Mill Hill Historic Park in Norwalk,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, is a

living history museum A living museum, also known as a living history museum, is a type of museum which recreates historical settings to simulate a past time period, providing visitors with an experiential interpretation of history. It is a type of museum that recre ...

composed of three buildings: the circa 1740 Governor Thomas Fitch IV "law office", the Downtown District Schoolhouse, and the 1835 Norwalk

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

; as well as a historic

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

also called the Town House Hill Cemetery. The museum is also known as the ''Mill Hill Historical Complex'' in some references and the sign at the parking lot reads ''Norwalk Mill Hill Museum''. The Mill Hill Park is now maintained by the Norwalk Historical Society and the Norwalk-Village Green Chapter of the

Daughters of the American Revolution The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promote ...

. Mill Hill Park can be found located along East Wall Street, bounded by Hubble Lane on its southeast and Smith Street to its southwest in

Central Norwalk The Central or Midtown section of Norwalk, Connecticut is an urbanized area in roughly the geographic center of the city, north of the South Norwalk neighborhood and the Connecticut Turnpike. Wall Street, West Avenue and Belden Avenue are the m ...

. “The burial ground on Mill Hill called Whitney's Hill in the records, after the miller was opened for the use of members of the First Society (Congregational) in 1767.” The burying ground, which is now the third oldest in Norwalk, was established by the First

Congregational church Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

in 1767. There are 11 veterans of the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

buried in the Mill Hill Burying Ground.

Governor Thomas Fitch Law Office

The original Fitch house was constructed around 1740 on Goodman Hoyt Hill (which was later known as Earl's Hill) on the east side of what is now East Avenue. Governor Thomas Fitch died on July 18, 1774, and the house was left to his survivors including his wife Hannah and son

Thomas Fitch, V Thomas Fitch, V (1725 – January 16, 1795) was a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives from Norwalk in the sessions of October 1761, May and October 1763, May and October 1764, May and October 1765, May and October 1766, May 1767 ...

(of

Yankee Doodle "Yankee Doodle" is a traditional song and nursery rhyme, the early versions of which predate the Seven Years' War and American Revolution. It is often sung patriotically in the United States today. It is the state anthem of Connecticut. Its ...

fame). The Fitch family house was partially burned in the British raid of Norwalk on July 11 and 12, 1779 since Hannah Fitch, of

tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

inclinations, had vacated the town of Norwalk to avoid the raid (the British spared only tory properties in their raid). Fitch descendants lived in the house that was reconstructed after the raid until 1945. In 1956 the portion of the Fitch house that survived the British raid was saved when Earls' Hill was removed to make room for the construction of the

Connecticut Turnpike The Connecticut Turnpike (officially the Governor John Davis Lodge Turnpike) is a controlled-access highway and former toll road in the U.S. state of Connecticut; it is maintained by the Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT). Span ...

and moved to Mill Hill. In 1971 the Fitch house remnant was restored to look like an 18th-century law office such as what Governor Fitch would have used.

Downtown District Schoolhouse

The first schoolhouse in Norwalk constructed for that purpose was built around 1678 located near what had served as the Roger Ludlow School in East Norwalk (that building is now an apartment to the northeast of the

East Norwalk Historical Cemetery __NOTOC__ Established in , the East Norwalk Historical Cemetery is Norwalk's oldest cemetery, and many of the area's first settlers are buried there. The cemetery is owned and maintained by the Third Taxing District, formally known as the East Nor ...

). Several other school buildings were constructed, including one that was likely burned in the British raid of 1779. The schoolhouse at the Mill Hill site was constructed around 1826 near a former southern intersection of Willow Street and East Avenue. The school became known as the Down Town district schoolhouse since "Down Town District" was the name used for what is now called East Norwalk until about 1883 or 1893. The building was used as a school until 1876. Over the subsequent years it was moved several times as neighboring property boundaries were altered. When

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...

was built through East Norwalk the schoolhouse was moved to Mill Hill.

Norwalk Town House

At the founding of the Town of Norwalk in 1651 plans were made to construct a meeting house which was done by 1659. That original

meeting house A meeting house (meetinghouse, meeting-house) is a building where religious and sometimes public meetings take place. Terminology Nonconformist Protestant denominations distinguish between a * church, which is a body of people who believe in Chr ...

also served as the

. By about 1726 the town's Congregationalists requested that civic meetings be held outside of the church. Civic leaders at first complied with the request by holding meetings in various private homes and then eventually in the Up Town District School (near St. Paul's on the Green, but since relocated). By 1736 the first "Town House" for Norwalk was constructed at the site of where the Trolley Barn is located at Wall Street and Knight Street. The next Town House was built on the Mill Hill site but that building was burned in the 1779 British raid. In the aftermath of the burning Colonel Thomas Fitch V and other community members were appointed to a committee to plan the reconstruction of the Norwalk Town House, but the task was not completed until 1794. The 1794 Town House was not kept in good repair and by 1834 was such an embarrassment that it was torn down by vandals. The present Town House at Mill Hill was built in 1835 by Captain Lewis Raymond, who had brought brick to Norwalk as ship ballast. It was possibly the third or fourth building in town constructed of brick.The Louis Raymond Jr. house built circa 1829 on Keeler Avenue is another brick building that dates from this era and is still standing. See This Town House served the Town of Norwalk until the city-town consolidation that took effect June 30, 1913. Town business then moved to South Norwalk’s

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

(which eventually became a museum too). The Norwalk Chapter of the

leased the Mill Hill Town House building beginning in 1924 and added a kitchen and bathroom at the rear of the building along with a basement. Today the Town House continues to be used for displays of historic memorabilia, meetings, social occasions, and educational programs including visits by schoolchildren.

Notable burials

* Eliphalet Lockwood (1675–1753), deacon and member of the Connecticut House of Representatives * John Betts, Jr. (1692–1767), member of the Connecticut House of Representatives *

Thaddeus Betts Thaddeus Laddins Betts (February 4, 1789 – April 7, 1840) was the 32nd and 34th Lieutenant Governor of the state of Connecticut from 1832 to 1833 and from 1834 to 1835, and a United States Senator from Connecticut from 1839 to 1840. He had ...

(1724–1807), physician and member of the Connecticut House of Representatives * Taylor Sherman (1758–1815), member of the Connecticut House of Representatives, grandfather of

General Sherman William Tecumseh Sherman ( ; February 8, 1820February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), achieving recognition for his com ...

. *

Edwin Lockwood Edwin Lockwood (September 8, 1799 – October 14, 1878) was Warden of the Borough of Norwalk, Connecticut from 1865 to 1867 and from 1869 to 1870. Early life and family He was born in Norwalk on September 8, 1799, the son of Ebenezer and Mary ...

(1799–1878), Warden of the Borough of Norwalk

Notes and references

External links