This cultivar has H. 'Elegans' in its background and it was introduced by Henry Payne of Piedmont Gardens in 1976. The plant was registered by The American Hosta Society in 1986 on behalf of Mr. Payne.

In line with its parent plant, it grows to a large size mound (28 inches high by 55 inches wide) of heavily corrugated blue-green foliage. The flowers are near white and bloom from June into July on scapes about 33 inches high.

According to The Hostapedia by Mark Zilis (2009), "...was one of the first big blue-leaved cultivars that I grew in my early days as a nursery man...named for the Housatonic River, which flows through Connecticut and Massachusetts."

The name may refer to a town in Massachusetts, a railroad in Connecticut or the USS Housatonic naval vessel.