A hill town on the Yantic River, once the New Concord parish of Norwich, where an iron works, a stone cotton mill of 1814 and the mill villages of Fitchville and Gilman grew up among the woody vales.

New London County · Record checked October 8, 2026

2,429Population2020 census1
1786Became a townset off from Norwich as Bozrah1
529Gardner Lakeacres, shared with Salem and Montville1
1799The hailstormhailstones like hen's and goose eggs2
1National Registerplace, still standing3

Bozrah on the map

Click the map to look closer.

Map of Bozrah, Connecticut in 2026, with Fitchville, Gilman, Leffingwell, Bargytown and 16 numbered landmarks

2026

Bozrah today

By KNOWOL

Shaded hills, the streets and the town line, with Fitchville, Gilman, Leffingwell and Bargytown printed by name, Gardner Lake in the southwest corner, and a guide of 16 numbered landmarks with the National Register site marked.4

See the 2026 printMore about this map

The story of Bozrah

The hailstorm of July 1799

Late on the afternoon of Monday, July 15, 1799, a dark cloud rose from the south over Bozrah, met a second cloud from the northwest, and by six o'clock the sky was nearly as dark as night. Then the hail came, stones two and three inches across, driven by a wind close to a hurricane. A newspaper report written in Bozrah said people compared them to hen's and goose eggs, and that on the roofs they sounded like bricks falling from the chimneys. Windows facing the storm were smashed, barns were unroofed, pigs, sheep and geese were killed, and banks of hail lay five or six inches deep for days. Yet only two or three men and a child or two were knocked down.2

Mills on the Yantic

Bozrah's industry started with iron. In 1750 Nehemiah Huntington and Capt. Joshua Abel set up an iron works where Fitchville stands now. In 1814 David L. Dodge and partners from New York built a stone cotton and woolen factory upriver at Bozrahville, and an 1866 history called it one of the oldest manufacturing works in New London County. Nehemiah H. Fitch and his brothers built most of Fitchville in 1832, and the family's cotton mill burned three times. In 1905 Nathan Gilman, who had come from Russia in 1897, bought the Bozrahville mill and nearly every house in the village. Fire gutted it in 1908 with no insurance, but he paid every creditor within seven years. That village is called Gilman today.567891011

A name that stood alone

No one is quite sure why the parish of New Concord took the name Bozrah when it became a town in 1786. The story most people tell involves a man in loud homespun and a verse from Isaiah. An 1836 history told another one: an old man living where Fitchville is now once credited the verse to "the prophet Bozrah," and his neighbors called him the Prophet and his corner of town Bozrah ever after. Norwich historian Frances Caulkins thought the first minister, Benjamin Throop, may have picked it because the word was said to mean a sheepfold. Whatever the reason, she liked the result. In 1866 she wrote that Bozrah stood alone, the only town of its name in America.1712

Through the years

22 moments from 1715 to today.

  1. 1715People in this part of Norwich get permission to form a parish, but can't yet support a minister.13
  2. 1737The parish of New Concord, the Fourth Society of Norwich, is set up.1
  3. 1739Rev. Benjamin Throop is ordained the first pastor and serves 46 years.14
  4. 1750Nehemiah Huntington and Capt. Joshua Abel start an iron works where Fitchville stands now.5
  5. 1786New Concord is incorporated as the town of Bozrah, with one deputy in the General Assembly.15
  6. 1786The first town meeting is held in the meetinghouse on June 20.13
  7. 1799A hailstorm on July 15 smashes windows and kills livestock across Bozrah.2
  8. 1814The Bozrah Manufacturing Company builds a stone cotton and woolen factory at Bozrahville.6
  9. 1815Rev. David Austin is installed as minister, the year a new meetinghouse is finished.14
  10. 1824The Bozrahville company breaks up and the Thames Company of Norwich takes over the mill.6
  11. 1828A Congregational church is organized at Bozrahville.14
  12. 1832Nehemiah H. Fitch and his brothers build most of the village of Fitchville.7
  13. 1837The Bozrahville mill is sold to James Boorman and others of New York and becomes the Kent Manufacturing Company.13
  14. 1843The present Bozrah Congregational Church is completed on Bozrah Street.16
  15. 1852Asa Fitch's church at Fitchville is dedicated on August 4.5
  16. 1872The parsonage beside the Congregational church is built.16
  17. 1905Nathan Gilman buys the Bozrahville mill and nearly every house in the village.9
  18. 1908Fire guts the Gilman mill in March, a $75,000 loss with no insurance.10
  19. 1935Palmer Brothers closes its New London mill and makes its quilts and comforters in Bozrah.17
  20. 1949Palmer Brothers shuts down for good.17
  21. 1991The Bozrah Congregational Church and Parsonage join the National Register.16
  22. 2007The town buys Maples Farm Park.4

Places to see

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

  • 2Maples Farm ParkMiddle of town. Town park with hiking trails.
  • 3Bozrah Post OfficeFitchville. The town's post office.
  • 4Hopemead State ParkSouthwest. Undeveloped 60-acre state park.Visit their website
  • 5Fields Memorial SchoolFitchville. Preschool through grade 8.
  • 6Fitchville Baptist ChurchFitchville. Church of the old mill village.
  • 7Leffingwell Baptist ChurchLeffingwell. Church at the Route 82 crossroads.
  • 8Bozrah Congregational ChurchBozrah Street. Meetinghouse of 1843 above Fitchville Pond.
  • 10Bozrah Town HallFitchville. Seat of town government.
  • 11Gilman Post OfficeGilman. Post office of the mill village.
  • 16Bear Hill Wildlife Management AreaSoutheast. State wildlife land.

On the National Register

All 1 places in Bozrah on the National Register of Historic Places that still stand today, oldest first, and why each one matters.3

  • Bozrah Congregational Church and Parsonage

    Built 1843 · Listed 1991 · 17 and 23 Bozrah Street

    The congregation dates to 1737, and its first meetinghouse also served the town after 1786. The 1843 church blends the old meetinghouse form with the Greek Revival style, and the Victorian parsonage of 1872 stands a few hundred feet to the south.16

In their words

“our pleasant Bozrah as yet stands alone in the Gazetteers of the new world”

Frances M. Caulkins, History of Norwich, 186612

“The Syrian Bozrah lay in the open plain, but this was eminently a woodland district amid the hills.”

Frances M. Caulkins, History of Norwich, 186612

“The hail stones were so large as to be taken for the falling of bricks from the chimney upon the roofs of the houses.”

A report from Bozrah, July 1799, in Barber's Connecticut historical collections, 18372

Nearby towns

Sources

  1. Bozrah, Connecticut, Wikipedia
  2. Connecticut historical collections (1837), John Warner Barber, on the Bozrah hailstorm of 1799, Internet Archive
  3. National Register of Historic Places listings in New London County, Connecticut, Wikipedia
  4. Map of Bozrah, Connecticut in 2026, KNOWOL (USGS elevation, Census Bureau roads)
  5. History of Norwich, Connecticut (1866), Frances M. Caulkins, on Fitchville, Internet Archive
  6. History of Norwich, Connecticut (1866), Frances M. Caulkins, on Bozrahville, Internet Archive
  7. Connecticut historical collections (1837), John Warner Barber, on Fitchville and the town name, Internet Archive
  8. Biographical review, containing life sketches of leading citizens of New London County, Connecticut (1898), on the Fitch family, Internet Archive
  9. A Modern History of New London County, Connecticut (1922), on Nathan Gilman and Bozrahville, Internet Archive
  10. A Modern History of New London County, Connecticut (1922), on the 1908 mill fire, Internet Archive
  11. Gilman Brothers Co., Mill Record, Bozrah, Connecticut Mills (Preservation Connecticut)
  12. History of Norwich, Connecticut (1866), Frances M. Caulkins, on the name of Bozrah, Internet Archive
  13. History of New London County, Connecticut (1882), on the town of Bozrah, Internet Archive
  14. History of Norwich, Connecticut (1866), Frances M. Caulkins, on the ministers and churches of Bozrah, Internet Archive
  15. The public records of the State of Connecticut (1894), the act incorporating Bozrah, Internet Archive
  16. Bozrah Congregational Church and Parsonage, Wikipedia
  17. When Bozrah Provided Comfort to the Nation, ConnecticutHistory.org