4), the Shenipsit Woods Preserve (29) and the Meyers Farm Preserve (6) are in the north and east of town.
Open Space Across the Town
The guide marks many open spaces and preserves across the town. Look for the Bellante Preserve (3), the Eagle Drive Open Space (8), the Middle Road Open Space (10), the Somers Road Open Space (11), the Bronisz Drive Open Space (12), the Grassy Hill Road Open Space (14), the Cedarwood Drive Open Space (15) and the Ernie Boothroyd Nature Preserve (16). There are also the Swann Farm Preserve (22), the Maple Street Open Space (26), the Bridge Street Open Space (27), the Pinney Street Open Space (28), the Shenipsit Street Open Space (30), the Crystal Lake Road Open Space (32), the Windermere Avenue Open Space (33) and the Wraight Bird Field Conservation Area (34).
This map of Ellington makes a handsome addition to a living room, office, library or den, and it can even help teach children the geography and history of the town. It’s a thoughtful gift for anyone who calls Ellington home, grew up here, or moved away. Created by KNOWOL in 2026, it’s printed on museum quality archival paper in three sizes. Zoom in on the preview above to explore the details, then click here to get your copy of the Ellington map.
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