Woodstock, Windham County, Connecticut History
The northwest corner of Windham county is occupied by the ample
territory of Woodstock, eight miles by seven and a half in extent,
comprising an area of nearly sixty square miles. It is the largest town in
the county and retains, with least change, its- original limits, its only
loss occurring from a slight removal of its northern boundary. Woodstock
ranks high among the farming towns of the state. Its soil is excellent,
and the dearth of manufacturing privileges has helped to develop
agricultural interests. A micaceous formation (gneiss), extending from
Pomfret to its junction with a western branch of the same near Muddy
brook, in the north of the town, furnishes a soil capable of great
improvement. It is characterized by .a series of smoothly rounded,
detached hills, in which the rock is usually covered. Rocky ledges in
other parts of the town have impeded cultivation, leaving extensive forest
tracts, making the lumber interest of permanent value. A granitic
formation in the south of the town is well adapted for quarrying, having
furnished hearth stones and building material to succeeding generations
since the first settlement of the town. The west of the town is favored
with a large deposit of bog iron ore, especially in the neighborhood of
Black pond, where it is said a single pit yielded a hundred and fifty tons
of ore. Mineral springs, near the present residence of Deacon Abel Child,
enjoyed a wide .popularity for a season. Woodstock's variety of soil,
nearness to market, its wide-awake Farmer's Club, Grange and Agricultural
Society, have stimulated culture and experiment and brought the general
administration of farming affairs to a high standard. Attempts to utilize
its small streams-Muddy brook, Bungee and Saw Mill brook-for manufacturing
purposes have been less successful. Other manufacturing enterprises have
met with varying success.
This Woodstock territory was first known to the whites as a part of
Wabbaquasset, a country run over and conquered by the Mohegans, and
subject to Uncas. Its name signifies " the matproducing country," and was
probably derived from some marsh or meadow that produced valuable reeds
for mats and baskets. It included land west of the Quinebaug, north of a
westward line from Acquiunk Falls, now at Danielsonville. The Indians
living in this section were known as Wabbaquassets. They were apparently
few in number and inferior in character, abjectly submissive to the great
sachem Uncas, paying "him homage and obligations, and yearly tribute of
white deer skins, bear skins and black wolf skins." The south part of what
is now Woodstock is supposed to have been one of their favorite haunts.
The smooth hills were burnt over every year to furnish fresh pasture for
deer, and corn was grown there as far back as the first settlement of
Boston. When news was borne through Nipnet to Wabbaquasset that Englishmen
at the Bay lacked corn, and would pay a good price for it, a stout young
Indian lad, Acquittimaug, trudged through the wilderness with his father
with sacks of corn upon their backs to sell to the Englishmen.
- Indians of Woodstock, Connecticut
- Territory of Woodstock, Connecticut
- Early Settlement of Woodstock, Connecticut
- Indian Alarms in Woodstock, Connecticut
- History of Woodstock, Connecticut 1705-1730
- History of Woodstock, Connecticut 1731-1755
- History of Woodstock, Connecticut 1756-1800
- History of Woodstock, Connecticut 1801-1850
- History of Woodstock, Connecticut 1850-1880
- History of Manufacturing in Woodstock, Connecticut
- History of Schools in Woodstock, Connecticut
- History of Churches in Woodstock, Connecticut
- Social History of Woodstock, Connecticut
- Woodstock, Connecticut Biographies
Back to: Woodstock, Windham County, Connecticut History
Source: History of Windham County, Connecticut, Bayles, Richard M.; New York: W.W. Preston, 1889