Maps - the Quilt in context

The Bicentennial Quilt depicts town scenes at local landmarks, events, and buildings.  

The area we know as Essex today was once part of the Saybrook Colony, settled by Europeans in 1635.  By the 1640s, residents of Saybrook surveyed this area known as "Potapaug Quarter," leading to settlement by the 1660s.

Main Street was laid out in 1748. Essex Village greatly expanded as a shipbuilding site during the Revolutionary War. In 1852, the State Legislature approved the formation of a new town called Old Saybrook, which included Old Saybrook and Essex Borough. Two years later, Essex split from Old Saybrook and formed the separate town of Essex.

Today the town is composed of the three villages of Essex, Centerbrook, and Ivoryton. A description of the town's history is available on the Town of Essex website.

To view the Bicentennial Quilt squares on a map, please visit our History Pin collection: Essex Library Association - History Pin - Bicentennial Quilt