Coventry, CT
An excerpt from The Connecticut 169 Club
Twenty miles east of Hartford at the gateway to the “Quiet Corner,” wrapped around the crooked, 380-acre glacial Lake Wangumbaug and the birthplace of Revolutionary War hero Nathan Hale.
Town History
The land was known to the Mohegans as Wongumbaug, or “crooked pond,” for the curved shape of the 380-acre glacial lake in the center of town. The town was set off in 1706 to be divided by deed holders from the legatees of Joshua, third son of the Mohegan sachem Uncas. It was named in 1711 from the city of Coventry, England, and incorporated the following year.
During the 18th century Coventry was a self-sufficient agrarian society centered around the Second Church on the Boston Turnpike and the First Church on the Windham Turnpike, now Main Street. The town is best known as the birthplace of America’s young Revolutionary War hero Nathan Hale, who was hung as a spy by the British in 1776.
Coventry was also the birthplace of Lorenzo Dow (1777–1834), the revivalist preacher who traveled through this country and the United Kingdom. He was called “crazy” for his methods of luring crowds to his camp meetings, and his biographer called his preachings “a joy to believers and a lash to all others.”
More than 100 men from the town responded to the Lexington Alarm in 1775, and Coventry provided substantial amounts of clothing, cider, and pork for the Continental Army. Jeremiah Ripley kept a military provisioning depot on Ripley Hill Road.
Manufacturing
From the early 1800s until the Great Depression, South Coventry Village was a hub of manufacturing activity, starting with water-powered mills on the Mill Brook, fed by the reservoir of Lake Wangumbaug. Fifteen mill sites were located along the brook’s two-mile course. At their peak in 1870, mill businesses comprised more than 50 buildings and employed more than 400 people making wool carding machinery, handmade paper, silk, cotton shirting, wool flannel and cassimere, iron forgings, percussion caps, rimfire ammunition, woolen hats, windmills, wagons, and more. To this day, South Coventry Village retains its authenticity, interrupted by only two small, modern-day commercial buildings.
In 1813 the Coventry Glass Works opened on the corner of Route 44 and North River Road, producing pocket bottles, medicine containers, and collectible whiskey flasks decorated with railroad scenes and busts of George Washington, Andrew Jackson, and Lafayette. The Connecticut Museum of Glass now stands on the site.
Adelma Grenier Simmons (1903–1996) developed herbal gardening into a popular hobby, showcasing her Caprilands Farm at 534 Silver Street. By the 1950s, hundreds attended her lectures, read her books, and dined at her farmhouse restaurant, where meals included unique herbal tastings and edible flowers. The farm is no longer in operation.
Following the Great Depression, the town held fast to its rural and farming heritage while growing quickly as a suburban community around Lake Wangumbaug and Eagleville Lake.
Interesting Places
A Revolutionary War homestead, a farmers market, and a vineyard
From The Connecticut 169 Club
This is an excerpt from the Connecticut travel guide The Connecticut 169 Club: Your Passport & Guide to Exploring CT. It was written by local residents to encourage people to visit the beautiful 169 towns and cities in Connecticut.
Collect a stamp or signature in each town and earn the Leatherman patch when you finish.
The Travel Guide Books
Visit every town in the state, collect a stamp in each one, earn the patch
