Pinnacle Rock, Plainville

Pinnacle Rock, Plainville

Located in southwestern Hartford County, Plainville lies between the Metacomet Ridge’s Bradley Mountain and Pinnacle Rock. A flatland, known in its early settlement as the Great Plain of Farmington, Plainville flourished with the 1828 opening of the Farmington Canal, which ran through town and linked New Haven to Northampton, Massachusetts. By the time Plainville incorporated in 1869, warehouses, factories and taverns complemented its agricultural base. When the locomotive made the canal obsolete, its Plainville towpaths became railways. Air transport also factors into Plainville history. Its Robertson Airport is Connecticut’s oldest, and its annual hot air balloon festival is one of the last still held in New England.

More on Plainville from the CT Digital Archive

Browse more interactive content on the CT Digital Archive website.

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Robertson Field, also known as Robertson Airport, Plainville

Plainville Has Been Flying High for Over 100 Years

The town of Plainville claims a special relationship with aviation culture that dates back to the earliest days of flight in the state. …[more]

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Places

“Plainville Historical Society,” 2016. Link.
Connecticut Freedom Trail. “Redeemer’s A.M.E Zion Church,” 2013. Link.
Connecticut Freedom Trail. “West Cemetery,” 2012. Link.

Documents

Bailey, O.H. “Bird’s Eye View of Plainville, Connecticut 1907.” Bird’s-eye. New York: Hughes & Bailey, ca 1907. University of Connecticut Libraries, Map and Geographic Information Center - MAGIC. Link.
Connecticut State Library Digital Collections. “Plainville - WPA Architectural Survey,” 2015. Link.
“Plainville Collection.” Connecticut Digital Archive, n.d. Link.
Bailey, O.H., and J.C. Hazen. “Plainville, Connecticut.” Bird’s-eye. Boston, MA: Baley & Hazen, 1878. University of Connecticut Libraries, Map and Geographic Information Center - MAGIC. Link.

Books

Federal Writer’s Project for the State of Connecticut. Boats Across New England Hills: The Story of the Farmington Canal. Hartford,  CT: State Deptartment of Education, 1941.
Russell, Lynda. Plainville. Charleston,  SC: Arcadia, 2007.
Plainville Historical Society, and Ruth Hummel. The Farmington Canal in Plainville, Connecticut: New England’s Longest Canal in One of Connecticut’s Smallest Towns, Circa 1828-1848. Plainville,  CT: Plainville Historical Society, 2007.