Dudleytown, Connecticut

Another 1984 USGS excerpt
Dudleytown is an abandoned settlement in northwestern Connecticut in the United States, best known today as a ghost town. Due to vandalism and trespassers, the site is not open to the public.

Since the mid-1920s, the land occupied by the village has been maintained by philanthropists as a private land trust, who worked to reforest the land after decades of agricultural use. Few traces, such as cellar holes, remain of the original village. Due to rumors of ghost activity beginning in the 1980s, the village site has been subject to frequent vandalism, and the owners have since closed the land to the public.

History

Dudleytown was never an actual town. The name was given at an unknown date to a portion of Cornwall that included several members of the Dudley family. The area that became known as Dudleytown was settled in the early 1740s by Thomas Griffis, followed by Gideon Dudley and, by 1753, Barzillai Dudley and Abiel Dudley; Martin Dudley joined them a few years later. Other families also settled there.

As with every other part of Cornwall, Connecticut, Dudleytown was converted from forest to farm land. Families tilled the land for generations. Located on top of a high hill, Dudleytown was not ideally suited for farming. When more fertile and spacious land opened up in the Midwest in the mid-19th century, and as the local iron industry wound down, Cornwall's population declined.

Geography and conservation

The village was located a few miles south of the Cornwall Bridge neighborhood of Cornwall. It was located in a valley, known as the Dark Entry Forest, due to the shadows caused by the mountains surrounding the village and access road. The town's abandonment has meant that barely any ruins of the original township survive. During the early 20th century, old farms in Cornwall were sold to New Yorkers seeking a better life in the countryside, including Dudleytown, which has been privately owned since 1924 by Dark Entry Forest, Incorporated. The village site is today closed to the public and anyone found trespassing is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law by the Connecticut State Police and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

In promoting the land trust to investors, a March 1924 prospectus for the Dark Entry Forest stated: "This society is planned to promote forestation, to run a wood mill, to promote conservation of bird, animal and wildflower life, and to afford a playground for you and your children and your children’s children." Soon after acquisition the owners planted thousands of trees. During the 1930s, New York's Skidreiverein Club spent their winter weekends skiing on trails they built in the area; in the summers, they canoed down the Housatonic River. Horse riding camps for children were also held on the site.

Rumors and vandalism

A local rumor that has been frequently shared on the internet alleges the founders of Dudleytown were descended from Edmund Dudley, an English nobleman who was beheaded for treason during the reign of Henry VIII. From that moment on, the Dudley family was placed under a curse which followed them across the Atlantic to America. This curse is blamed for instances of crop failures and mental illness, as well as several purported violent deaths in the village. Local historians have found no genealogical link between the Dudley family of Cornwall and the English nobleman and noted many other factual inconsistencies in the rumors. The village's decline has instead been attributed to its distance from clean drinking water and unsuitable soil for cultivation. One confirmed case of suicide of a village resident took place in New York state rather than within Cornwall.

Since the 1990s, police in Cornwall have responded to numerous cases of vandalism. The 1999 movie, ''The Blair Witch Project'', about a haunted forest prompted increased interest in the allegedly haunted village. This increased the frequency of such incidents. The owners of the Dudleytown's property have closed it to the public. Siedzik, Jason (9 December 2011)
In Cornwall, Dudley Town Makers Arrested
''Litchfield County Times''Rierden, Andi (29 October 1989)
THE VIEW FROM: DUDLEYTOWN; A Hamlet That Can't Get Rid of Its Ghosts
''The New York Times''

References

Further reading

* This book relates the story of the Dudleytown curse, and may have been the inspiration behind later accounts.
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Ghost towns in Connecticut
Cornwall, Connecticut
Former populated places in Litchfield County, Connecticut