Page 42 - Spruce Meadows Long Brochure

THE STORY OF WILTON

Wilton is a modern residential town rich in New England history. The
first written records of the areas that are now Wilton date back to 1640,
when Roger Ludlow and his friends purchased land from the Indians
between the Norwalk and Saugatuck Rivers and "a day's walk into the
country." This land was called Norwalk.

The first settlers, called the Proprietors, arrived in Norwalk in 1651
and owned 50,000 acres in common. On the outskirts of Norwalk's
settled area, the Proprietors were allowed private ownership of acreage
in a common planting field, but cattle, sheep, and hogs were grazed in a
communal pasture area. The outer limit of this pasture approximates Wilton's
present southern boundary.

By the end of the seventeenth century, the Norwalk Proprietors began to sell
off the northern lands for settlement. The first non-Indian settlements in what
is now Wilton were in the fertile lands of the Norwalk River valley, and on the
ridges of Belden Hill, Chestnut Hill, and Ridgefield Road. In order to till the lands,
the settlers had to clear the forests and remove hundreds of glacial rocks, which
became the stone boundary walls that we treasure today.

The families who bought land in Wilton did not have their own church and were
required to attend service in Norwalk each Sunday. When demand for Wilton
lands increased in the early 1700's, the Proprietors realized that the land would
be worth more if Wilton settlers did not have to make such a long trek each
week.

By 1725 there were forty families living in Wilton who wanted their
own meetinghouse. Therefore, in 1726, with the approval of both
the Proprietors and the Wilton settlers, a petition to the General
Court in Hartford created Wilton Parish, "a village enjoying parish
privileges" but still part of the town of Norwalk. A copy of the
petition is framed and on display in the Town Hall.

The Wilton Parish, organized as an ecclesiastical society,
dealt with many problems of a secular nature as
well. It dealt with such things as communal flocks,
pounds for animals, and the regulation of the
trades and taverns.