Ridgefield, Connecticut

— The Museum in the Streets —

The First Recorded Plan for settlement was in 1697 when a group of Congregationalists primarily from Norwalk petitioned "to purchase of the Indians a certain tract of land lying about 14 miles northward of the town of Norwalk to settle a plantation there." On May 13, 1708 a petition for purchase of the land was submitted to the General Assembly in Hartford. On September 30, 1708 the purchase was formalized and plans for settlement were being drawn up. Each of the original Proprietors received two and a half acres facing the main street, and later an additional five acres were added to the rear of each lot. The meetinghouse and town green were placed in the center of these plots and a cemetery was located at the southern end, (part of the cemetery remains off Creamery Lane.) The outlying land was divided in 1709 into meadows for planting, mowing and grazing.
A liberty pole was erected near the meetinghouse shortly after Ridgefield entered the War for Independence. It is said that the pole was made from an old buttonwood tree that grew near (what is today) Market Street. A whipping post was located nearby. Tradition tells us that Abijah Resseguie; proprietor of the Resseguie Hotel (now the Keeler Tavern Museum) was a witness to the last flogging, which took place sometime in the 19th century.

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Show me all markers in:  Ridgefield, CT  |  Fairfield County  |  06877  |  Connecticut  |  United States of America

Ridgefield Veterans Monument
The Town Common and Hauley House
Rev. Thomas Hawley House
Benedict Arnold's Betrayal and Lieutenant Joshua King
Keeler Tavern and the "Big Shop"
Keeler Tavern
Ridgefield Veterans Memorial
The Confederate Bell
The Lounsbury House
The Original Episcopal Church

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