Chester – Hadlyme Ferry – Jerry Dougherty
Chester, in Middlesex County, is located in the lower Connecticut River Valley in southeastern Connecticut. Large portions of Cockaponset State Forest cover its northern and western boundaries. The Wangunks, a river tribe of Native Americans, occupied the land called Pattaconk prior to English settlement of the area in 1692. The town was formed from the northern quarter of Saybrook and incorporated in 1836. Back in 1769, Jonathan Warner was granted permission to operate a ferry across the Connecticut River that became the Chester-Hadlyme Ferry, the second-oldest continuously operating ferry service in Connecticut. Its location is currently a state historical landmark.
Learn More
Places
“Chester Historical Society,” 2011. Link.
Department of Energy & Environmental Protection. “Cockaponset State Forest,” 2012. Link.
Chester Historical Society. “Museum,” 2011. Link.
Documents
“Chester Collection.” Connecticut Digital Archive, n.d. Link.
“Photograph - Witch Hazel Mill and Railroad Station, Chester,” Between and 1920 1890. Connecticut History Online, University of Connecticut Libraries, Archives & Special Collections. Link.
Books
Beers, F. W. County Atlas of Middlesex, Connecticut: From Actual Surveys. New York, NY: F.W. Beers & Company, 1874. Link.
Beers, J.B., & Company, and Henry Whittemore. History of Middlesex County, Connecticut, with Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men. New York, NY: J.B. Beers & Company, 1884. Link.
Chester Historical Society, and Cary Hull. The Houses and History of Chester. Chester, CT: Chester Historical Society, 1976.
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