A farm and mill town under Higby and Besek Mountains, a parish of Middletown for more than a century, where the falls of the Coginchaug once cut nails and made pistols and the Lyman family has grown fruit since 1741.

Middlesex County · Record checked October 11, 2026

4,217Population2020 census1
1866Became a townset off from Middletown1
1742Oldest housethe William Ward Jr. saltbox2
35 feetMiddlefield Fallsthe river's drop, heard for miles in 18843
2National Registerplaces, all still standing4

Middlefield on the map

Click the map to look closer.

Map of Middlefield, Connecticut in 2026, with Lake Beseck, Higby and Besek Mountains, Rockfall and 24 numbered landmarks

2026

Middlefield today

By KNOWOL

Shaded hills from Higby Mountain and Besek Mountain in the west to Rockfall in the northeast, with Lake Beseck, the Coginchaug River, every street, and a guide of 24 numbered landmarks with the National Register site marked.5

See the 2026 printMore about this map

The story of Middlefield

The roar at Middlefield Falls

In 1884 the town's historian called Middlefield Falls one of the largest and finest waterfalls in Connecticut. The West River, today's Coginchaug, dropped 35 feet there, and when the stream was full you could hear the roar for miles. That water did a lot of work. In 1779, in the middle of the Revolution, a small mill near the falls made snuff. A cotton factory ran there until it burned with all its machinery in 1874, and the Russell Manufacturing Company put up a five-story spinning mill on the same spot. Along the same river, Jehoshaphat Stowe began cutting nails by machine in 1798, maybe the first anyone did it in this country. His site later made pistols for the government and, from 1881, Otis Smith's own revolver.36

Independent thinkers

Middlefield's first settlers came out from Middletown about 1700. Benjamin Miller brought his wife and small children from South Farms to the far south of today's town, and Samuel Allen built in the far north, four miles from his old neighbors but still able to see their houses. Families named Ward, Bacon, Lyman, Coe, Camp and Birdsey followed, and by 1744 there were about fifty families, enough to become a parish of their own. They laid their roads out straight, three running north and south and five east and west. The 1884 county history tells of Miller shooting a bear that had been taking his pigs and getting fined in Durham for doing it on the Sabbath. It says the people were independent thinkers from the start, and their descendants still were.78

David Lyman's road

David Lyman, born in Middlefield in 1820, was the kind of neighbor who got things done. Phineas Augur surveyed and mapped the town's post route, and Lyman carried that work to Washington and won Middlefield its post office. He pushed for the Air Line Railroad and served three years as its president. When Durham voted to lay out a road from Crooked Lane to his place and Middlefield wouldn't join, the fight went to court in Durham, and Lyman won. Durham named it the Lyman road. He also ran the Metropolitan Washing Machine Company's wringer works in Baileyville, where so many people wanted jobs in the 1860s that dozens were turned away. In 1866 he helped make Middlefield a town of its own.910115

Through the years

25 moments from 1700 to today.

  1. 1700Benjamin Miller, Samuel Allen and Samuel Wetmore come out from Middletown as Middlefield's first settlers.7
  2. 1738The first burial is made in the Old North Burying Ground.1
  3. 1741John and Hope Lyman buy their first land in the southwest corner of Middletown.12
  4. 1742William Ward Jr. builds the saltbox on Powder Hill Road, now the oldest house in town.2
  5. 1744Middlefield becomes its own parish, with about fifty families.8
  6. 1745The parish builds its first meetinghouse, forty feet square.13
  7. 1779During the Revolution a small mill near the falls starts making snuff.3
  8. 1798Jehoshaphat Stowe opens a factory that cuts nails by machine.6
  9. 1832Rockfall, then called the paper mill quarter, becomes its own school district.14
  10. 1845A new pistol factory on the old nail factory site takes a large government contract.6
  11. 1846Lake Beseck is made by damming.15
  12. 1849Button making starts at the highest water privilege in town.16
  13. 1865David Lyman II's Gothic Revival house on Lyman Road is finished.17
  14. 1866Middlefield is set off from Middletown and becomes a town.1
  15. 1871David Lyman dies after three years as president of the Air Line Railroad.9
  16. 1874The cotton factory at Middlefield Falls burns, and the Russell Manufacturing Company builds a spinning mill on the spot.3
  17. 1878William Lyman II starts the Lyman Gun Sight company.12
  18. 1881Otis Smith rebuilds the burned factory to make the revolver he invented.6
  19. 1899Lyman A. Mills of Middlefield becomes lieutenant governor of Connecticut.18
  20. 1904Figgis, a Jersey cow bred by Mills, is grand champion at the World's Fair in St. Louis.18
  21. 1917A hard freeze kills 500 acres of Lyman peach trees.12
  22. 1961Powder Ridge Ski Area begins operations on January 22.1
  23. 1969The first Lyman golf course, by Robert Trent Jones, opens on old sheep pasture.12
  24. 1970Thousands come to Powder Ridge for a rock festival a court had banned, and Melanie Safka plays anyway.19
  25. 1972Powder Ridge builds the first quad chairlift in New England.19

Places to see

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

  • 2Lake Beseck BeachRoute 147. Swimming on the lake made in 1846.
  • 5Powder Ridge Ski AreaBesek Mountain. Skiing here since 1961.
  • 7Higby Mountain EasementMetacomet Ridge. Summit ledges kept by the Nature Conservancy.
  • 8Lyman Orchards Golf ClubSouth of town. Golf on old Lyman sheep pasture.
  • 9Wadsworth Falls State ParkRockfall. Falls on the Coginchaug, shared with Middletown.Visit their website
  • 11Black Pond State Wildlife AreaBetween Higby and Besek. The pond between the two mountains.
  • 14Levi E Coe LibraryTown center. The town library.
  • 15Rockfall Post OfficeRockfall. The village's own post office.
  • 19Powder Hill Dinosaur ParkPowder Hill Road. Dinosaur tracks in an old quarry.
  • 20William Ward Jr. HousePowder Hill Road. The oldest house in town, 1742.

On the National Register

All 2 places in Middlefield on the National Register of Historic Places that still stand today, oldest first, and why each one matters.4

  • William Ward Jr. House

    Built 1742 · Listed 1988 · 137 Powder Hill Road

    The oldest surviving house in Middlefield, a saltbox built by the great-grandson of the first William Ward to hold the land. Its second story overhangs the first, a rare survival in Connecticut, and its brownstone hearthstones show fossils. Wards and related families owned it until 1935.2

  • David Lyman II House

    Built about 1860 · Listed 1986 · 5 Lyman Road

    One of the best Gothic Revival houses around Middletown, designed by New Haven architect Rufus G. Russell and finished by 1865 on the foundation of a 1785 house. David Lyman II farmed 500 acres here and helped found the Air Line Railroad.17

In their words

“It appears that the people of Middlefield, from the outset, were independent thinkers, each man having a will and strong convictions of his own, which is a striking characteristic of their descendants.”

History of Middlesex County, 18847

“This is one of the largest and finest waterfalls in Connecticut.”

History of Middlesex County, 1884, on Middlefield Falls3

“Middlefield was destined by nature to be vigorous and prosperous, in the days when water-power was the only motive power known”

Historic towns of the Connecticut River valley, 19068

Nearby towns

Sources

  1. Middlefield, Connecticut, Wikipedia
  2. William Ward Jr. House, Wikipedia
  3. History of Middlesex County, Connecticut (1884), on Middlefield Falls, Internet Archive
  4. National Register of Historic Places listings in Middlesex County, Connecticut, Wikipedia
  5. Map of Middlefield, Connecticut in 2026, KNOWOL (USGS elevation, Census Bureau roads)
  6. History of Middlesex County, Connecticut (1884), on the nail and pistol factory, Internet Archive
  7. History of Middlesex County, Connecticut (1884), on the settlement of Middlefield, Internet Archive
  8. Historic towns of the Connecticut River valley (1906), on Middlefield, Internet Archive
  9. History of Middlesex County, Connecticut (1884), on David Lyman and P. M. Augur, Internet Archive
  10. History of Middlesex County, Connecticut (1884), on the Lyman road in Durham, Internet Archive
  11. Commemorative biographical record of Middlesex County, Connecticut (1903), on the Baileyville wringer factory, Internet Archive
  12. Our History, Lyman Orchards
  13. History of Middlesex County, Connecticut (1884), on Middlefield's first meetinghouse, Internet Archive
  14. History of Middlesex County, Connecticut (1884), on Middlefield's school districts, Internet Archive
  15. Lake Beseck, Wikipedia
  16. History of Middlesex County, Connecticut (1884), on the upper mill privileges, Internet Archive
  17. David Lyman II House, Wikipedia
  18. The one hundredth anniversary of the first meeting of the General Assembly (1919), on Lyman A. Mills, Internet Archive
  19. Powder Ridge Ski Area, Wikipedia