Dudleytown, Connecticut facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Dudleytown, Connecticut
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Former populated place
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 Dudleytown, Connecticut
Location in Connecticut
Dudleytown, Connecticut
Location in the United States
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| Country | United States |
| State | Connecticut |
| County | Litchfield |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern(EST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| GNIS feature ID | 1931925 |
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, unless they are hiking through on the Mohawk Trail.
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. Visitors to the site are subject to arrest for trespassing.
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, 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. Despite abutting the publicly owned Mohawk Mountain State Forest, the village site is today closed to the public, and anyone found trespassing is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law by Troopers of the Connecticut State Police, and Officers of 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.
See also
In Spanish: Dudleytown, Connecticut para niños
