BRANFORD

Branford is a shoreline town in New Haven County where seven distinct neighborhoods spread along Long Island Sound and the Thimble Islands archipelago sits just offshore. The village of Stony Creek, settled in the 1700s, is where you find the Legacy Theatre.

Legacy Theatre occupies a converted 1866 building in Stony Creek that has served as a church, a movie theater, a parachute factory, and a Sicilian puppet house. You watch live theater in a small, restored space lined with historic marionettes — Orson Welles staged a production here in 1938.

A coastal town where the granite quarries still operate and Victorian-era summer resort architecture lines the harbors. Stony Creek retains a working-village feel distinct from the rest of Branford's suburbs.

Tip: Take the ferry from Stony Creek to the Thimble Islands before or after a show — the dock is steps from the Legacy Theatre.

Neighborhoods: Stony Creek • Indian Neck • Short Beach