Connecticut once produced a wide variety of worthy tourmaline specimens, from Elbaite to equant Schorls. Although many of the quarries that produced nice pieces are no longer open for collecting, some still are.
The tourmalines of Connecticut can be gemmy, and were sometimes mistaken for Maine tourmalines. Indeed, even high quality schorls have turned up. Elbaite, Dravite, and Schorl have been found in CT. Achoite, Indicolite, Ruballite, Verdite, and watermelon tourmaline have been found in some pegmatites in the central region of the state, a descent amount being gem quality. Several large specimens have ended up in museums.

Localities:
Many important localities in CT have produced quality gems and specimens. Those, and a few other less important localities are listed here.

Strickland Quarry, Portland.
Many very good tourmalines were uncovered at the Strickland Quarry. Although few were as notable as those from the Gillette Quarry and Brack Prospect, gem crystals and fragments occurred in cavities with Quartz and Albite. They ranged from green and bluish to (rarely) red. Also of importance is the occurrence of hair-like and asbestiform tourmaline. the Quarry is noted to be the only locality in the state with asbestiform tourmalines, which are found in cavities with Albite. Although most of the the Schorl from the quarry was broken fragments, some nice terminated crystals were found. The Elbaites from Strickland range in size from micros to descent sized cabinet specimens. One important find was noted in the Journal Mineralogical Society of America:

"The writer picked up one mass weighing approximately three
kilograms and completely encrusted with the brown secondary
crust. When split this mass was found to be a single crystal
aggregate of tourmaline, purplish at the base, rubellite pink in
the central portion and green in the upper third. Mr. Strickland
concluded that he wanted this specimen, and it has since been
purchased by Prof. Ford for the Brush collection" (V. Shannon 52-53).

It would be nice to now of the current whereabouts of this specimen. However, many museums have a strickland elbaite in there collection. crystals can be seen at the Yale Peabody museum, as well as in the Wesleyan's collection.

Gillette Quarry, Haddam.
Perhaps the most impressive tourmalines in Connecticut came from pockets at the Gillette Quarry. Actually, Gillette was the second gem tourmaline mine in the world. Wonderful, large crystals, ranging in color from dark green to pink, were cut into gems or sold to collectors and museums. one crystal I have seen had the rare occurrence of to terminations. It was a nice green color, and it is extremely rare to find such an undamaged floater tourmaline crystal.
Two large, terminated crystals are on display at the Harvard Mineralogical Museum in Boston, and are spectacular examples of old CT specimens. Like the Strickland, a few Gillette Schorls of good quality have been found. Both Gillette and Strickland are closed to collecting, likely for a very long time, and few of their magnificent tourmalines are on the market.

Brack Prospect, Glastonbury.
The Brack Prospect is a very interesting defunct locality. The locality consisted of a decomposed Pegmatite, worked by hand for gem tourmaline. Most of the crystals were found in collapsed pockets and were mostly green, although some pink an watermelon tourmalines were found. Almost a of the gems were small, but large Elbaites may have turned up. As with the two localities above, it is now very hard to acquire tourmalines from there.

Swanson Quarry, East Hampton.
Although not as productive as the above lithium pegmatites, the Swanson also produced the occasional green of watermelon tourmaline. Some were probably from pockets, but most seem to be frozen in matrix. Even fewer specimens are available from there today.
The owner of this locality is aggressive at keeping people out of the place
Walden Gem Quarry, Portland.
Some Elbaites, pink, watermelon and green, were found in lepidolite at the quarry. Few were gemmy, usually being barely translucent. Most of these tourmaline were nice Ruballite specimens. They seem to be rather large, mostly cabinet specimens.

White Rocks District, Middletown.
Some rather nice Elbaites were found at the quarries of the White Rocks District. Very colorful specimens have been found, although not many are very large. In the occasional pocket, amazing little terminated Elbaite gems of high quality were found. Some of the assemblages of Cookite, Quartz, and Elbaite look very similar to some of the more common Mt. Mica specimens. Also found were some nice terminated schorls. Like the other localities listed so far, the area is closed to collecting. Tourmalines from here are blueish, green, pink, and watermelon, from micros to cabinet sized.

Hewitt Gem Quarry, Haddam.
Some interesting dark green Elbaites, some embedded in Beryl or Quartz crystals, were found at the Herb Hewitt's gem quarry. None were very large or gemmy, but they still make nice specimens.

Branaird Quarries, Haddam.
Not far from the Gillette Quarry are the Branaird Quarries. Many of these pegmatites produced impressive schorls, some being from pockets. These are usually terminated, prismatic crystals. A few dark brown to green an blue Elbaite have also been found in the area, although they are very rare.

Timm's Hill, Higganum.
Some of my favorite CT Schorls have come from the small pegmatites at Timm's Hill. These are usually thumbnails or smaller, and are doubly terminated. The majority are equant. The tourmalines are one of the few minerals found at this locality. Similar schorls were found at the Beaver Meadow Road Exit.

Biermann Quarries, Bethel.
A ledge near this quarry is the only significant Dravite locality in the state. Dark brown terminated crystals are found there. Most are only a few centimeters long. The ledge is shist and is not related to the Quarries. Schorl is reported from the quarries, as well.

Hollister Quarry, Glastonbury.
Some small pink and green Elbaites have been found at Hollister, but are not very good quality. Schorls are commonly found at the pegmatite as well.

Hog Hill, East Hampton.
Perhaps the best Schorl specimens from CT are found at Hog Hill. Some large clusters contain perhaps ten or more terminated crystals. One particular piece of quartz from the area contains four Schorls, the largest being over 6 inches. Specimens from here are thumbnail to large cabinet sized, and very interesting.

Conclusion:
Connecticut has, and may still, produce very interesting and beautiful specimens of tourmaline. Any tourmaline collector should consider adding a CT piece to his or her shopping list, because the state's magnificent crystals are almost gone.

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