uilford was
settled in 1639 by a group of 25 English Puritans under the guiding
spirit of their minister, the Reverend Henry Whitfield. The coastal
town, which benefited from two good harbors and two good tidal
rivers, was laid out on a tract purchased from the Menunketuck
Indians. The history of its common, one of the oldest in
Connecticut, reflects the evolution of many greens from unkempt
public utilitarian spaces to landscaped parks used for leisure and
recreation.
Guilford's town square, surrounded by
eighteenth- and nineteenth-century buildings in Colonial and
Victorian styles, interspersed with unobtrusive storefronts, is a
true greensward. Tree-lined walks converge at a centrally placed
Civil War memorial, and on any given day children and dogs
represent a large proportion of the local residents who enjoy this
well-used public park. However, the bucolic scene belies the
earlier history of the Guilford Green. After passing through
Guilford in 1800, Yale College President Timothy Dwight (1752-1817)
noted with interest the appearance of the large open square
dominating the "great plain" in the center of Guilford, upon which
stood two churches and four schoolhouses -- "in which are kept four
very good schools," Dwight observed. But Dwight also commented that
the large town common was "deformed" by an unenclosed burying
ground, where, to his dismay, "the graves are trampled upon and the
monuments injured by both men and cattle."
During this period, two ponds dominated the
western side of the Guilford Green, gravel and stones were quarried
throughout, and trees were cut down for timber and fuel. By 1775
the green was known as the "marketplace" and was the site of a town
house for public business and meetings. In step with a statewide
trend that occurred in the wake of the American Revolution, steps
were undertaken in the 1830s to clear the Guilford Green of
buildings, including the Congregational meetinghouse, the town
house, and one of the schools. Elm trees were planted around the
same time. Recreational activities began with the first town
agricultural fair, sponsored by the Farmers' and Mechanics'
Association in 1859.
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