In 2009, Carol T. Correa de Best, current Associate Director of Multicultural Affairs for Trinity College, created the Puerto Rican Heritage Trail of Hartford, CT website in order to outline , which was subsequently archived. Now, a decade later, La Plaza Virtual has recovered the content from the original website, thus reviving the Heritage Trail project! The trail highlights the history of Puerto Ricans in Hartford and traces their impact to distinct locations spread across three neighborhoods. We invite you to explore the virtual trail by first reading the historical context followed by the layout of the trail and the history behind all the neighborhoods. The next stop is immersing yourself into each neighborhood by reading the unique history for each location on the trail. Finally, make sure to be on the look out for links that will take you directly to the Interview and Audio Recordings page in order to engage with different oral histories. Enjoy!
Historical of Puerto Rican migration in Hartford
The first stop on the virtual trail is getting to learn about Puerto Rican history in Hartford!
What Does the Trail Look Like?
After reading the historical context behind the heritage trail, your next stop is understanding its layout as well as the brief histories of our three neighborhoods.
Interview Audio Recordings and Transcripts
As you read along, there will be links that take you to this page where you can listen to different interviews while reading their respective transcripts!
“The positive experience that I have had as a Puerto Rican in Hartford has encouraged me to be aware of its unique environment and has given me the desire to capture Puerto Rican Hartford’s essence in words and maps. For this reason I have worked to write, research, organize and upload this content, with the help of the class Hispanic Hartford of Spring 2009, Professor Anne Gebelein, Trinfo Café director Carlos Espinosa, The Hartford History Center and Samuel Medina.”
Carol T. Correa De Best, 2009