History of Enfield, Connecticut, USA

Tradition has it that on Thursday, April 20, 1775 Reverend Elam Potter's regular Thursday sermon was interrupted by Private (later Captain) Thomas Abbey pounding on his drum as he marched around the meeting house. War had broken out in Boston! Seventy four volunteers led by Major Nathaniel Terry marched for Boston the next day.

The Utopian religious sect practiced celibate, communal living, and is today renowned for its simple architecture and furniture. Membership eventually dwindled, however, and the village disbanded.

Enfield, a post town, is situated in the northeast corner of the county, on the east side of Connecticut river; being 16 miles from Hartford, and 50 from New Haven. It is bounded on the north by Long-Meadow, in Massachusetts, east by Somers, in Tolland county, south by East-Windsor, and west by Connecticut river, which separates it from Suffield.

It is nearly six miles in length from north to south, and five and a half in breadth, from east to west comprising about 33 square miles or 21,120 acres. The township is generally of a level surface, excepting the borders of the Connecticut, which are elevated and romantic. The soil is a light, sandy loam, very feasible and generally fertile; there are some small sections of pine plains, and some tracts of clay or argillaceous loam. The natural growth of the forests is Walnut, Oak, of the various kinds, Maple, Elm, Chesnut, Butternut, various shrubs, and on the plains, yellow pine; there are a considerable number of forests in the town,...

In 1836 he and several partners formed Loomis, Denslow and Company. In 1837 Augustus Hazard joined the firm and quickly became the driving force behind the gunpowder industry in Enfield.