Think Massachusetts history. The phrase immediately conjures images of the Mayflower landing at Plymouth, the American Revolutionary War battles of Lexington and Concord, Paul Revere’s ride and the Boston Tea Party. This is just a beginning. There is a long — and quickly produced — list of historically significant people, places and events associated with our neighbors to the north.

On the other hand, the phrase Connecticut history isn’t likely to hastily bring to mind such associations. This certainly isn’t because Connecticut suffers a lack of historical significance, however. Just consider the likes of Nathan Hale, Benedict Arnold, Jonathan Trumbull and the Battle of Groton Heights, all from the Revolutionary War period alone. Rather than a dearth of history, Connecticut suffers from a long-time lack of effective marketing of its historical assets, along with a scarcity of dedication to ensuring these assets are open and available to the public.

Just one example is the fiasco that closed the Old State House Museum in Hartford at the end of June and left the future uncertain for this historical treasure. Among the museum’s holdings are an original Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington, Mark Twain’s bicycle and an original sign from the capital city retail icon G. Fox & Co. The building itself is believed to have been designed by Charles Bullfinch, a noted American architect. It was the site of the beginning of the 1839 trial of the Africans who rebelled aboard the schooner Amistad.

While we have repeatedly editorialized about the state’s dire budget situation and certainly understand the need to reduce spending, allowing this museum to fall into such a perilous state shows a lack of respect and veneration for the state’s past. Shifting museum control to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection without also providing the necessary financial means to oversee and operate the attraction was a huge blunder, one that should be rectified by the General Assembly during the upcoming session.

The manner in which the Old State House was treated unfortunately is not an isolated incident. Several years ago, Canterbury’s Prudence Crandall Museum, site of the first school for African-American girls in New England and home to Connecticut’s state heroine, was threatened with closure during another budget crisis. Conditions at Old Newgate Prison and Copper Mine in East Granby, where British prisoners of war were interred during the American Revolution, deteriorated to the point that the attraction had to be closed to visitors. While it is now undergoing restoration, this important historical site has been shuttered for years.

Visitors also risk being turned away even when sites advertise they are open. The visitor center at Putnam Memorial State Park in Redding, dubbed Connecticut’s Valley Forge because it was the site of Gen. Israel Putnam’s continental Army encampment during the winter of 1778-1779, was inexplicably closed on a mild early fall day this season, for example.

Connecticut’s economy depends in part on tourism and better care and control of historic assets could mean more tourist dollars. The state is fertile ground for attracting history buffs. The legislature is supposed to consider options for the Old State House when it reconvenes. The work needs to go beyond this single attraction, however. Given the continued budget crisis in the state, officials must enlist the help of non-profit groups and others concerned about protecting the state’s historic sites to devise ways to bring more history-tourism to the state. With more effective marketing, regular and predictable opening hours and diligent maintenance, Connecticut has the potential to be as readily associated with historically significant people and places as is Massachusetts.