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62-407: Old Wethersfield , also known as Old Wethersfield Historic District , and historically known as Watertown or Pyquag , is a section of the town of Wethersfield, Connecticut , roughly bounded by the borders of the adjacent city of Hartford and town of Rocky Hill , railroad tracks, and I-91 . The site of the first permanent European-American settlement in the state of Connecticut , it was added to

124-596: A Mattabesic village near present-day Fairfield, Connecticut . The colonists memorialized this event as the Fairfield Swamp Fight (not to be confused with the Great Swamp Fight during King Philip's War ). The English surrounded the swamp and allowed several hundred to surrender, mostly women and children, but Sassacus slipped out before dawn with perhaps 80 warriors, and continued west. Sassacus and his followers had hoped to gain refuge among

186-613: A Mare of Edward Pomroye's killed by his Men. The Pequots were then bound by Covenant, That none should inhabit their native Country, nor should any of them be called PEQUOTS any more, but Moheags and Narragansatts for ever. Other Pequots were enslaved and shipped to Bermuda or the West Indies, or were forced to become household slaves in English households in Connecticut and Massachusetts Bay. The Colonies essentially declared

248-462: A female householder with no husband present, and 33.9% were non-families. 30.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.89. The town population was distributed with 20.1% under the age of 18, 4.8% from 18 to 24, 26.6% from 25 to 44, 25.1% from 45 to 64, and 23.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age

310-512: A few years, attacked Wethersfield with Pequot help. They killed six men and three women, a number of cattle and horses, and took two young girls captive. They were daughters of Abraham Swain or William Swaine (sources vary), and were later ransomed by Dutch traders. Four witch trials and three executions for witchcraft occurred in the town in the 17th century. Mary Johnson was convicted of witchcraft and executed in 1648, Joan and John Carrington in 1651. In 1669, landowner Katherine Harrison

372-613: A fiery Oven", and "thus did the Lord judge among the Heathen." Of the estimated 500 Pequots in the fort, seven were taken prisoner and another seven escaped to the woods. The Narragansetts and Mohegans with Mason and Underhill's colonial militia were horrified by the actions and "manner of the Englishmen's fight… because it is too furious, and slays too many men." The Narragansetts attempted to leave and return home, but were cut off by

434-533: A number of cattle and horses, and took two young girls captive. (They were daughters of William Swaine and were later ransomed by Dutch traders.) In all, the towns lost about 30 settlers. In May, leaders of Connecticut River towns met in Hartford, raised a militia, and placed Captain John Mason in command. Mason set out with 90 militia and 70 Mohegan warriors under Uncas; their orders were to directly attack

496-605: A reputation as a troublemaker and had been exiled from Plymouth Colony shortly before the incident on Block Island. In the weeks that followed, officials from Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island , and Connecticut assumed that the Narragansetts were the likely culprits. They knew that the Indians of Block Island were allies of the Eastern Niantics, who were allied with the Narragansetts, and they became suspicious of

558-472: Is a Pre-Kindergarten through fifth grade magnet school designed with a focus on STEM education. The Corpus Christi School is a Catholic school of approximately 400 students from Pre-Kindergarten through eighth grade. It was one of only fifty private schools named as a 2012 National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Secretary of Education, in the category of "Exemplary High Performing." Ken Lesser, mayor. Greater Hartford 's major system of public transportation

620-605: Is a town located in Hartford County, Connecticut , United States. It is located immediately south of Hartford along the Connecticut River . The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region . The population was 27,298 at the time of the 2020 census . Many records from colonial times spell the name "Weathersfield" and "Wythersfield", while Native Americans called it Pyquag . "Watertown"

682-435: Is a variant name. The neighborhood known as Old Wethersfield is the state's largest historic district, spanning 2 sq mi (5.2 km ) and containing 1,100 buildings, dating to the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The town is primarily served by Interstate 91 . Founded in 1634 by a Puritan settlement party of "10 Men", including John Oldham , Robert Seeley , Thomas Topping , and Nathaniel Foote , Wethersfield

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744-525: Is arguably the oldest town in Connecticut, depending on the interpretation of when a remote settlement qualifies as a "town". Along with Windsor and Hartford , Wethersfield is represented by one of the three grapevines on the Flag of Connecticut , signifying the state's three oldest English settlements. The town was named by colonists for Wethersfield , a village in the English county of Essex . The town

806-484: Is currently Connecticut Transit (CT Transit), a Connecticut Department of Transportation-owned bus service operating routes throughout the New Haven , Stamford , Hartford and other metro areas. Wethersfield is served by route numbers 43, 47, 53, 55, 61, and 91. Major roads include: Hartford station is the nearest rail station. Wethersfield was once connected to Hartford by streetcar and by passenger service on

868-660: The Mohegan people were at one time a single sociopolitical entity. Anthropologists and historians contend that they split into the two competing groups sometime before contact with the Puritan English colonists. The earliest historians of the Pequot War speculated that the Pequot people migrated from the upper Hudson River Valley toward central and eastern Connecticut sometime around 1500. These claims are disputed by

930-584: The National Register of Historic Places in 1970. The land for this colonial settlement was acquired from the Massachusetts Bay Colony . Wethersfield served as a transportation hub on the Connecticut River in the early years. The Old Wethersfield Historic District was established under town statutes in 1962, "to preserve and protect the many architectural phases of a Connecticut River Community in continual growth from 1634 to

992-551: The Valley Railroad . Its tracks still provide a route for sporadic freight trains between Hartford and Old Saybrook . The Wethersfield Police Department is headquartered at 250 Silas Deane Highway. In addition to normal police service, the department maintains a Marine Patrol Unit, a Special Response Dive Team, a Special Response Tactics Team, a DARE youth drug awareness program, and a Police Explorer program. The town has three volunteer fire stations. The year 2003 marked

1054-736: The Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum . In May 1781, at the Webb House on Main Street, General George Washington and French Lt. Gen. Rochambeau planned the Siege of Yorktown , which culminated in the surrender of Britain and independence of the colonies. The Wethersfield Volunteer Fire Department was chartered by the Connecticut Legislature on May 12, 1803, making it the first formally chartered fire department in

1116-469: The 1982 meteorite was taken up as part of a collection at the Yale Peabody Museum . As of the 2000 census , there were 26,268 people, 11,214 households, and 7,412 families residing in the town. The population density was 2,119.9 inhabitants per square mile (818.5/km ). There were 11,454 housing units at an average density of 924.3 per square mile (356.9/km ). The racial makeup of the town

1178-575: The Dutch abducted him and demanded a substantial amount of ransom for his safe return. The Pequots quickly sent bushels of wampum to the Dutch, but received only Tatobem's dead body in return. But the colonial officials in Boston did not accept the Pequots' excuses that they had been unaware of Stone's nationality. Pequot sachem Sassacus sent the colonists some wampum to atone for the killing, but he refused

1240-583: The European fur trade . A series of epidemics over the course of the previous three decades had severely reduced the Indian populations, and there was a power vacuum in the area as a result. The Dutch and the English from Western Europe were also striving to extend the reach of their trade into the North American interior to achieve dominance in the lush, fertile region. The colonies were new at

1302-672: The Fire of Spring , as well as a mystery/horror novel The Other and a film of the same name . The short film Disneyland Dream features the Barstow family from Wethersfield, including footage of their neighborhood. In the biography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley, Malcolm X recounts a car accident in which he is rear ended at a stop light while traveling through Wethersfield. The novel Parrot and Olivier in America by two-time Booker Prize -winning Australian author Peter Carey

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1364-482: The Mohawk in present-day New York. However, the Mohawk instead murdered his bodyguard and him, afterwards sending his head and hands to Hartford (for reasons which were never made clear). This essentially ended the Pequot War; colonial officials continued to call for hunting down what remained of the Pequots after war's end, but they granted asylum to any who went to live with the Narragansetts or Mohegans. In September,

1426-655: The Mohegans and Narragansetts met at the General Court of Connecticut and agreed on the disposition of the Pequot survivors. The agreement, known as the first Treaty of Hartford , was signed on September 21, 1638. About 200 Pequots survived the war; they finally gave up and submitted themselves under the authority of the sachem of the Mohegans or Narragansetts. There were then given to Onkos, Sachem of Monheag , Eighty; to Myan Tonimo, Sachem of Narragansett , Eighty; and to Nynigrett, Twenty, when he should satisfy for

1488-546: The Mohegans with the English colonists and the Pequots with the Dutch colonists. The peace ended between the Dutch and Pequots when the Pequots assaulted a tribe of Indians who had tried to trade in the area of Hartford. Tensions grew as the Massachusetts Bay Colony became a stronghold for wampum production, which the Narragansetts and Pequots had controlled until the mid-1630s. Adding to the tensions, John Stone and seven of his crew were murdered in 1634 by

1550-605: The Narragansett, openly sided with the English. The Narragansetts had warred with and lost territory to the Pequots in 1622. Now, their friend Roger Williams urged the Narragansetts to side with the English against the Pequots. Through the autumn and winter, Fort Saybrook was effectively besieged. People who ventured outside were killed. As spring arrived in 1637, the Pequots stepped up their raids on Connecticut towns. On April 23, Wangunk chief Sequin attacked Wethersfield with Pequot help. They killed six men and three women and

1612-405: The Narragansetts. The murderers, meanwhile, escaped and were given sanctuary with the Pequots. News of Oldham's death became the subject of sermons in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In August, Governor Vane sent John Endecott to exact revenge on the Indians of Block Island . Endecott's party of roughly 90 men sailed to Block Island and attacked two apparently abandoned Niantic villages. Most of

1674-493: The Niantic escaped, while two of Endecott's men were injured. The English claimed to have killed 14, but later Narragansett reports claimed that only one Indian was killed on the island. The Massachusetts Bay militia burned the villages to the ground. They carried away crops that the Niantic had stored for winter and destroyed what they could not carry. Endecott went on to Fort Saybrook. The English at Saybrook were not happy about

1736-659: The Niantics, western tributary clients of the Pequots. Stone was from the West Indies and had been banished from Boston for malfeasance, including drunkenness, adultery, and piracy. He had abducted two Western Niantic men, forcing them to show him the way up the Connecticut River. Soon after, his crew and he were attacked and killed by a larger group of Western Niantics. The initial reactions in Boston varied from indifference to outright joy at Stone's death, but

1798-429: The Pequot War were written within one year of the war. Later histories recounted events from a similar perspective, restating arguments first used by military leaders such as John Underhill and John Mason, as well as Puritans Increase Mather and his son Cotton Mather . Recent historians and others have reviewed these accounts. In 2004, an artist and archaeologist (Jack Dempsey and David R. Wagner) teamed up to evaluate

1860-463: The Pequot War, no significant battles occurred between Indians and southern New England colonists for about 38 years. This long period of peace came to an end in 1675 with King Philip's War . According to historian Andrew Lipman, the Pequot War introduced the practice of colonists and Indians taking body parts as trophies of battle. Honor and monetary reimbursement was given to those who brought back heads and scalps of Pequots. The earliest accounts of

1922-578: The Pequot at their fort. At Fort Saybrook, Captain Mason was joined by John Underhill with another 20 men. Underhill and Mason then sailed from Fort Saybrook to Narragansett Bay, a tactic intended to mislead Pequot spies along the shoreline into thinking that the English were not intending an attack. After gaining the support of 200 Narragansetts, Mason and Underhill marched their forces with Uncas and Wequash Cooke about 20 miles towards Mistick Fort (present-day Mystic ). They briefly camped at Porter's Rocks near

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1984-421: The Pequot spirit, and they decided to abandon their villages and flee westward to seek refuge with the Mohawk tribe. Sassacus led roughly 400 warriors along the coast; when they crossed the Connecticut River, the Pequots killed three men whom they encountered near Fort Saybrook. In mid-June, John Mason set out from Saybrook with 160 men and 40 Mohegan scouts led by Uncas. They caught up with the refugees at Sasqua,

2046-415: The Pequots and English colonists, who were ill-prepared to face periods of famine. A more proximate cause of the war was the killing of a trader named John Oldham , who was attacked on a voyage to Block Island on July 20, 1636. Several of his crew and he were killed and his ship was looted by Narragansett -allied Indians, who sought to discourage settlers from trading with their Pequot rivals. Oldham had

2108-506: The Pequots extinct by prohibiting them from using the name any longer. The colonists attributed their victory over the hostile Pequot tribe to an act of God: Let the whole Earth be filled with his glory! Thus the lord was pleased to smite our Enemies in the hinder Parts, and to give us their Land for an Inheritance. This was the first instance wherein Algonquian peoples of southern New England encountered European-style warfare. After

2170-412: The Pequots from the other village of Weinshauks and had to be rescued by Underhill's men—after which they reluctantly rejoined the colonists for protection and were used to carry the wounded, thereby freeing up more soldiers to fend off the numerous attacks along the withdrawal route. The destruction of people and the village at Mistick Fort and losing even more warriors during the withdrawal pursuit broke

2232-480: The Wampanoag since 1621. Beginning in the early 1630s, a series of contributing factors increased the tensions between English colonists and the tribes of southeastern New England. Efforts to control fur trade access resulted in a series of escalating incidents and attacks that increased tensions on both sides. Political divisions widened between the Pequots and Mohegans as they aligned with different trade sources,

2294-459: The children's novel The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare , as well as the setting of the one-act play The Valiant by Holworthy Hall and Robert Middlemas . https://www.thebooktrail.com/book-trails/the-witch-of-blackbird-pond/ Actor-turned-author Thomas Tryon used his native Wethersfield as the setting for his action/romance novels The Wings of the Morning and In

2356-448: The colonial officials still felt compelled to protest the killing. According to the Pequots' later explanations, he was killed in reprisal for the Dutch murdering the principal Pequot sachem Tatobem, and they claimed to be unaware that Stone was English and not Dutch. (Contemporaneous accounts claim that the Pequots knew Stone to be English. ) In the earlier incident, Tatobem had boarded a Dutch vessel to trade. Instead of conducting trade,

2418-481: The colonists' demands that the warriors responsible for Stone's death be turned over to them for trial and punishment. The Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635 also placed a great deal of pressure on the harvests of that year, according to historian Katherine Grandjean, increasing competition for winter food supplies for several years afterwards throughout much of coastal Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. This, in turn, precipitated even greater tensions between

2480-511: The early frame and brick houses were built by sea captains around the town green . There are three National Historic Landmarks in Old Wethersfield: Another prominent historic building in the district is: The district includes Wethersfield's green, which is "a slender diamond nearly a half-mile long". Wethersfield, Connecticut Wethersfield ( / ˈ w ɛ ð . ər s f i l d / WEH -thers-feeld )

2542-813: The evidence of modern archaeology and anthropology finds. In the 1630s, the Connecticut River Valley was in turmoil. The Pequot aggressively extended their area of control at the expense of the Wampanoag to the north, the Narragansett to the east, the Connecticut River Valley Algonquian tribes and the Mohegan to the west, and the Lenape Algonquian people of Long Island to the south. The tribes contended for political dominance and control of

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2604-490: The final event of the HMF 10K Challenge Series. The Wethersfield public school system encompasses Wethersfield High School , Silas Deane Middle School , and five elementary schools: Highcrest School, Charles Wright School, Emerson-Williams School, Alfred W. Hanmer School, and Samuel B. Webb School. In addition to traditional public schools, Wethersfield also offers parochial and magnet school choices. The CREC Discovery Academy

2666-646: The formal 200th Anniversary of the Wethersfield Volunteer Fire Department. Wethersfield has the oldest volunteer fire company in Connecticut, and in New England. The United States Postal Service operates the Wethersfield Post Office at 67 Beaver Rd. The Town zip code is 06109. The Wethersfield Post Office is a fully trained United States Passport acceptance facility. Wethersfield was the setting for

2728-547: The head of the Mystic River before mounting a surprise attack just before dawn. The Mystic Massacre started in the predawn hours of May 26, 1637, when colonial forces led by Captains John Mason and John Underhill, along with their allies from the Mohegan and Narragansett tribes, surrounded one of two main fortified Pequot villages at Mistick. Only 20 soldiers breached the palisade's gate and they were quickly overwhelmed, to

2790-467: The point that they used fire to create chaos and facilitate their escape. The ensuing conflagration trapped the majority of the Pequots; those who managed to escape the fire were slain by the soldiers and warriors who surrounded the fort. Mason later declared that the attack against the Pequots was the act of a God who "laughed his Enemies and the Enemies of his People to scorn", making the Pequot fort "as

2852-825: The present." Eight years later, in 1970, the Old Wethersfield Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The village includes 50 houses that were built before the American Revolutionary War , plus about 250 additional houses built before the 20th century, about 100 of which were built earlier than the American Civil War . The historic district listed on the National Register includes 1200 structures over 1,300 acres (5.3 km). Of these 100 date from colonial times. Many of

2914-416: The raid, but agreed that some of them would accompany Endecott as guides. Endecott sailed along the coast to a Pequot village, where he repeated the previous year's demand for those responsible for the death of Stone, and now also for those who murdered Oldham. After some discussion, Endecott concluded that the Pequots were stalling and attacked, but most escaped into the woods. Endecott had his forces burn down

2976-560: The railroad tracks, I-91 and Rocky Hill, was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This is the largest historic district in Connecticut, with two square miles containing 1,100 buildings, many dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries. The historic First Church of Christ, Wethersfield , is the home of the Albert Schweitzer Organ Festival  [ Wikidata ] . The Wethersfield Historical Society sponsors free outdoor concerts throughout

3038-579: The sequence of events in the Pequot War. Their popular history took issue with events and whether John Mason and John Underhill wrote the accounts that appeared under their names. The authors have been adopted as honorary members of the Lenape Pequots. Most modern historians do not debate questions of the outcome of the battle or its chronology, such as Alfred A. Cave , a specialist in the ethnohistory of colonial America. However, Cave contends that Mason and Underhill's eyewitness accounts, as well as

3100-466: The state capital at Hartford, Wethersfield is the site of several State of Connecticut agencies: The Wethersfield Chamber of Commerce has over 150 member institutions and hosts community events throughout the year. Three buildings in Wethersfield are designated as historic landmarks by the National Register of Historic Places : In 1970, Old Wethersfield , the district bounded by Hartford,

3162-506: The state. It is one of the oldest chartered volunteer fire department in continuous existence in the United States. Wethersfield was "for a century at least, the centre of the onion trade in New England", during the late 1700s and early to middle 1800s. "Outsiders dubbed the Connecticut village 'Oniontown,' with a crosshatch of affection and derision, for this was home of the world-famous Wethersfield red onion ." In addition,

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3224-649: The summer. The Old Wethersfield 5K & 10K is an annual road race that takes place in the Old Wethersfield section of town. Both races begin and end at Cove Park on Hartford Avenue. The event is put on by the Hartford Marathon Foundation and typically takes place at the end of August. The 2017 edition of the 10K is the state championship race for the USATF Connecticut Grand Prix Series as well as

3286-567: The time, as the original settlements had been founded in the 1620s. By 1636, the Dutch had fortified their trading post, and the English had built a trading fort at Saybrook . English Puritans from the Massachusetts Bay , along with the Pilgrims from Plymouth Colony , settled at the recently established river towns of Windsor (1632), Wethersfield (1633), Hartford (1635), and Springfield (1636). The Pilgrims had been allied with

3348-459: The town developed from this agricultural past. A meteorite fell on Wethersfield on November 8, 1982. It was the second meteorite to fall in the town in the span of 11 years, as the first crashed on April 8, 1971. It crashed through the roof of a house without injuring the occupants, as had been the case with the first meteorite as well. The 1971 meteorite was sold to the Smithsonian , and

3410-512: The town was $ 28,930. About 2.4% of families and 4.4% of the population were below the poverty line , including 3.8% of those under age 18 and 5.5% of those age 65 or over. Top employers in Wethersfield according to the town's 2021 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report The Connecticut Department of Correction and the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles have their headquarters in Wethersfield. Due to its proximity to

3472-504: The town was home to William G. Comstock , a well-known 19th-century gardening expert and author of the era's most prominent gardening book, Order of Spring Work . In 1820, Comstock founded what would become Comstock, Ferre & Company , America's oldest continuously operating seed company. It pioneered the commercial sale of sealed packets of seeds, as he had learned from the Amish . Other nationally prominent seed companies in and around

3534-468: The village and crops before sailing home. In the aftermath, the English of Connecticut Colony had to deal with the anger of the Pequots. The Pequots attempted to get their allies to join their cause, some 36 tributary villages, but were only partly effective. The Western Niantic (Nehantic) joined them, but the Eastern Niantic remained neutral. The traditional enemies of the Pequot, the Mohegan and

3596-409: Was 44 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.4 males. The median income for a household in the town was $ 53,289, and the median income for a family was $ 68,154. (These figures had risen to $ 66,044 and $ 86,432 respectively as of a 2007 estimate.) Males had a median income of $ 43,998 versus $ 37,443 for females. The per capita income for

3658-404: Was 93.19% White , 2.09% Black or African American , 0.08% Native American , 1.58% Asian , 0.02% Pacific Islander , 1.82% from other races , and 1.22% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.19% of the population. There were 11,214 households, out of which 25.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.9% were married couples living together, 9.6% had

3720-488: Was convicted, and although her conviction was reversed, she was banished and her property seized by her neighbors. From 1716 to 1718, the Collegiate School was briefly located in Wethersfield; it moved to New Haven and developed over the decades as Yale University . Silas Deane , envoy to France during the American Revolutionary War , lived in the town. His house is now preserved and operated as part of

3782-432: Was largely set in the town of Wethersfield. The novel touches on some hallmarks of its history including the predominance of onion farming and the old state prison. Pequot War The result was the elimination of the Pequot tribe as a viable polity in southern New England , and the colonial authorities classified them as extinct. Survivors who remained in the area were absorbed into other local tribes. The Pequot and

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3844-575: Was previously called "Watertown", named after Watertown, Massachusetts , until February 21, 1637, when it was incorporated as a town along with Windsor and Hartford. The town established the Old Wethersfield Village Cemetery as its first burying ground on Hungry Hill in 1638. During the Pequot War , on April 23, 1637, Wangunk Chief Sequin, who had lived with the colonists in Wethersfield but had been forced out after

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