Town: Cornwall, CT Population: 1,489 Area: 46.3 square miles Elementary School: Cornwall Consolidated High School: Housatonic Valley Regional

West Cornwall's Covered Bridge

Like many of our Northwest Corner towns, Cornwall is named for one of the counties in England from which many New England families originated. Cornwall is a single geographic political entity, yet it contains several distinct settlements (West Cornwall, Cornwall Bridge, Cornwall Hollow) and is often referred to as the Cornwalls. Bounded on the west by the Housatonic River, Cornwall is connected to its neighbor, Sharon, by the Route 7 highway bridge and by the West Cornwall covered bridge (one of only two covered bridges open to traffic in the state) which is one of the most recognizable images in the Northwest Corner. An annual canoe/kayak race is held through the rapids beneath the bridge and a summer bridge dance and party is a popular annual event.

In the early 19th century the Cornwall Mission School was established to educate native Hawaiian and later American Indian students as Christian missionaries. One of the first agricultural schools in the country, the Cream Hill Agricultural School was established in 1845 by Dr. Samuel Gold and his son T.S. Gold on their farm (which is still owned by the family). The original schoolhouse has been dismantled and reassembled in Kent on the grounds of the Connecticut Antique Equipment Association where it is a centerpiece of their displays of our rail, mining and industrial heritage. Cornwall is also the home to the Mohawk Mountain Ski Area (where artificial snowmaking was invented) and Mohawk State Forest. Famous residents have included James Thurber who often mentioned his country home in witty and satirical pieces in The New Yorker, literary critic and writer, Mark Van Doren, Whoopi Goldberg and generations of artists, writers and craftsmen who found the tranquility of Cornwall conducive to the creative process. Civil War Major General John Sedgwick was born and is buried in Cornwall Hollow. Sedgwick, “Uncle John” to his troops, was killed by a sniper’s bullet at the battle of Spotsylvania Court House on May 9, 1864, ironically just after admonishing his soldiers to stop ducking and dodging the random fire of the Confederate sharpshooters.

Today, Cornwall remains one of the least developed most tranquil of the towns in the Northwest Corner. The picturesque village green in Cornwall proper, the craft shops and restaurants of West Cornwall and Cornwall Bridge and the wooded vastness of Mohawk State Forest continue to attract and reward visitors who take the time to explore.


Town Links:
--Official Town Site
--Historical Society

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