Place:Bolton, Tolland, Connecticut, United States

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source: Family History Library Catalog

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Bolton is a small suburban town in Tolland County, Connecticut, United States. It is primarily residential with an economy made up mostly of small businesses. The high school typically has between fifty and one hundred students per grade. The population was 4,858 as of the 2020 census. Bolton was incorporated in October 1720 and is governed by town meeting, with a first selectman and board of selectman as well as other boards serving specific functions. Bolton was named after a town of the same name in England, also located near Manchester.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Originally part of the town of Hartford, the area was referred to as Hartford Mountains or Hanover, until incorporation in October 1720. On November 11, 1723, Jonathan Edwards was installed as the pastor of Bolton.

Bolton was known for its high quality schist stone in the 18th century, and many tombstone carvers such as Gershom Bartlett and Jonathan Loomis sourced their stone from Bolton quarries.

Bolton was removed from Hartford County when Tolland County was originally formed on October 13, 1785. The northern half of Bolton was set aside in 1808 to form the town of Vernon. Quarries played a significant role in the area's developing economy, and Bolton Notch became the location of the small community of Quarryville. Prior to the railroad, granite was taken by oxcart to the Connecticut River where it was then shipped to major cities on the East Coast.

The Bolton historical society has been actively purchasing sites throughout the town in their effort to preserve the town's history and rural character. The most recent of these purchases was Rose's Farm, a several hundred-acre site where the Comte de Rochambeau camped with his troops.

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