The Hebron Historical Society

Hebron was first settled in 1704-05 during Queen Anne’s War between the English and French. The Connecticut General Assembly was so concerned with invasion that they ordered settlers not to leave their farms. At this time William Shipman and Timothy Phelps had started to clear land in Hebron to settle. Their wives left in Windsor became concerned for their safety. Following footpaths they made there way to Hebron, but then got lost. With night approaching they found an Indigenous encampment site by a large boulder. Climbing the boulder, they cried out for help which their husbands heard and came to their rescue. The boulder still remains along Burrows Hill Road and is known today as prophet’s Rock.
Evidence of William Shipman’s house was found in the 1840’s. Unfortunately, its existence was not taken into consideration when the sidewalk was installed and was paved over.

Think about it

Do you think Mrs. Shipman and Mrs. Phelps were brave or foolish?

Where to go from here

This concludes this section of the tour. As you walked back to the starting point, think about how what you see is different from what Hebron’s first settlers might have seen.

The little white house on the south side of Kinney Road is the only house identified so far as having been built by an Irish immigrant. It was built by John Howey between 1851-1857. John Howey sometimes recorded as Hovy was a skilled Irish papermaker who found employment with one Hebron’s small papermaking mills. When he built this house, he and his wife had a 14-year-old daughter. In 1857, he sold his house to his neighbor Ira Bissell and moved out of town. Irish immigrants were subject to a great deal of discrimination in New England. Most were Roman Catholic settling in an area of the United States that was staunchly Protestant. None-the-less Hebron did have a substantial Irish community in the mid 1800’s. The silk mills in Amston employed Irish girls. When the railroad went through Amston a large number of Irish men lived in boarding houses as they put down railroad tracks. Some Irish immigrants acquired farms or worked as farm laborers. Young Irish women worked as domestic servants. By the 20th century, this house would be home to another immigrant family the Mosny family who had immigrated from Slovakia.

Think about it

All humans are 95% the same in appearance, why does prejudice exist?

Where to go from here.

Walk south toward the Church of the Holy Family.

Meet Your Neighbors QR Tours funded by the Hebron Greater Together Community Fund in conjunction with the Hebron Historical Society.

Please note that most of the structures you will see are privately owned. Please respect these properties by viewing them from the sidewalk.

This land was the first land settled by Euro Americans before Hebron became a town. For several years this area was Hebron’s Center. Further down Route 85 where Old Colchester Road branches off was the location of a block house for protection. Later that area would be owned by Don Juan Lanares, a Latin American ship captain who married locally.

William Shipman owned the land on the east side of Route 85. In 1702 he was granted three home lots as an investor with the Saybrook Proprietors who had been granted the land Hebron stands upon by the Mohegan Indigenous sachem Joshua or Attawanhood in 1676. Land was not free for settling. Those who acquired land early received large tracts of land in the form of home lots, 100 acre lots and meadow lots. Shortly after settling in Hebron, William Shipman sold off some of his land to the Phelps family.

In 1845 the foundation of William Shipman’s house was discovered. It has now been paved over for the sidewalk.

Think about it.

Ever since Hebron was settled, the land has been divided up and sold in ever decreasing size. Do you think Hebron will ever become a city where building cover all of the land the are built on with no green space between?

Where to go next.

This ends the Church Street / Route 85 QR Tour Loop. If you return to Hebron Center, you can explore loops along Marjorie Circle, the north side of Hebron Green or the south side of Hebron Green.

Meet Your Neighbors QR Tours funded by the Hebron Greater Together Community Fund in conjunction with the Hebron Historical Society

The wooded area south of St. Peter’s parking lot was once open fields. Due to glaciation depositing a layer of crushed stone that prevented moisture from sinking deep into the ground, the soil that built up over the centuries made this one of the most fertile areas in Hebron. Before the town of Hebron was created, this area was farmed by Indigenous People.

The Town of Hebron started out as a real estate venture. Men in Saybrook, Connecticut acquired the land from Attawanhood or Joshua, Sachem of the Western Nehantics, in 1676. In 1702, they divided the area into 86 lots, reserving two lots in the center as a possible center for the settlement. Settlers had to buy 100 lots in order to live in Hebron. David Barber purchased much of the land between Route 66 and Kinney Road. By the early 1800’s David Barber’s son-in-law Sylvester Gilbert began to sell off land to the north of St. Peters’ parking lot. The land south of St. Peters parking lot was purchased by Governor John S. Peters as an early open space preservation project. Both Sylvester Gilbert and Governor John S. Peters hired free African Americans to farm their land. This allowed these African Americans living in Hebron Center to rise to the middle class and live side by side with their Yankee neighbors. Following original proprietor lot lines, these African American workmen constructed stone lanes to allow horses, sheep, and cattle to pass by the fertile fields to areas reserved for pasture. This created a unique grid of walls testifying to how progressive farmers improved their land in order to raise cattle for cities like New York and Boston, as well as for the West Indies. Currently, this land represents the last intact farm left in Hebron Center.

In the Spring of 1781, part of the French Troop contingency who had spend the winter in Lebanon marched by this site on their way to Yorktown, the last battle of the Revolutionary War.

Thinking About It

Farming is no longer a major way to earn a living. How would you use this land?

Where to go next

Walk along the sidewalk toward Kinney Road

Meet Your Neighbors QR Tours funded by the Hebron Greater Together Community Fund in conjunction with the Hebron Historical Society

This building was built in the 1860’s as the parsonage for St. Peters’ rector. In the 18th century it was very common for a minister or rector to settle for life in a town. This changed in the early 1800’s as ministers started to move from parish to parish depending upon their congregation’s dynamics and their personal desire for a professional career. As congregations vied with each other for qualified clergy, minister’s salaries rose. Many small towns like Hebron found they could raise enough money within their congregations to compete. The solution to this vexing problem was to offer a new minister a parsonage to spare him from having to buy or rent a house in town.

Notice how this structure is similar to other Federal gable-end-to-the-street houses, but with Victorian details such as a porch and Gothic Revival window in the pediment.

Think about it

What would it be like to be a minister’s son or daughter moving every few years. Would you miss your friends?

Would it be easy to make new friends?

Where to go next

Continue to walk south along Church Street toward Hebron Elementary School

Meet Your Neighbors QR Tours funded by the Hebron Greater Together Community Fund in conjunction with the Hebron Historical Society.
Please note that most of the structures you will see are privately owned. Please respect these properties by viewing them from the sidewalk.