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.