| Town:
Washington, CT
Population: 3,693
Area: 38.7 square miles
Elementary School: Washington
Primary School
High School: Shepaug
Valley Middle & High Schools
Private
Schools: Glenholme School,
The Gunnery School, Rumsey Hall,
Washington Montessori
|
The Hickory
Stick Bookshop |
Washington,
the first town in the country named
for George Washington, was first settled
in 1734 and was formally incorporated
in 1779 when the parishes of Judea and
New Preston were joined. In many ways,
however, it might be said that modern
Washington was born of the great flood
of 1955 when heavy rains throughout
the Housatonic, Naugatuck and Shepaug
river valleys caused swollen streams
which crashed over and around bridges
and dams and inundated low-lying areas.
A clogged highway culvert north of the
village gave way and a wall of water
tore through Washington Depot washing
homes and businesses downstream. The
gem-like business district we see today
was the result of one of the State’s
earliest urban renewal projects which
was led by businessman Henry B. VanSinderen
(whose Washington estate was later donated
by his widow to the Devereux Foundation
and has become the nationally known
Devereux-Glenholme School). Washington
is also home to the Gunnery School,
which was founded in 1850 by Frederick
W. Gunn, a Yale graduate and noted abolitionist.
He and his wife, Abigail, also founded
the Gunn Memorial Library which stands
across the Washington Green from the
stately Congregational Church and some
of the earliest Colonial-era homes in
the town.
Washington has
several distinct districts surrounding
the commercial center in Washington
Depot (so named because a rail line
once ran along the Shepaug River delivering
merchandise and trade goods to the businesses
near the depot along with passengers
who most often were carried by carriage
to the homes and estates around or near
the green). Washington Green at the
top of the hill, New Preston which grew
up around a dam and mill at the east
end of Lake Waramaug, and Marbledale,
so named because of the quarries from
which much of the granite used to build
the large stone homes and public buildings
which are sprinkled around town was
mined. One can still see slabs of granite
lying on the ground at a mine site located
on New Preston hill. These stone houses
and the two dozen or so houses designed
and built by New York architect Ehrick
Rossiter give Washington an architectural
character that is distinct from that
of its neighbors. Rossiter also bestowed
upon his adopted home the Steep Rock
Preserve – a large tract of woods
and trails along the Shepaug River beneath
a brooding granite prominence. Now preserved
in perpetuity by trustees for the public
use and enjoyment, Steep Rock is as
important in its way to the life of
the community as is Central Park to
Manhattan.
Today, Washington
enjoys a vibrant economy driven by the
second-home real estate market and tourism.
It is, perhaps, the best known and chic
of the region’s second home enclaves.
When you visit, make it a point to try
one of the many highly acclaimed restaurants
and bistros, and by all means make it
a special point to stop by the Hickory
Stick Bookstore across from the town
hall.
Town
Links
- Official Town Site
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to Towns