History of Darien, Connecticut - Colonial Times

Colonial Times

The Siwanoy, an Agonquian-speaking sachemdom (or subtribe) of the Wappinger tribe, originally occupied Darien and the surroundinng area. The Siwanoy controlled what is now much of the Bronx, Westchester County and the Connecticut "panhandle" as far east as Norwalk and part of Wilton.

The land that became Darien was a part of Stamford from the time Stamford was bought from the Indians until Darien was incorporated as a town in 1820. Settlement began in the late 17th century with permission from Stamford authorities to start building roads cut "in the woods". Originally, settlers congregated in three areas: around "Noroton Cove" (now "Holly Pond") in the southwest corner of town, settled in the 1680s; Gorham's Landing on Goodwives River in the south-central part of town; and at the head of Five Mile River, where the town today borders Norwalk.

The Noroton Cove settlement included a sawmill built by a dam on the Noroton River (a large stream and now the Darien-Stamford border) just north of where Interstate 95 crosses over the river. A small shipyard was founded on the shore of Holly Pond near where the present site of the Darien YMCA. A local blacksmith, Nathaniel Pond, owned a home built in about 1696 in Saltbox style at the corner of what is now the Boston Post Road and Hollow Tree Ridge Road. It is now the oldest house in town.

In 1690, the Five Mile River settlement was started when John Reed and his son built a sawmill where today's Old Kings Highway crosses the river.

In 1703 a school district was set up in Noroton at what is now the southwest corner of Nearwater Lane and the Boston Post Road. The Hindley School is now across the street from the site, which is owned by the Noroton Fire Department. Five years later Scofield's Mill (afterward called Gorham's Mill) was built on Goodwive's River.