Sharon, Connecticut
Encyclopedia
Sharon is a town
New England town
The New England town is the basic unit of local government in each of the six New England states. Without a direct counterpart in most other U.S. states, New England towns are conceptually similar to civil townships in other states, but are incorporated, possessing powers like cities in other...

 located in Litchfield County
Litchfield County, Connecticut
Litchfield County is a county located in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. Litchfield County has the lowest population density of any county in Connecticut but is geographically the state's largest county. As of 2010 the population was 189,927...

, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

, in the northwest corner of the state. It is bounded on the north by Salisbury
Salisbury, Connecticut
Salisbury is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The town is the northwest-most in the State of Connecticut. The MA-NY-CT Tri-State Marker is located just on the border of Salisbury...

, on the east by the Housatonic River
Housatonic River
The Housatonic River is a river, approximately long, in western Massachusetts and western Connecticut in the United States. It flows south to southeast, and drains about of southwestern New England into Long Island Sound...

, on the south by Kent
Kent, Connecticut
Kent is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, alongside the border with New York. The population was 2,858 at the 2000 census. The town is home to three New England boarding schools: South Kent School, Kent School and The Marvelwood School. The Schaghticoke Indian Reservation is also located...

, and on the west by Dutchess County
Dutchess County, New York
Dutchess County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York, in the state's Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley. The 2010 census lists the population as 297,488...

, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. At the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 2,968, roughly a third more than it had had 220 years earlier.

History

The first inhabitants of the area they called Poconnuck were the Mattabesec Indians. These were part of what became known as the Wappinger confederacy which in turn belonged to the loose Algonquian
Algonquian peoples
The Algonquian are one of the most populous and widespread North American native language groups, with tribes originally numbering in the hundreds. Today hundreds of thousands of individuals identify with various Algonquian peoples...

 confederacy.
  • 1739: Sharon is incorporated. It is named after the Plain of Sharon.
  • 1765: John Cotton Smith
    John Cotton Smith
    John Cotton Smith was the 23rd Governor of Connecticut. He was a Federalist, serving as Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives , as a Congressman for Connecticut from 1800–1806, Lt...

    , a prominent Connecticut politician, is born in Sharon.
  • 1782: The population of Sharon grows to over 2,230 people.
  • 1960: Young Americans for Freedom
    Young Americans for Freedom
    Young Americans for Freedom is a 501 non-profit organization and is now a project of Young America's Foundation. YAF is an ideologically conservative youth activism organization that was founded in 1960, as a coalition between traditional conservatives and libertarians...

     is founded at the estate of William F. Buckley, Jr.
    William F. Buckley, Jr.
    William Frank Buckley, Jr. was an American conservative author and commentator. He founded the political magazine National Review in 1955, hosted 1,429 episodes of the television show Firing Line from 1966 until 1999, and was a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. His writing was noted for...

     in Sharon. The founding statement of this group will thus be known as the Sharon Statement
    Sharon Statement
    The Sharon Statement is the founding statement of principles of the Young Americans for Freedom.Written by M. Stanton Evans with the assistance of Annette Kirk, wife of Russell Kirk, and adopted on September 11, 1960, the statement is named for the location of the inaugural meeting of Young...

    .

Sharon in 1919

The following is a description of Sharon and its surroundings from a 1919 guide book to New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

 travel http://www.oldandsold.com/articles16/new-england-roads-33.shtml:

This is a village of rural loveliness which attracts many summer boarders. The Street, 200 feet [actually 12 rods] wide and two miles long, is bordered by grand old elm
Elm
Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus Ulmus in the plant family Ulmaceae. The dozens of species are found in temperate and tropical-montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ranging southward into Indonesia. Elms are components of many kinds of natural forests...

s forming a natural arbor. The Soldiers' Monument with a stone cannon, and a stone clock tower are the modern features of the village. The Governor John Cotton Smith
John Cotton Smith
John Cotton Smith was the 23rd Governor of Connecticut. He was a Federalist, serving as Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives , as a Congressman for Connecticut from 1800–1806, Lt...

 House, a fine specimen of Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...

, is still perfectly preserved. The fine old George King brick house (1800) is at the head of the street. The C. C. Tiffany house (1757) is perhaps the oldest in the town. The old Pardee brick house (James Pardee House
James Pardee House
The James Pardee House, situated on the grounds of the John Pardee Homestead, is one of the well-known historic homes built in the eighteenth century in the town of Sharon, Connecticut, according to the 1935 edition of The Connecticut Guide...

) (1782) stands by the Stone Bridge. The Prindle house is a spacious gambrel roof dwelling on Gay St. near the charming lakelet which furnishes a natural reservoir for the village water supply. The picturesque old Gay House has the builder's initials "M. G. 1765" on a stone in the gable
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...

.


In the early days Sharon was a place of busy and varied industries. Iron
Pig iron
Pig iron is the intermediate product of smelting iron ore with a high-carbon fuel such as coke, usually with limestone as a flux. Charcoal and anthracite have also been used as fuel...

 was manufactured here as early as 1743, and continued an important industry up to fifty years ago. During the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 munitions were made here, and it was then in the shops of the Hotchkiss Company
Benjamin B. Hotchkiss
Benjamin Berkeley Hotchkiss was one of the leading American ordnance engineers of his day.-American career:...

 in this village that the Hotchkiss explosive shell for rifled guns
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...

 was invented, which led to the expansion of the company and its removal to Bridgeport
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in Fairfield County, the city had an estimated population of 144,229 at the 2010 United States Census and is the core of the Greater Bridgeport area...

.


To the north of the village is Mudge Pond, or Crystal Lake, and beyond, Indian Mountain (1200 ft). At the western foot of the mountain, on the [New York] State line, lies Indian Pond, now called Wequagnock Lake. On the edge of this lake was an Indian village where the Moravians early established a mission that did great work among the Indians. To the Moravians it was known as " Gnadensee," the Lake of Grace.


From Sharon the route runs northward past Lake Wononpakook and Lake Wononskopomuc, the latter an Indian word meaning "sparkling water." Between the lakes, as the road forks right, is situated the widely known Hotchkiss School
Hotchkiss School
The Hotchkiss School is an independent, coeducational American college preparatory boarding school located in Lakeville, Connecticut. Founded in 1891, the school enrolls students in grades 9 through 12 and a small number of postgraduates...

. On the right, half a mile from Lakeville
Lakeville, Connecticut
Lakeville is a village and census-designated place in the town of Salisbury in Litchfield County, Connecticut, on Lake Wononskopomuc. The village includes Lakeville Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The district represents about of the village center...

, is the residence of Hon. Wm. Travers Jerome, formerly District Attorney of New York City
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York is the chief federal law enforcement officer in eight New York counties: New York , Bronx, Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess, and Sullivan. Preet Bharara, who was appointed by Barack Obama in 2009 is the U.S. Attorney for the...

.

Historic sites

Sharon has 6 sites listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

:
  • Ebenezer Gay House, Main St., Sharon
  • George King House, 12 N. Main St., Sharon
  • Gov. Smith Homestead, South Main St., Sharon
  • James Pardee House
    James Pardee House
    The James Pardee House, situated on the grounds of the John Pardee Homestead, is one of the well-known historic homes built in the eighteenth century in the town of Sharon, Connecticut, according to the 1935 edition of The Connecticut Guide...

    , 129 N. Main St., Sharon
  • Sharon Historic District, roughly Main St. from Low Rd. to its junction with Mitchelltown, Amenia Union, and W. Woods Rds., Sharon
  • Sharon Valley Historic District
    Sharon Valley Historic District
    The Sharon Valley Historic District is located around the junction of Kings Hill, Sharon Valley and Sharon Station roads in Sharon, Connecticut, United States. It is a small community that grew up around an iron mining and refining operation during the late 19th century, the first industry in...


Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the town has a total area of 59.6 square miles (154.3 km²), of which, 58.7 square miles (152.0 km²) of it is land and 0.9 square miles (2.2 km²) of it is water. The total area is 1.44% water. Sharon is part of the Northwest Highlands of Connecticut, a region in and around the watershed
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 of the Housatonic River
Housatonic River
The Housatonic River is a river, approximately long, in western Massachusetts and western Connecticut in the United States. It flows south to southeast, and drains about of southwestern New England into Long Island Sound...

. The Appalachian Trail
Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail or simply the AT, is a marked hiking trail in the eastern United States extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. It is approximately long...

 passes through a few miles east of Sharon, near West Cornwall and U.S. Route 7
U.S. Route 7
U.S. Route 7 is a north–south United States highway in western New England that runs for from Norwalk, Connecticut, to Highgate, Vermont. The highway's southern terminus is at Interstate 95 in Norwalk, Connecticut...

.

Principal communities

  • Amenia Union
  • Ellsworth
  • Sharon center
  • Sharon Valley

Demographics

As of the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

of 2000, there were 2,968 people, 1,246 households, and 775 families residing in the town. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 50.6 per square mile (19.5/km²). There were 1,617 housing units at an average density of 27.5 per square mile (10.6/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 96.87% White, 0.94% African American, 0.57% Asian, 0.44% Native American, 0% Pacific Islander, 0.34% from other races, and 0.84% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.95% of the population.

There were 1,246 households of which 25.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.9% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 living together, 7.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.8% were non-families. 31.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 2.87.

In the town the population was spread out with 21.3% under the age of 18, 4.2% from 18 to 24, 24.4% from 25 to 44, 29.1% from 45 to 64, and 21.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females there were 94.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.2 males.

The median household income
Median household income
The median household income is commonly used to generate data about geographic areas and divides households into two equal segments with the first half of households earning less than the median household income and the other half earning more...

 was $53,000, and the median family income for a family was $71,458. Males had a median income of $42,841 versus $31,375 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the town was $45,418. About 3.9% of families and 7.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.4% of those under the age of 18 and none of those 65 and older.

Transportation

The town is served by state highways Route 4
Route 4 (Connecticut)
Route 4 is an east–west primary state highway connecting rural Litchfield County to the Greater Hartford area of the U.S. state of Connecticut...

, Route 41
Route 41 (Connecticut)
Route 41 is a scenic state highway in rural Northwestern Connecticut. It extends from the New York state line in Sharon to the Massachusetts state line in Salisbury and is the only state-numbered route in Connecticut that has both its ends at a state border....

, Route 343, and Route 361
Route 361 (Connecticut)
Route 361 is a state highway in the northwestern section of the U.S. state of Connecticut, running from the town center of Sharon to the New York state line in Salisbury. The route was a former alignment of Route 4 from what is now Route 41 to the New York state line, where it continued as New York...

.

Notable residents and natives

  • Benjamin B. Hotchkiss
    Benjamin B. Hotchkiss
    Benjamin Berkeley Hotchkiss was one of the leading American ordnance engineers of his day.-American career:...

    , a leading 19th century American ordnance engineer. His widow Maria Bissell Hotchkiss
    Maria Bissell Hotchkiss
    Maria H. Hotchkiss was the wife of U.S. engineer Benjamin B. Hotchkiss. After his death in 1885, she founded the Hotchkiss School in her husband's native Connecticut in 1891....

     founded the Hotchkiss Library in Sharon in her husband's memory.
  • Frank Grimes
    Frank Grimes
    Frank Grimes , is an Irish actor.Frank Grimes may also refer to:*Frank Grimes, character in The Simpsons episode "Homer's Enemy"*Frank Grimes' son, Frank Grimes, Jr., in the The Simpsons episode "The Great Louse Detective"...

    , who founded the Independent Grocers Association
    IGA (supermarkets)
    IGA is a brand of grocery stores active in more than 30 countries. Contrasting with the chain store business model, IGA operates as a franchise through stores that are owned separately from the brand. Many of these stores operate in small town markets and belong to families that manage them...

     in Sharon in 1926.
  • Ansel Sterling
    Ansel Sterling
    Ansel Sterling was a United States Representative from Connecticut. He was the brother of Micah Sterling who was a United States Representative from New York. He was born in Lyme, Connecticut where he attended the common schools. Later, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1805...

     was a US Congressman from Connecticut.
  • William F. Buckley Jr. grew up in Sharon, at the Buckley family home ("Great Elm").
  • Kevin Bacon
    Kevin Bacon
    Kevin Norwood Bacon is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Diner, Footloose, Flatliners, Wild Things, A Few Good Men, JFK, Apollo 13, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Trapped, Friday the 13th, Hollow Man, Tremors, Death Sentence, Frost/Nixon, Crazy, Stupid, Love....

     and his wife Kyra Sedgwick
    Kyra Sedgwick
    Kyra Minturn Sedgwick is an American actress.Sedgwick is best known for her starring role as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on the TNT crime drama The Closer. Sedgwick's role in the series won her a Golden Globe Award in 2007 and an Emmy Award in 2010...

     have a house and live part time in Sharon.
  • Michael J. Fox
    Michael J. Fox
    Michael J. Fox, OC is a Canadian American actor, author, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy ; Alex P...

     and his wife Tracy Pollan
    Tracy Pollan
    Tracy Jo Pollan is an American actress. She is perhaps best-known for her recurring role as Ellen Reed on the sitcom Family Ties in the mid-1980s. It was on this show that she met future husband Michael J. Fox.-Personal life:...

     have a house and live part time in Sharon.
  • Bradley Whitford
    Bradley Whitford
    Bradley Whitford is an American film and television actor. He is best known for his roles as Deputy White House Chief of Staff Josh Lyman on the NBC television drama The West Wing, as Danny Tripp on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, as Dan Stark in the Fox police buddy-comedy The Good Guys, as...

     and his wife Jane Kaczmarek
    Jane Kaczmarek
    Jane Frances Kaczmarek is an American actress. She is best known for playing the character of Lois on the television series Malcolm in the Middle. Kaczmarek is a three-time Golden Globe and seven-time Emmy Award nominee...

     have a house and occasionally spend time in Sharon.
  • Campbell Scott
    Campbell Scott
    Campbell Scott is an American actor, director, producer, and voice artist.-Life and career:Scott was born in New York City, the son of George C. Scott, an actor, director, and producer, and Colleen Dewhurst, a Canadian-born actress. He graduated from Lawrence University in 1983. His brother is...

     lives in Sharon.
  • Jasper Johns
    Jasper Johns
    Jasper Johns, Jr. is an American contemporary artist who works primarily in painting and printmaking.-Life:Born in Augusta, Georgia, Jasper Johns spent his early life in Allendale, South Carolina with his paternal grandparents after his parents' marriage failed...

     currently resides in Sharon.
  • Jane Curtin
    Jane Curtin
    Jane Therese Curtin is an American actress and comedienne. She is commonly referred to as Queen of the Deadpan.First coming to prominence as an original cast member on Saturday Night Live in 1975, she went on to win back-to-back Emmy Awards for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series on the 1980s...

    , actress and comedienne, resides in Sharon.
  • Sam Posey
    Sam Posey
    Sam Posey is a retired American racecar driver and sports broadcast journalist.-Driving career:...

    , a retired American racecar driver and sports broadcast journalist, resides in Sharon.
  • According to recent published Associated Press
    Associated Press
    The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

     news reports, former Witchblade
    Witchblade
    Witchblade is an American comic book series published by Top Cow Productions, an imprint of Image Comics, from 1995 until present. The series was created by Top Cow editors Marc Silvestri and David Wohl, writers Brian Haberlin and Christina Z, and artist Michael Turner.The series follows Sara...

     actress, Yancy Butler
    Yancy Butler
    Yancy Victoria Butler is an American television and movie actress known for her roles as Natasha Binder in the 1993 John Woo film Hard Target and as Detective Sara Pezzini on the TNT supernatural drama Witchblade.-Early life:...

     currently resides in Sharon.


The presence of Sharon Hospital, a sizeable regional hospital, has led to Sharon being birthplace to several people who did not live in the town:
  • Samuel Berger
    Sandy Berger
    Samuel Richard "Sandy" Berger was United States National Security Advisor, under President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001. In his position, he helped to formulate the foreign policy of the Clinton Administration...

    , U.S. National Security Advisor to President Bill Clinton
    Bill Clinton
    William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

    . Born in Sharon on October 28, 1945, but raised in nearby Millerton
    Millerton, New York
    Millerton is a village in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 925 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York–Newark–Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined...

    , New York
    New York
    New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

    .
  • Michael Cole
    Michael Cole
    Michael Sean Coulthard , better known by his ring name Michael Cole, is an American professional wrestling commentator, currently signed to WWE on both its Rawand SmackDown brands. Coulthard is a former news journalist....

     (born Michael Shawn Coulthard), announcer on WWE Raw
    WWE RAW
    WWE Raw ) is a sports entertainment television program for WWE that currently airs on the USA Network in the United States...

    and former journalist with CBS Radio
    CBS Radio
    CBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...

    . Born in Sharon on December 8, 1966, but raised in nearby Amenia, New York
    New York
    New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

    .
  • Philip Amelio
    Philip Amelio
    Philip John Amelio II was an American actor and teacher. At age nine, he played Lucille Ball's grandson on the Life With Lucy series.Philip was born in Sharon, Connecticut and grew up in nearby Pine Plains, New York...

    , 1980s child actor. Born in Sharon on November 3, 1977, but raised in nearby Pine Plains, New York
    New York
    New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

    .

External links

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