Early History of Norfolk, CT

Settlement

When the tract of land that would become the township of Norfolk was divided into fifty-three rights of four hundred acres each and offered for sale by the Colony of Connecticut in 1738, few buyers were interested. The Green Woods, a dense hemlock forest riddled with swamps and rock ledge, did not appeal to prospective settlers who had to make a living from the land. It took six years for the first of the original proprietors, as the buyers of these rights were called, to settle in Norfolk. In 1744 Cornelius Brown built his log dwelling just east of the Norfolk-North Canaan town line, probably choosing that location for its proximity to the relatively well-established community of Canaan. Although settlement was slow, by 1758 with forty-three families in residence the community was sizeable enough to petition the General Assembly for town privileges. On October 12, 1758, Norfolk was incorporated, and the business of civic life began in earnest.