Road names serve as guides for getting from one point to another, and particularly for residents who have been transplanted to Newtown in recent years, the names are merely words that mark a particular place.

By Nancy K. Crevier

Road names serve as guides for getting from one point to another, and particularly for residents who have been transplanted to Newtown in recent years, the names are merely words that mark a particular place. For longtime residents, though, and for historians, the names of roads in Newtown whisper about the people who lived and played and worked in the community. Some of them were the town’s very earliest settlers, others came into prominence as one century turned into another.

They were bankers, farmers, shopkeepers, blacksmiths, teachers, lawyers, ministers, and, sometimes, just ordinary folks who added character to the town. Families that have come and gone, and families still represented in the town are commemorated on the signs that point the way from one path to another over the more than 200 miles of road in Newtown.

Sherman Street

Between Toddy Hill Road and Old Mill Road off of Route 34 runs Sherman Street. One of Newtown's earliest settlers was Daniel Sherman, who served as Newtown's selectman in 1738. His descendents were numerous, and included Jotham B. Sherman, who around 1820 was one of several families who took in Newtown's poor, at a small cost to the town. An entry in Ezra Johnson's Newtown 1705 to 1918 reads, "Here is another bill against the town for the care of Adam Clark's wife, who was farmed out to Jotham B. Sherman for the short term of three days: Town of Newtown, Dr., For clothing Adam Clark's wife: For one Petty coat, .75; For one skirt, .50; For one westcoat, .25; For one pair of stockings, .50; For one handkerchief, .17; For three days board, .75; For cleaning Mrs Clark from lice which was a great task, indeed, $3.00. Account against town of Newtown. $5.92."

Two J. Shermans and two L. Shermans, possibly both Jothams and Lewises, lived in 1854 in the area bounded by Route 34, Bradley Lane, and High Rock Road. Only A. Sherman is located near where what is now Sherman Street and Old Mill Road meet, and it is quite probably that it is for this family that the road was named.

Loveland Drive

An abbreviated road off of Great Quarter Road near the Monroe line is named Loveland Drive. The homes on it are new, but the family name is not. In the latter part of the 19th Century and into the early 1900s, Giles and Grover Loveland operated a sawmill and gristmill on the Half Way River, not far from today's Loveland Drive. The road was named about 20 years ago when Bill Busk, a developer and friend of the late Earl Loveland, asked if he could use the Loveland name for the new road, said Lois Loveland, Earl's widow. Ralph Loveland, Earl's brother, still lives in Sandy Hook on Loveland property, not far from the family home in which he was born on Old Bridge Road. He and his son, Ralph, Jr, are the last of the Lovelands living in Newtown, he said recently.

At age 92, Mr Loveland recalls a time when the Loveland property included 20 acres on the east side of Route 34 and another 65 acres on the west side of the highway. "My grandfather owned back to Ivy Brook off Great Quarter Road," said Mr Loveland. "Great Quarter was just a cow path when I was a kid." Looking out the window of his home, Mr Loveland can still see the land his grandfather cleared of trees to turn into coal, which he sold in Derby.

When the Stevenson Dam was built, Ralph Loveland's father, Grover, worked on the dam and then worked in the powerhouse there the rest of his life, said Mr Loveland.

His family operated a dairy farm on Old Bridge Road and he remembers peddling milk with his brother Harold to area residents as a young man. The family farm was sold around 1980, said Mr Loveland, and it was after the land was divided up that Loveland Drive came into existence.

Jordan's Hill Road

Also far down on Route 34 is Jordan's Hill Road. The 1854 map of Newtown places the residence   M. Jordan at the junction of Route 34 and what is now known as Jordan's Hill. It would not be unusual, said town historian Dan Cruson, for a road leading to a prominent landowner's home to be named for them, so it is likely that Jordan's Hill takes its name from this early settler of the Half Way River District.

Bradley Lane

Bradley Lane runs between Route 34 and Great Ring Road. So many Bradleys lived in that area in the 18th and 19th Centuries that the area was actually known as "Bradleyville," according to Mr Cruson. The map of 1854 notes that G. Bradley owned a sawmill on what would become known as Bradley Lane, and W. Bradley ran a store nearby. Further south on Route 34 is the residence of A. Bradley, as well as another G. Bradley. On Jordan's Hill, yet another G. Bradley is marked on the 1854 map. The Bradley family, said Mr Cruson, operated a chair factory during the early 19th Century in Bradleyville, as well.

Possibly the most notorious mention of the Bradley name, however, comes in Mr Cruson's telling of the Gray's Plain School War, in his book, A Mosaic of Newtown History. The tiny school on the Monroe border of Route 34 was the site of a conflict between those supporting consolidated schools and those supporting the existing diffused districts. It came to a head in the action of a school lock-out of teacher Agnes Ryan, who had been appointed to her position in 1894 by her father, an outgoing committee member for the district. The move was considered controversial by other members, including George W. Bradley. Committee members changed the lock on the schoolhouse to prevent Ms Ryan from instructing. During the lockout, Mr Bradley conducted school at his home in Gray's Plains.

The Board of School Visitors intervened, however, unlocking the school and reinstated the young teacher.

George W. Bradley and committee member George Winton countered by once again locking out Ms Ryan. At this point, an exchange between Ms Ryan and Mr Bradley took place that Mr Bradley felt demonstrated her incompetence — she confessed to not being familiar with the history of the Revolution. Two days later, a scuffle between Ms Ryan and Mr Bradley broke out, and Mr Bradley was accused of slapping the young woman, then nailing the school shut. The conflict was eventually resolved in Superior Court, but the school did not resume session until the following April, with a new teacher in charge.

A March 27, 1908, article in The Newtown Bee notes that Charles E. Bradley was laid to rest in Bradley Cemetery, "The last and youngest of a large old Quaker family."

Grace Moore Road

Grace Moore was a famous operatic soprano and movie star of the mid-1900s who lived on the property known as Far Away Acres in Sandy Hook in the 1930s. Ms Moore made her operatic debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1928 and soared to musical success worldwide. By the time she died in a plane crash in Denmark in 1947, the diva no longer maintained her Sandy Hook home, having sold it to actress Ruth Gordon. It is for "The Tennessee Nightingale" that the newer, dead end street off of Bradley Lane is named. The home, where she lived with her husband, Valentin Perera, is actually located on Bradley Lane.

Peck's Lane

Peck's Lane may be short, but the history of the Peck family runs five pages in the genealogical section of Ezra L. Johnson's Newtown 1705 to 1918. The first Peck emigrated to the United States in 1638, said Ken Peck, who still lives on Peck's Lane in the house in which he was born. It was the grandson of Joseph Peck of Milford, also named Joseph, who was one of the first Newtown settlers and one of the first town clerks here. Town records from the first half of the 18th Century frequently are signed by the town clerk, Joseph Peck. More than 150 years later, it is Charles Henry Peck whose signature is affixed to records as the town clerk. In-between lay many other members of the Peck family, including as listed on the Newtown map of 1854, A.B. Peck, O. Peck, and J. Peck, all landowners on what is now known as Peck's Lane, a road with two entrances off of Route 25, just south of the center of town. The first master of the Pohtatuck Grange organized in 1869 was Zalmon S. Peck, who was also Newtown's postmaster in 1861 and 1869. He was not the only Peck who served as postmaster in town; in 1867, Charles H. Peck is listed in Mr Johnson's book as having served that position.

"My grandfather, John R. Peck, owned over 300 acres between the railroad and Peck's Lane," recalled Mr Peck. "He lived in the big white house near the intersection of Route 25, and the foundation of the barn that burnt to the ground in 1933 can still be seen near that house," he said. The home is still owned by the Peck family, although no descendents live there presently. "At one time, I believe, there were six Peck residents on Peck's Lane," said Mr Peck. The family farmed, raised turkeys — it is for his grandmother's flock that Turkey Hill Road is named — and his grandfather also owned a charcoal rick on Hitfield Lane. "Making charcoal was a common thing back then," said Mr Peck. "That's why in old photos there are so few trees."

Ken Peck remembers a time when the road past the family homesteads was just two dirt tracks with a grass strip down the middle. He also remembers a phone call between his father, John Wesley Peck, and Selectman "Slim" Dickinson (1949-1955). "The selectman had asked folks to call in with suggestions for the names of roads. My father told him that this road had always been called 'Peck's Lane' by everybody and that's what it should be." While there are many of the "Massachusetts Pecks" spread throughout New England and the rest of the country, Ken Peck is the last of the Newtown Pecks remaining in town.

Botsford Hill Road

Botsford Hill Road runs from Route 25 north, turning into Toddy Hill Road where Marlin Road intersects it. Just off of Botsford Hill near Route 25, a small dead-end road is called Botsford Lane.

Sergeant John Botsford settled in Newtown in 1680. He was the first in a long line of Botsfords that have called Newtown home over more than three centuries. The family line boasts doctors, ministers, justices of the peace, town constables, teachers, farmers, and soldiers who have contributed to the growth of the town and the country. Captain Abel Botsford donated the church bell to the Newtown Congregational Church in the Revolutionary era.

The map of 1854 shows a Botsford & Somers Paper Mill, an O. Botsford store, and the residence of H. Botsford, all within spitting distance of the Cold Spring Depot, later renamed Botsford Depot. Edwin Botsford was named the first postmaster of Cold Spring Post Office, later renamed the Botsford Post Office, in 1843, followed by his son, Oliver, who served that position from 1849 to 1883. Oliver Botsford also ran the store that was located in the Botsford Depot, according to the town historian and it was for Oliver Botsford that this section of town was renamed from Cold Spring to Botsford following the Civil War, noted Mr Cruson in his book Newtown 1900 to 1960.

Descendents of the first Botsfords continue to call Newtown home, carrying on a long tradition of contributing to the town's history. Chuck Botsford said that he, his brother Ronnie, and his mother, Myrtle, who is 102 years old this year, are the last of the Botsfords in town. Although Chuck Botsford now lives in the Huntingtown section, he was born in the Botsford homestead on Palestine Road. "We moved away from there in 1939, when I was about four years old," recalled Mr Botsford. "I remember my dad telling me that the farm had been in the family for over 200 years."

He is unsure how the relationship works, but knows that Oliver Botsford is one of his ancestors, and is honored that roads and a whole section of town bear his family name. "As long as I know," said Mr Botsford, "[Botsford Hill and Botsford Lane] have been called that," he said. He also noted that the Botsford Post Office is the only post office in the United States to bear that name; there are no duplications.

Note: Former longtime resident Nancy Jones may have the answer as to why Johnson Drive, featured in the March 28 issue of The Bee, is in Sandy Hook, so far removed from the Ezra Johnson homestead on Route 25. She sent a note saying that she believes that Johnson Drive was actually named for Henry Johnson, a renowned builder of the Sandy Hook area. He was the builder of several of the homes on Johnson Drive.