Sherman is the northernmost and least populous
town
A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city.
The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...
of
Fairfield County,
Connecticut
Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
, United States. The population was 3,527 at the
2020 census.
The town is part of the
Western Connecticut Planning Region. The town was formed in 1802 from the northern part of
New Fairfield. It is named for
Roger Sherman
Roger Sherman (April 19, 1721 – July 23, 1793) was an early American politician, lawyer, and a Founding Father of the United States. He is the only person to sign all four great state papers of the United States: the Continental Association, ...
, the only person who signed all four founding documents of the United States of America. He also had a cobbler's shop in the north end of town which has been reconstructed behind the Northrup House in the center of town.
The
Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian Trail, also called the A.T., is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian Tra ...
passes through the northern end of Sherman. Part of
Squantz Pond is in the town.
Sherman is a popular weekend retreat for New York City residents, with about a third of its residents weekenders. The town is located northeast of
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, making it part of the
New York metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also called the Tri-State area and sometimes referred to as Greater New York, is the List of cities by GDP, largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a List of U.S. metropolitan areas by GDP, gross metropo ...
.
Sherman has one area on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
: the
Sherman Historic District, bounded roughly by the intersection of Old Greenswood Road and
Route 37, northeast past the intersection of Route 37 East and
Route 39 North and Sawmill Road. The district was added to the National Register on August 31, 1991.
Sherman is the only town in
Fairfield County in the
860 area code; the remainder of the county is served by the
area code 203/
area code 475
Area codes 203 and 475 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The numbering plan area (NPA) is mostly coextensive with the Connecticut portion of the New ...
overlay.
History
The land which is now called Sherman was formerly occupied primarily by native people of
Algonquian lineage.
In 1724, colonial settlers from
Fairfield, Connecticut
Fairfield is a New England town, town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It borders the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Bridgeport and towns of Trumbull, Connecticut, Trumbull, Easton, Connecticut, Easton, Weston, Connecticut, W ...
, received approval from the General Assembly of the Colony of Connecticut to establish a new township. According to one account, they negotiated with Chief Squantz of the
Schaghticoke tribe. Alternatively, it is told that they did not negotiate with Chief Squantz because he moved to the north end of Squantz Pond land area and refused to "sell" the township of New Fairfield. They returned in the spring of 1725, but found that Chief Squantz had died during the winter. His four sons and heirs refused to sign the deeds. It was not until four years later that the white men called "The Proprietors" finally got the drawn marks of several other native people who may not have had authority to sell the land.
They "purchased" a 31,000-acre tract of land that is now
New Fairfield and Sherman, for 65 pounds sterling, the equivalent of about 300 dollars, on April 24, 1729. The deed was recorded on May 9, 1729, and is now deposited in the archives of the State Capitol in
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...
.
Education
There is one public school in Sherman, the
Sherman School. Its enrollment is about 325 students from pre-school to grade 8. There is no high school in Sherman; students instead are given a choice of five high schools that Sherman will pay for them to attend (
New Milford High School,
New Fairfield High School,
Henry Abbott Tech,
Shepaug Valley High School, and
Nonnewaug High School).
Notable people
*
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov ( rus, Михаил Николаевич Барышников, p=mʲɪxɐˈil bɐ'rɨʂnʲɪkəf; ; born January 27, 1948) is a Latvian and American dancer, choreographer, and actor. He was the preeminent male ...
(born 1948), lived in Sherman for a time with his family
*
Blackleach Burritt (1744–1794), clergyman in the American Revolution
*
Martha Clarke (born 1944), American director and choreographer
*
Vinnie Colaiuta
Vincent Peter Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is an American drummer known for his technical mastery who has worked as a session musician in many genres. He was inducted into the ''Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 1996 and the ''Classic Drumme ...
(born 1956), drummer, owned a home in town for a short time
*
Malcolm Cowley
Malcolm Cowley (August 24, 1898 – March 27, 1989) was an American writer, editor, historian, poet, and literary critic. His best known works include his first book of poetry, ''Blue Juniata'' (1929), and his memoir, ''Exile's Return'' ( ...
(1898–1989), 20th century literary critic, lived in a converted barn for many years
*
Eleanor Fitzgerald (1877–1955), anarchist editor and theatre professional, lived in Sherman for many years
*
Jerry Foley, TV director and producer has a home in Sherman, where he lives with his wife Ann-Marie and son Quinn
*
Arshile Gorky (1904–1948), abstract expressionist painter, lived in Sherman on Spring Lake Road. He is buried in North Cemetery in town
*
Daryl Hall
Daryl Franklin Hohl (born October 11, 1946), known professionally as Daryl Hall, is an American rock, R&B, and soul singer. He is best known as the co-founder and principal lead vocalist of Hall & Oates, with guitarist and songwriter John Oa ...
(born 1946), musician lives in Sherman
*
Bob Iger
Robert Alan Iger (; born February 10, 1951) is an American media executive who is chief executive officer (CEO) of the Walt Disney Company. He previously was the president of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) between 1994 and 1995 and p ...
(born 1951), CEO of
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
, has a home in Sherman
*
Durward Kirby (1911–2000), co-star of ''Candid Camera'' and ''Garry Moore Show'' had a home on Lake Mauweehoo in Sherman from 1951 to 2001
*
Howard Schatz
Howard Schatz (born 1940) is an American photographer, who previously had a career as an ophthalmologist.
Life and work Ophthalmology
Schatz began his professional life in medicine. He completed his medical degree at The University of Illinois Co ...
(born 1940), American photographer and ophthalmologist
*
Jeffrey Toobin (born 1960), American lawyer, author and legal analyst for
CNN
Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
*
Diane von Furstenberg (born 1946), fashion designer has a house in the area
*
Scott Wise and his wife,
Elizabeth Parkinson, choreographers and dancers, live in Sherman
*
George Wunder (1912–1987), artist for 26 years on ''
Terry and the Pirates
''Terry and the Pirates'' is an action-adventure comic strip created by cartoonist Milton Caniff, which originally ran from October 22, 1934, to February 25, 1973. Captain Joseph Patterson, editor for the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndica ...
''
*
Rob Zombie
Robert Bartleh Cummings (born January 12, 1965), known professionally as Rob Zombie, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, and actor. His music and lyrics are notable for their horror and sci-fi themes, and his live show ...
(born 1965), musician and film director lives in Sherman
Geography
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the town has a total area of , of which is land and , or 6.68%, is water. Sherman is bordered by
New Fairfield to the south,
New Milford to the east,
Kent
Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
to the north, and by
Pawling, New York to the west.
Naromiyocknowhusunkatankshunk Brook
Sherman is the location of Naromiyocknowhusunkatankshunk Brook (29 letters), in the north end of town near the
New Milford border. The name of indigenous origin means "water flowing from the hills". The Naromi Land Trust in Sherman derived its name from the brook.
In some deeds it is called Deep Brook. For some time the brook was officially known at the state level as Morrissey Brook, but an official name change was put into Public Act 01-194, "An Act Concerning Certain Real Property Transactions," which was approved July 11, 2001. The 29-letter name was noted in an 1882 book, ''History of the Towns of
New Milford and
Bridgewater, 1703–1882,'' by
Samuel Orcutt. The state department of transportation has also created a customized road sign for the longer name.
Candlewood Lake
Candlewood Lake stretches from
Danbury in the south, north to Sherman at a park named Veterans' Field. The lake is the largest in
Connecticut
Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
. It is artificial, created for the Rocky River hydro electric power plant in New Milford on the
Housatonic River
The Housatonic River ( ) is a river, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 in western Massachusetts and western Connecticut in the United ...
. The water is pumped through a large pipe into the lake.
Squantz Pond
Sherman bounds the north end of Squantz Pond, which was a natural pond that was expanded with the creation of Candlewood Lake.
Sherman Center
The
town center is listed as the
Sherman Historic District in the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
. It was designated in 1991 for its historic architecture including several houses, the town hall, school, and manufacturing facilities.
Demographics
As of the
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2010, the population was 3,581 people, including 3,469 white, 35 Asian, 15 black, 1 Native American, 16 other, and 45 of two or more races. 76 of these people identified as Hispanic or Latino.
The income per capita is $55,920, which includes all adults and children. The median household income is $118,750.
There were 1,388 households, 460 of which contained children under 18.
[
]
Government
Sherman tends to lean Republican in presidential elections.
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...
won the town by 13 points in his presidential victory in 1964. In 2008,
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
managed to edge
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...
by just under four points.
In popular culture
Sherman is the location where a presidential candidate becomes possessed by the Devil (and/or sells his soul) in the novel "The Hell Candidate" by
Graham Masterton (writing under the name "Thomas Luke") (Pocket Books 1980; currently out-of-print).
Another Graham Masterton novel, "Spirit" (Dorchester Publishing Co. 2001, copyright 1995), is a ghost story set in Sherman in the 1940s and 1950s.
References
External links
Town of Sherman official website
{{authority control
Towns in Fairfield County, Connecticut
Towns in the New York metropolitan area
Towns in Connecticut
Towns in Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut