Lock 12 Farmington Canal, Cheshire

Lock 12 Farmington Canal, Cheshire – John Nieman

The town of Cheshire is located in New Haven County in the Central Naugatuck Valley. Once part of Wallingford and known as North Farms, Cheshire separated from Wallingford in 1780 and incorporated as a town. Predominately a farming community, Cheshire saw a rise in industry and suburbanization in the post-World War II period but managed to retain many of its rural characteristics and agrarian roots. Today, Cheshire’s lively agricultural industry has led the town to be called the “Bedding Plant Capital of Connecticut.” It is also home to two state prison facilities, the Cheshire Correctional Institution which opened in 1910 and the Manson Youth Institute, opened in 1982.

Featured

John Frederick Kensett, Twilight in the Cedars at Darien, Connecticut

John Frederick Kensett Illuminates the 19th-Century Landscape

John Frederick Kensett was a landscape painter now identified with Luminism—a style of painting utilizing delicate brushstrokes to capture subtle natural light. …[more]

Learn More

“The Farmington Canal Heritage Trail.” 2016. Farmington Valley Trails Council. https://fchtrail.org/.
“Cheshire Collection.” https://ctdigitalarchive.org/islandora/search/mods_titleInfo_title_mt%253A%2528Cheshire%2529%20OR%20mods_subject_geographic_mt%253A%2528Cheshire%2529.
“Photograph - Man and Machine, Capewell Horse Nail Company, Cheshire.” 1880. http://www.cthistoryonline.org/cdm/ref/collection/cho/id/622 (June 12, 2013).
“Map - North Part of New Haven Co., Connecticut from Town and City Atlas of the State of Connecticut.” 1893. http://www.flickr.com/photos/uconnlibrariesmagic/6883529410/.
“Farmington Canal State Park Trail.” 2012. Department of Energy & Environmental Protection. http://www.ct.gov/dep/cwp/view.asp?a=2716&Q=479526&depNav_GID=1650.
“View of Cheshire, Connecticut 1882.” 1882. http://www.flickr.com/photos/uconnlibrariesmagic/3389817109/.
Rockey, J. 1892. 1 History of New Haven County, Connecticut. New York: W. W. Preston. http://www.archive.org/stream/newhavencountyco01rock#page/n5/mode/2up.
“The Cheshire Historical Society.” 2012. http://www.cheshirehistory.org/.
“Cheshire - WPA Architectural Survey.” 2009. Connecticut State Library. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ctarchives/sets/72157622850187443/.
Davis, Charles. 1870. History of Wallingford, Conn. from Its Settlement in 1670 to the Present Time, Including Meriden, Which Was One of Its Parishes Until 1806, and Cheshire, Which Was Incorporated in 1780. Meriden, CT: C.H.S. Davis. http://www.archive.org/stream/historyofwalling00daviiala#page/n7/mode/2up.
Beach, Joseph. 1912. History of Cheshire, Connecticut, from 1694-1840 Including Prospect, Which, as Columbia Parish, Was a Part of Cheshire Until 1829. Cheshire, CT: Lady Fenwick Chapter, D.A.R. http://www.archive.org/stream/cu31924074487913#page/n9/mode/2up.
Cheshire Historical Society, and Raimon Beard. 1976. Reflections on the Canal in Cheshire: A Scrap-Book Account. Cheshire,  CT: Cheshire Historical Society.
Gagliardi, Ron. 2001. Cheshire. Charleston,  SC: Arcadia.
Brown, Edwin. 1895. Old Historic Homes of Cheshire, Connecticut, with an Account of the Early Settlement of the Town, Description of Its Churches, Academy and Old Town Cemetery, Places of Interest--Roaring Brook, Scott’s Rock, Barytes and Copper Mines, Ancient Trees, Etc. New Haven,  CT: C.H. Ryder.