Connecticut State Seals

The current State Seal is also known as the Great Seal. You can also find information on the Colonial Seal and on the Original Seal.

This additional information on the symbolism of the grapevines, compiled by State Library staff, may prove useful:

The grapevines on the shield date back to Connecticut's earliest seal which had fifteen vines. Later the number of vines was reduced to three. According to The Story of the Connecticut Flag by Caroline Clifford Newton, "just what the vines meant and why there should have been fifteen of them no one really knows. Perhaps they simply stood for a vineyard, or a plantation. Colonies were often called Plantations. We do know, however, that the people who first landed in New England were amazed at the quantity of wild grapevines they found in the woods. In the old world vineyards were fenced in and vines were private property. In the new, they were free to all.

. . . It is probable that the three vines stood for the three colonies which united and formed the Connecticut Colony, although other suggestions have been made (such as the three little river towns.) No one can really say."

The three little river towns mentioned are Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor which made up the original Connecticut Colony. That Connecticut Colony united later with the New Haven Colony and a third colony at Saybrook under the title of the Connecticut Colony.

Another explanation of the grapevines is tied in with our State Motto, "He who transplanted sustains." According to Newton's publication, "where it came from we do not know. Some think from the verse in the 80th Psalm, 'Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt and planted it.' It certainly expresses the belief of the leaders of the Connecticut Colonies that God had brought them into a new world and would sustain them in it."