Robbin's Swamp, are the largest natural freshwater wetlands in the state. The absolute biggest lake in the state is Lake Candlewood, a man-made body that lies partially in a marble depression just north of downtown Danbury.

In a few places, ground water seeping through the Marble Valley's soft bedrock has hollowed out a small or a medium-sized cave. The two largest are Bashful Lady Cave, in Salisbury, and Tory Cave, in New Milford. Bashful Lady Cave's over one thousand feet of passageways make it the longest cave in New England. (These two caves now have been closed to the public due to their hazardous condition and vandalism.)

But perhaps the most dramatic effect of erosion on the easily dissolved marble belt has been the creation of several waterfalls. Two of the most impressive waterfalls in Connecticut, Kent Falls and the Great Falls of the Housatonic, rumble with a lion's purr over steep drops in the Marble Valley's bedrock.

Farming the Uplands

When the colonists finally made the push into the Uplands, they found that the land, though more varied than the Central Valley, was nevertheless in general quite good for farming. The colonial Uplands farm was small (usually around 40 to 50 acres), but a large variety of crops was raised. Common crops included wheat, turkey wheat (corn), beans, flax, rapeseed (for oil), oats, and hemp. Large quantities of apples and barley were grown for the brewing of cider and beer, as it was generally considered unhealthy to drink much water. Since most farms also raised animals, farming families were obliged to tend to their livelihood every day of the year. There was little time for leisure between Sundays, the day of rest and worship, and the idea of vacations was not a widely known concept. Yet if contemporary accounts can be believed (again from Jedidiah Morse, who was a minister and not a farmer), this hard life did not bother the Yankee husbandman.

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