The Town Common and Hauley House
Ridgefield, Connecticut
The First Meeting House was built on the green in 1713. In 1723 the first Congregational Meeting House was erected and served as a school, church and government building. It was replaced in 1800 by a second Meeting House, in use until 1888 when the current church on the corner of West Lane and Main Street was dedicated. The Town Common, today encompassing much of the front yard of the Methodist Church, was used for militia drills as early as 1727. The first pound was built in the churchyard on the village green, fenced in for community grazing of cattle, sheep and other animals. According to the Rev. Samuel Goodrich there were 2, 000 sheep in Ridgefield in 1800.
The Hauley House is one of the oldest houses in Ridgefield. When the Proprietors laid out the town, Lot # 5 was reserved for their first minister. By 1713 the Rev. Thomas Hauley, a graduate of Harvard College, arrived from Northampton, Mass. And began performing his pastoral duties. In 1714 he was elected Town Register, taking over that post from John Copp. Hauley continued serving the town until his untimely death in 1738.
Marker is at the intersection of Main Street (Connecticut Route 35) and King Lane, on the right when traveling north on Main Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
