Eastford’s Nipmuck Indians belonged to the Algonkin configuration. They called the area “Wabaquasset” meaning “place-of-needs for making mats.” Originally part of Ashford, Eastford was first settled in 1711 by the families of John and Sarah Perry and William Ward, Sr. Early settlers followed the Old Connecticut Path – once a well established Indian trail. Eastford separated from Ashford and incorporated in 1847.
General Nathaniel Lyon was born in the Phoenixville section of Eastford in 1818. He was the first northern General killed in the Civil War (at the battle of Wilson’s Creek, Missouri, 1861).
The Ivy Glenn Memorial built in 1847 was used as a Methodist Church and later as the Town Hall. It now houses the library and serves as a gathering place for many town functions. Other historical sites include the Old Stone Mill (1821), the Old Center Store (1836) built by Alba Hewitt, the General Lyon Inn (1843), the Old Town Pound (1710), the Old Cemetery (1720) including John Perry’s gravestone, Squire Bosworth’s Castle (1800) which housed a post office, a general store, and lodge rooms for Freemasons, the Congregational Church (1829), the Joseph Work House (1726), and the Somers Turnpike Tavern built by Jonathan Hayward in 1733 which housed an inn, post office and store.
Today, Eastford provides local residents with a variety of local businesses. Still an agricultural, residential town, a large portion of the township’s land is the Natchaug State Forest and the Yale Forest.
|Eastford Elementary School (K-8)||(860)974-1130|
|Woodstock Academy (9-12)||(860)928-6575|