History of Weston
History of Weston
Weston's story starts with the Paugussett people, Algonquian-speaking farmers who moved seasonally between the coast and this inland area. English settlement traces to Roger Ludlow's 1639 land claim, out of which Fairfield — and eventually Weston — was carved. Early Weston was distributed via "long lots," narrow mile-plus-long parcels that gave the town its distinctive early geography. Weston (then including Easton) was formally incorporated in October 1787; the two towns split in 1845.
"By the 1930's Fairfield residents were pressing for a parallel road to the Post Road, thus the Merritt Parkway was built. Weston was able to take advantage of being close to the Merritt, yet not too close. The town remained quiet and bucolic, enticing people away from the noise and din of New York City to establish roots in this quiet town."
That quiet-but-close-to-the-city character is part of why an unusually large number of notable people have called Weston home over the decades — actors, authors, and artists including Alan Arkin, Bette Davis, Eartha Kitt, Rodney Dangerfield, and Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan II, among many others.
On December 14, 1807, a meteorite fell over Weston — one of the best-documented early meteorite falls anywhere in the world, investigated on the ground by Yale's Benjamin Silliman within days. It became the founding specimen of what's now the oldest meteorite collection in the United States, at Yale's Peabody Museum.
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