Wethersfield's old river port, once called Stepney Parish, where a ferry has crossed the Connecticut since 1655, sloops and privateers came off the shipyard by the landing, and dinosaur tracks turned up under a bulldozer in 1966.

Hartford County · Record checked October 11, 2026

20,845Population2020 census1
1843Became a townset off from Wethersfield after 121 years as Stepney Parish1
1655The ferrybelieved the oldest continuously operating ferry in the country2
500Dinosaur tracksunder the dome at Dinosaur State Park, about 200 million years old3
5National Registerplaces, all still standing4

Then and now

The same town 157 years apart. Click either map to look closer.

Landowners map of Rocky Hill, Connecticut from 1869 by Baker & Tilden, restored by KNOWOL

1869

The landowners map

By Baker & Tilden

Rocky Hill in 1869, with each plot labeled with its owner's name across five districts, North, West, Middle, South and Beckley Quarter, and landmarks like Morton's Groceries, Sam Shipman's Hotel, Butler & Sugden's Shear Shop, Hotel De Ryer and the ferry to South Glastonbury.5

See the 1869 printMore about this map
Map of Rocky Hill, Connecticut in 2026, with Old Main Street, the ferry landing, Dinosaur State Park and 34 numbered landmarks

2026

Rocky Hill today

By KNOWOL

Shaded hills from Hang-Dog Hill in the west to the traprock ridge by the river, every street from Old Main Street to the Silas Deane Highway, the ferry landing, and a guide of 34 numbered landmarks with the National Register sites marked.6

See the 2026 printMore about this map

The story of Rocky Hill

Shad at Uncle Sammy's

In 1837 Samuel Shipman, a farmer born in Rocky Hill, bought the old Rocky Hill Hotel on the Middletown turnpike and put his own name on it. Everybody called him Uncle Sammy. The house had a nine-pin alley and a dance hall, and parties came down from Hartford in summer and by sleigh in winter. Mrs. Shipman was known as a splendid cook, above all of Connecticut River shad in season. Samuel Colt was one of the best customers. When foreign officers came to see his arms works, he'd take them down the river on his little steam yacht, the Dauntless, for a dinner of shad or game. The hotel closed after Shipman died about 1875, and it's on the 1869 map as Sam Shipman's Hotel.7895

Ships from the Stepney landing

In December 1672, while the place was still mostly wilderness, Wethersfield set aside five acres at the riverside for a public landing that could also serve as a shipyard. Shipyard Park is at the landing today. After a flood in 1700 moved the river, this became Wethersfield's main port. The sloop Ann was built here in 1773 and carried Capt. John Hanmer's company to New York just before the Battle of Long Island. Silas Deane had the sloop Revenge built here, commissioned by Congress in 1776 with eight guns and 64 men, and the privateer Dolphin went out in 1777 with ten guns. In the early 1800s there were two shipyards, and Elisha Belden's turned out brigs and schooners for foreign trade. In 1886 Rocky Hill could still be called, at times, the head of sloop navigation on the river.10111213141516

Lexington, Stepney, Rocky Hill

When the south end of Wethersfield got its own parish in 1722, the first name chosen was Lexington, after the Massachusetts town Joseph Grimes came from. Grimes himself said two Lexingtons would be one too many, so the parish became Stepney, a name shared with a borough on the east side of London. Nobody seems to have known why. The hill above the landing won out anyway. In 1796 Timothy Dwight wrote that it had given its name to the parish so generally that few people in the state had ever heard of Stepney, and in 1826 the legislature made Rocky Hill official. Not everyone liked it. A 1906 history grumbled that Rocky Hill was neither pleasant to the ears, the eyes, nor the imagination. The town kept the name anyway, and became a town of its own in 1843.1718191

Through the years

25 moments from 1650 to today.

  1. 1650Settlers from Wethersfield begin to take up land here, on Wangunk ground.1
  2. 1655A ferry starts crossing the river to what's now Glastonbury.2
  3. 1661Wethersfield offers Gov. John Winthrop 140 acres at the Dividend falls if he'll build a corn mill. He never does.20
  4. 1672Wethersfield sets aside five acres at the riverside for a public landing and a shipyard.10
  5. 1678Rev. Gershom Bulkeley builds the corn mill at Dividend.20
  6. 1700A great flood shifts the river and leaves Rocky Hill as Wethersfield's main port.11
  7. 1712The first schoolhouse goes up, twenty feet by sixteen.21
  8. 1722The parish is formed. Lexington is the first name chosen, but it becomes Stepney.17
  9. 1727The first church is built near the south end of Old Main Street.11
  10. 1773The sloop Ann is built at Rocky Hill. She'll carry a militia company to New York before the Battle of Long Island.12
  11. 1776Congress commissions the sloop Revenge, built here by Silas Deane, with eight guns and 64 men.13
  12. 1785About this year Capt. Thomas Danforth is making tin and pewter at Rocky Hill, mostly for the South.22
  13. 1796Timothy Dwight, president of Yale, admires the view from the hill and finds the landing busy with trade.19
  14. 1803Abraham Jaggars builds the brick academy on Old Main Street, today's Academy Hall.23
  15. 1808The first meetinghouse, where meetings were long called by beat of drum, is sold at auction and torn down.24
  16. 1826The legislature changes the parish name from Stepney to Rocky Hill.18
  17. 1830About this year Neff and Merriam start a carriage factory below the landing, selling mostly to the South.25
  18. 1837Samuel Shipman buys the Rocky Hill Hotel and renames it Shipman's Hotel.7
  19. 1843Rocky Hill becomes a town of its own.1
  20. 1860Townspeople form the Rocky Hill Lyceum for lectures, concerts and debate.26
  21. 1869Baker & Tilden of Hartford publish a landowners map of Rocky Hill.5
  22. 1871The railroad station opens, the year the Connecticut Valley line starts running.27
  23. 1899The Rocky Hill Library Association dedicates its own building on December 8.26
  24. 1902The Rocky Hill Stone Company joins the merger that forms the Connecticut Trap Rock Quarries.28
  25. 1966A bulldozer operator finds dinosaur tracks in the sandstone, and Dinosaur State Park follows in 1968.3

Places to see

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

  • 3Shipyard ParkThe river landing. On the old shipyard ground.
  • 11Rocky Hill-Glastonbury FerryThe river landing. Crossing the Connecticut since 1655.
  • 15Rocky Hill Congregational ChurchOld Main Street. Dedicated in 1808, with clock tower.Visit their website
  • 17Connecticut State Veterans Home and HospitalVeterans campus. In Rocky Hill since 1940.
  • 18Quarry ParkNortheast Rocky Hill. The traprock ridge that named the town.
  • 21Dinosaur State ParkSouthwest Rocky Hill. Some 500 tracks under a dome.Visit their website
  • 22John Robbins House262 Old Main Street. Brick Georgian house, the old tavern.
  • 24Academy Hall MuseumOld Main Street. The brick academy of 1803.Visit their website
  • 26Elm Street Historic DistrictElm Street. A colonial road 300 feet wide.
  • 31Rocky Hill Center Historic DistrictOld Main Street. 232 historic buildings, from about 1710.

On the National Register

All 5 places in Rocky Hill on the National Register of Historic Places that still stand today, oldest first, and why each one matters.4

  • Rocky Hill Center Historic District

    Listed 2007 · Roughly bounded by Old Main, Pratt and Washington Streets, Glastonbury Avenue and Riverview Road

    The traditional town center along Old Main Street, from the Wethersfield line south to the triangle at Riverview Road. Its 232 historic buildings run from the Captain David Riley House of about 1710 through fine Georgian and Federal houses to the town's main civic and church buildings.11

  • John Robbins House

    Built about 1767 · Listed 1988 · 262 Old Main Street

    Considered one of the finest brick Georgian houses in Connecticut, it is usually said to have been built in 1767 by John Robbins, who kept a tavern called The Duke of Cumberland. One architectural historian thinks it may date closer to 1790. It stayed in the Robbins family until 1914.29

  • Elm Street Historic District

    Listed 1998 · 18-191 Elm Street

    Elm Street was laid out in the late 1600s as the main road west from the ferry, 20 rods wide, and this stretch still keeps that colonial width with rows of trees. Its 35 houses date from 1769 to the 1930s.30

  • Academy Hall

    Built 1803 · Listed 1977 · 785 Old Main Street

    Built by Abraham Jaggars, it is one of only a few early 1800s school buildings left in Connecticut. A private academy until fire gutted it in 1839, then a public school, it has been the Rocky Hill Historical Society's museum since 1965.23

    Visit their website

  • Rocky Hill Congregational Church

    Built 1808 · Listed 1982 · 805-817 Old Main Street

    Built from 1805 to 1808 for a congregation formed in 1723, modeled on a church in Middletown. It is a late example of Georgian architecture, with a three-stage tower holding a clock and belfry, and a landmark of the town center.31

    Visit their website

In their words

“Here is one of the most agreeably picturesque villages in New England.”

The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 188616

“On the Northern side of this hill is a magnificent view over the Connecticut Valley, about 50 miles in length and 20 in breadth.”

Timothy Dwight, president of Yale, on Rocky Hill in 1796, quoted in The history of ancient Wethersfield19

“But no one ever excelled "Uncle Sam Shipman" down in Rocky Hill, in cooking and serving this delicious fish.”

The Connecticut magazine, 1899, on Connecticut River shad9

Nearby towns

Sources

  1. Rocky Hill, Connecticut, Wikipedia
  2. Rocky Hill-Glastonbury Ferry, Wikipedia
  3. Dinosaur State Park and Arboretum, Wikipedia
  4. National Register of Historic Places listings in Hartford County, Connecticut, Wikipedia
  5. Landowners map of Rocky Hill, Connecticut from 1869, restored by KNOWOL
  6. Map of Rocky Hill, Connecticut in 2026, KNOWOL (USGS elevation, Census Bureau roads)
  7. Commemorative biographical record of Hartford County, Connecticut (1901), on Samuel Shipman, Internet Archive
  8. The history of ancient Wethersfield (1900), on the Shipman Hotel, Internet Archive
  9. The Connecticut magazine (1899), on shad and Shipman's hostelry, Internet Archive
  10. The history of ancient Wethersfield (1900), on the Ship-Yard Reservation, Internet Archive
  11. Rocky Hill Center Historic District, Wikipedia
  12. The Connecticut magazine (1906), on the sloop Ann and Stepney-built vessels, Internet Archive
  13. The Connecticut magazine (1906), on the sloop Revenge, Internet Archive
  14. The Connecticut magazine (1906), on the privateer Dolphin, Internet Archive
  15. Genealogical and family history of the state of Connecticut (1911), on Elisha Belden, shipwright, Internet Archive
  16. The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884 (1886), on Rocky Hill's soldiers and the view from the river, Internet Archive
  17. Historic towns of the Connecticut River Valley (1906), on naming Stepney parish, Internet Archive
  18. The Memorial History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884 (1886), on the name Stepney, Internet Archive
  19. The history of ancient Wethersfield (1900), quoting Timothy Dwight on Stepney in 1796, Internet Archive
  20. The history of ancient Wethersfield (1900), on the Dividend grist mill, Internet Archive
  21. The Memorial History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884 (1886), on the first schoolhouse, Internet Archive
  22. Historic towns of the Connecticut River valley (1906), on Thomas Danforth and Ashbel Griswold, Internet Archive
  23. Academy Hall (Rocky Hill, Connecticut), Wikipedia
  24. The Memorial History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884 (1886), on the first meetinghouse, Internet Archive
  25. The history of ancient Wethersfield (1900), on carriage making at Rocky Hill, Internet Archive
  26. The history of ancient Wethersfield (1900), on the Rocky Hill Lyceum and library, Internet Archive
  27. The history of ancient Wethersfield (1900), on the railroad stations, Internet Archive
  28. An historic record and pictorial description of the town of Meriden, Connecticut (1906), on the Connecticut Trap Rock Quarries, Internet Archive
  29. John Robbins House (Rocky Hill, Connecticut), Wikipedia
  30. Elm Street Historic District (Rocky Hill, Connecticut), Wikipedia
  31. Rocky Hill Congregational Church, Wikipedia