A hilltop farm town set off from Woodbridge in 1832, named for a village in the Bible, where a Revolutionary raid on the old green, a turnpike tavern and a mill that made wooden clock wheels gave way to reservoirs, woods and a quiet center with two old churches.

New Haven County · Record checked October 8, 2026

5,297Population2020 census1
1762Became a parishthe north end of Amity parish, named Bethany2
1832Became a townset off from Woodbridge in May1
5,000The 1780 raidpounds in money and goods taken or destroyed3
1National Registerplace, still standing4

Bethany on the map

Click the map to look closer.

Map of Bethany, Connecticut in 2026, with Bethany Center, Lebanon Swamp, the Wheeler-Beecher House and 28 numbered landmarks

2026

Bethany today

By KNOWOL

Shaded hills up through Bethany Wood, every street from Amity Road to Wooding Hill Road, Bethany Bog and Lebanon Swamp, and a guide of 28 numbered landmarks with the National Register site marked.5

See the 2026 printMore about this map

The story of Bethany

The raid on the old green

Captain Ebenezer Dayton was a Long Island merchant who moved his family and goods to Bethany to keep them safe during the Revolution. In March 1780 he was away in Boston. A little after midnight, seven armed Tories led by Alexander Graham burst into his house on the old green. They tied Phebe Dayton's hands with strips of a sheet, sat her in a chair with her baby in her lap, and held a gun near her head for about two hours while they ransacked the place. Her neighbors, the minister and the doctor, heard her call but couldn't tell where it came from. On their way out the raiders took along Chauncey Judd, 19, who was coming home from seeing his sweetheart. Most were caught on Long Island. Judd came home and married her.367

Taverns, a turnpike and wooden clock wheels

Bethany was a farm town. A county history of 1892 says that with little exception the sole work of its people was agriculture, and that the town had no railroad at all. What it did have was the old county road, later the Straits turnpike, the main highway between Naugatuck and New Haven, where shops, stores and inns opened early. Archibald Perkins kept a tavern on it before the Revolution, still called Perkins' inn a century later, and the Bethany post office was once kept there. At Hoadley's Mills, Ammi Hoadley ran a grist mill and made wooden clock wheels, and his son and grandson kept the mill going. About 1845 Hezekiah Thomas ran a pocket-book factory at the center, with a number of young people at work.89101112

A meetinghouse on the hill

Bethany began as the north end of Amity parish, where families found the trip to Sunday worship too long. In October 1762 the General Assembly made the north end its own parish and named it Bethany. Meetings were held at first in a schoolhouse about a mile south of today's center, and in 1763 the Rev. Stephen Hawley was ordained as the first pastor. He served more than 40 years. The parish voted for a meetinghouse 40 by 50 feet, and it went up on a hill half a mile south of the present green, in use by January 1770, though ten men from the north end said it stood too far south. When the church built again in the 1830s it moved to the center, across from Christ Church, and the old green was sold.213141516

Through the years

24 moments from 1638 to today.

  1. 1638Milford and New Haven are founded, and the line between them runs through what is now Bethany.1
  2. 1717The first settlers arrive.1
  3. 1750Amity parish builds a schoolhouse about a mile south of today's center, later Bethany's first place of worship.13
  4. 1762The General Assembly makes the north end of Amity parish its own parish, named Bethany.2
  5. 1763The Rev. Stephen Hawley is ordained as the first pastor and the church is organized.13
  6. 1767The parish votes to build a meetinghouse 40 by 50 feet.14
  7. 1770The meetinghouse on the hill, half a mile south of today's green, is in use by January.15
  8. 1780Seven armed Tories rob Captain Ebenezer Dayton's house on the old green in the middle of the night.3
  9. 1784The parishes of Amity and Bethany are incorporated together as the town of Woodbridge.17
  10. 1804Stephen Hawley dies after more than 40 years as pastor.16
  11. 1806The Rev. Isaac Jones is deposed, and many of his people follow him to the Episcopal church.18
  12. 1807David Hoadley builds the house now called the Wheeler-Beecher House.19
  13. 1809Work begins on Christ Episcopal Church, designed by David Hoadley.5
  14. 1832Bethany becomes a town, and its first town meeting is held on June 11 at the Congregational meetinghouse.17
  15. 1841The Methodists dedicate their meetinghouse on the old New Haven road.20
  16. 1844Dr. Lucian Spencer and his two sons die in a house fire one cold February night.21
  17. 1844Part of Bethany is set off to the new town of Naugatuck.17
  18. about 1845Hezekiah Thomas runs a pocket-book factory at the center.8
  19. 1871Another part of Bethany is set off to help form Beacon Falls.17
  20. 1914The town builds its first town hall, on Amity Road at Bethany Center.5
  21. 1915Amity Road becomes the first paved road in Bethany.5
  22. 1923Bethany Airport opens, one of the first in New England.1
  23. 1936The Clark Memorial Library is dedicated.5
  24. 1939The State Police Troop I barracks opens on Amity Road.5

Places to see

The numbers match the landmark guide printed on the 2026 map.

  • 7Christ Episcopal ChurchAmity Road. David Hoadley's church of 1809 and 1810.Visit their website
  • 8Bethany Historical SocietyBethany Center. In the Stanley Downs Memorial Building.Visit their website
  • 11Connecticut State Police Troop IAmity Road. Barracks opened here in 1939.
  • 13First Church of Christ CongregationalBethany Center. Completed in 1831, before the town.Visit their website
  • 17Bethany Town HallBethany Center. First town hall built here in 1914.
  • 19Clark Memorial LibraryBethany Center. Dedicated in 1936 from Noyes Clark's bequest.Visit their website
  • 21Wheeler-Beecher HouseAmity Road. Federal house of 1807, National Register.
  • 22Woodhaven Country ClubWest of town. Bethany's first golf course, opened 1966.
  • 23Bethany Community SchoolPeck Road. Opened in 1934 with four classrooms.
  • 24Bethany Bog & Lebanon SwampNorth of the center. Wetlands printed by name on the map.

On the National Register

All 1 places in Bethany on the National Register of Historic Places that still stand today, oldest first, and why each one matters.4

  • Wheeler-Beecher House

    Built 1807 · Listed 1977 · 562 Amity Road

    A Federal house built for Darius Beecher by the New Haven builder David Hoadley, best known for his churches, with a fanlit doorway under a Palladian window. The Wheeler family owned it for much of the 1800s, and a ballroom upstairs in the ell was used by local churches for events.19

In their words

“One of the most stirring incidents in the history of the county during the revolution occurred in Bethany.”

History of New Haven County, Connecticut, 18926

“On the hills may be seen many wood lots of attractive appearance, affording a very pleasant landscape, which is dotted with cosy farm improvements.”

History of New Haven County, Connecticut, 189222

“We are the only religious society that maintains a resident Minister in Bethany.”

The Rev. Lewis F. Morris, rector of Christ Church, in the Episcopal diocese's convention journal, early 1900s23

Nearby towns

Sources

  1. Bethany, Connecticut, Wikipedia
  2. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the parish of 1762, Internet Archive
  3. Connecticut historical collections, by John Warner Barber (1836), on the Dayton robbery, Internet Archive
  4. National Register of Historic Places listings in New Haven County, Connecticut, Wikipedia
  5. Map of Bethany, Connecticut in 2026, KNOWOL (USGS elevation, Census Bureau roads)
  6. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the raid of 1780, Internet Archive
  7. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on Chauncy Judd, Internet Archive
  8. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on farming, the post office and the pocket-book factory, Internet Archive
  9. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on streams, roads and the turnpike, Internet Archive
  10. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the turnpike taverns, Internet Archive
  11. The Hoadley genealogy (1894), on Ammi Hoadley of Hoadley's Mills, Internet Archive
  12. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on Denzil B. Hoadley and the grist mill, Internet Archive
  13. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the first pastor, Internet Archive
  14. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on building the meetinghouse, Internet Archive
  15. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the meetinghouse site, Internet Archive
  16. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the new meetinghouse and Stephen Hawley, Internet Archive
  17. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the new town of 1832, Internet Archive
  18. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the Rev. Isaac Jones, Internet Archive
  19. Wheeler-Beecher House, Wikipedia
  20. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the Methodists, Internet Archive
  21. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on Bethany's physicians, Internet Archive
  22. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the land of Bethany, Internet Archive
  23. Journal of the annual convention of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Connecticut (early 1900s), on Christ Church, Bethany, Internet Archive