Farming in Rocky Hill

Farming in Rocky Hill. . , The first farmers in this area were the Indigenous people who lived along the Connecticut River. Artifacts from this first farming community were uncovered at the Morgan Trench archaeological dig in the rock Hill Great Meadows. Surface finds, initially discovered by Rocky Hill residents June and David Cooke in 1977, led to full scale digs by the Albert Morgan Society in 1986 and the 1990s. These digs, in the Connecticut River floodplain, yielded caches of digging tools, antlers, points, pipes, deer, maize, pottery, and hickory nuts with the earliest radiocarbon date of A.D. 1170., As early as 1649, hundreds of acres of land were donated by Wethersfield to form Stepney Parish, later in 1843, becoming Rocky Hill. Most of the land was used for agriculture which was intimately connected with daily life and the maritime industry. Farmers regularly used the ferry to transport goods across the Connecticut River. From 1750 to the 1820, they supplied the sailing ships headed south from Rocky Hill Landing with goods such as apples, barley, beef, cider, corn, cows, flax, hemp, horses, mules, onions, pears, pork, rye, sheep, wheat and more. The 1870 census lists 85 farmers in Rocky Hill., From the mid 1800s to the early 1970s, dairies covered the Rocky Hill landscape. Among them were Anulewizc, Backiel, Broadview, Boyd, Churchill, elm Hill, E.P. Hayes, Hayes, C.B. Gilbert, Hillcres, Jensen, Krol, Pierczyk, Matway, Mingos, Meisterling Bros., Meon, Schultz, Smith, Sunny Crest, and Sun Valley. In 2022, no dairies remain in Rocky Hill., Where have all the farms gone? Rocky Hill witnessed the loss and reduction of farmland due to the construction of Route I-91 in the 1960s and the building of the Silas Dean Highway in the 1930s. The development of housing, condos, and businesses between the 1950s and the present diminished farmland and led to Rocky Hill's slow transformation to a modern suburb., In 2012, residents of Rocky Hill showed their support for farming by referendum, voting 3-1 to borrow up to $10 million to protect farmland, increase open space, and reduce residential sprawl. Further support came in 2018 when Rocky Hill became a Right to Farm town through the leadership of our former Mayor, the late Joe Kochanek. Farming will forever be a part of Rocky Hill.,

Property, Acres, Year, Rocky Hill Buys , Hayes Farm, 47, 2014, Farm Development Rights , Motocross Track, 66, 2015, Farm Land Development Rights , Surwilo Park, 0.8, 2016, CT Riverfront Land , Hintz Farm, 70, 2018, Farm Conservation Easement , Straska Farm, 84, 2019, Farm by Referendum , Backiel Farm, 199.3, 2021, Conservation Easement , Backiel Farm, 9.5, 2022, Farmland

, [Captions:] , The Griswold Family Sunny Crest Dairy Farm est. 1896. Picture taken 1944, Fire destroyed barn Dec. 1944. Sunny Crest Park est. on this site 1950., The Robbins Family Broadview Farm est. 1790. Picture taken 1950s, Formerly on Old Main St. Knocked down and burned in the 1960s.