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HISTORY OF THE
CONNECTICUT SHORELINE
Guilford is the seventh oldest town in the
Connecticut and the United State’s oldest surviving
stone house was built there in 1639
by Rev. Henry Whitfield , a minister from Ockley a town near London,
England. Guilford was purchased that same year from the Indian squaw
Shaumishuk for 12 hoes, 12 blankets 12 pair of shoes, 12 spoons,
12 knives etc. She also promised not to hurt or steal the posses
ions of the colonists in the future.
East Guilford was purchased in 1641 and later
renamed Madison after the fourth president
The shoreline area played a prominent role
in the French and Indian, Revolutionary and Civil Wars. During the
War of 1812 Faulkner’s
Island off the Guilford coast was actually occupied by the British.
Branford's Thimble
Islands were the location of President Taft's Summer White House,
the hideout of notorious pirate Captain Kidd and a romantic getaway
for Barnum midget General Tom Thumb and his bride. |
