ter. The rock is cleft in two places, forming at each a chasm or fissure about fifty feet in depth, through one of which there runs a small stream of water; the other communicates with a room about 12 feet square, at the interior part of which there is a fire place, and a chimney extending through the rock above, forming an aperture of about 3 feet square. In another part of the rock there is a natural stair-case winding around it from the bottom to the top. In the cold season of the year, a large mass of ice is formed in the room above described, by the dashing of water down the chimney, which continues there through nearly the whole of the warm months; the sun being almost excluded from this subterranean recess. ""*

THOMPSON.

THOMPSON was formerly a part of Killingly, and was settled about 1715. It was incorporated as a distinct town in 1785. It is said to have derived its name from the circumstance of a considerable part of the township being owned by a Mr. Thompson, of England. A part of the land was held in his name till about the year 1800. The eastern part of the town was formerly called Quaduc or Quanduck. Thompson forms the north eastern corner of the County and State: it is bounded N. by Massachusetts, E. by Rhode Island, S. by Killingly, and W. by Woodstock and Pomfret. The township is nearly eight miles square, and comprises an area of 59 square miles. The Quinnebaug passes through the eastern part of the town in its course it receives the French river. Thompson is a rich agricultural and manufacturing town, and the inhabitants are distinguished for their spirit of enterprise. The surface of the township exhibits an interesting variety of hills and vallies; many of the hills are quite elevated, but no portion of it can be called mountainous. The prevailing soil is a gravelly loam, strong and dry, well adapted to the culture of Indian corn, wheat and clover, and generally excellent for grazing. There is a great supply of valuable stone for walls and buildings. There are 4 houses of worship in the town, 2 for Baptists, 1 Congregational, and 1 Methodist.

The following is a southern view of the Congregational Church and other buildings in the vicinity, in the central part of the town. The village, which is situated on a commanding eminence, consists of about 30 well built dwelling houses, 4 mercantile stores, 1 bank, (the Thompson Bank,) and a printing office. At the time the following drawing was taken, a new Baptist Church was erecting. It is situated a few rods north of the Congregational Church. This place is 14 miles from Brooklyn, 34 from Norwich, 47 from Hartford, 27 from Providence, and 53 from Boston. There are in the town 6 or 7 Cotton Factories, which do an extensive business. There are also two or three woolen factories.

* Pease and Niles' Gazetteer.

Masonville, on French river, is perhaps the largest manufacturing village in the town, and is about a mile and a half from the centre. The factory at this place was formerly called the "Swamp Factory," from its being situated in a marshy spot. Fishersville is about a mile north on the same stream. The village of New Boston is situated in the north west corner of the town, about six miles from the centre; the village is built on both sides of the Quinnebaug.

name.

VOLUNTOWN.

VOLUNTOWN was incorporated in 1719. The greater part of the tract now comprising the town was granted in 1696 to the volunteers in the Narragansett war, from which circumstance the town derives its "From the first settlement of the Colony," says Dr. Trumbull, "it had been customary to make grants of lands to officers, soldiers and others, who had been specially serviceable to the Colony. Grants had been made to Major Mason, to his officers and soldiers in the Pequot war. This encouraged the volunteers, who had performed such signal feats in the Narragansett war, to make application to the Assembly for the grant of a new township, as an acknowledgment of their services."

Voluntown is bounded N. by Sterling and Plainfield, E. by Rhode Island, S. by North Stonington, and W. by Griswold. It is about 9 miles in length, and averages more than 4 in breadth. The surface is generally diversified by hills and vallies, but there are some sections of pine plains which are level. The prevailing character of the soil is that of a light, sandy and gravelly loam. There are 2 houses of worship in the town, 1 Congregational and 1 Baptist. A Congregational

church stands on the dividing line between this town and Sterling, and is called the "Line Meeting House." In the western part of the town, there are 2 Cotton and 1 Woolen factories. The central part of the town is about 14 miles from Norwich.

WINDHAM.

IN February, 1675, Joshua, son of Uncas, the Mohegan sachem, by his last will gave unto Capt. John Mason, James Fitch and fourteen others, commonly called Joshua's legatees, the tract containing the town of Windham, which originally included the present towns of Mansfield and Canterbury. In May, 1686, the main street in Windham was laid out, and fourteen lots for the legatees were surveyed. Other roads were made, lots surveyed, and purchases made for settlement in the two following years. "Lieut. John Cates,* a pious puritan, who served in the wars in England, holding his commission under Cromwell, when Charles II. came to the throne, fled to this country for safety. He landed' first in Virginia, where he procured a negro servant to attend him. But when advertisements and pursuers were spread through this country to apprehend the adherents of the Protector, he left Virginia, came to New York, and from thence to Norwich. Still feeling that he should be securer in a more retired place, he came to the new plantation, dug the first cellar, and with his servant, raised in Windham the first English habitation, in the spring of 1689. The settlers, rapidly increasing, petitioned the General Court, and obtained a grant of town privileges in May, 1692." It was made a county town in May, 1726, the grand list in 1768, was about £30,000, and the number of inhabitants 3,500.

The present town of Windham is bounded north by the towns of Hampton, Chaplin and Mansfield, east by Canterbury, south by Franklin and Lisbon, and westerly by Lebanon and Columbia. The township has a mean length from east to west of about eight miles, with a medium breadth of nearly six miles. The surface of the town is generally hilly, particularly the eastern part comprising the parish of Scotland. The soil in the western part, bordering on the Shetucket, is rather light and dry; there is, however, a considerable tract of fertile land in this section of the town.

The following is a view of the central part of the ancient village of Windham. The houses are more clustered together than in most New England villages which were built at the same period, and it has been

* His monument is still remaining in the burying ground south of the village: the following is a copy of the inscription, viz. "In memory of Mr. John Cates. He was a gentleman born in England, and the first setteller in the Town of Windham. By his last Will and Testament, he gave a generous Legacy to ye first church of Christ in Windham, in plate, and a generous Legacy in Land for ye support of ye Poor, and another Legacy for ye support of ye School in said Town for ever. He died in Windham, July ye 16th, A. D. 1697." JOSIAH MANNING,

+ Mr. Waterman's Century Sermon.

remarked by travellers, that Windham, in its general appearance, very much resembles an English village. The Congregational church is seen nearly in the center of the engraving. Dr. Dwight, in the 3d volume of his travels, in noticing this building pleasantly remarks, "that the spot it is posited, bears not a little resemblance to a pound; and it appears as if those who pitched upon it, intended to shut the church out of the town, and the inhabitants out of the church." Windham village is 30 miles east of Hartford, 14 to Norwich city, 44 west of Providence. Since the removal of the seat of justice for the county to Brooklyn, and the establishment of the flourishing village of Willimantic on the western border of the town, the ancient village of Windham has somewhat declined. It is said that there were more buildings in Windham village previous to the Revolution than there has been at any time since. There are now in the place six mercantile stores and about 60 dwelling houses. There are two houses of worship, one Congregational and one Episcopal. There is one Bank in the town.

It is said originally there was a handsome square laid out in the center of the village. While some of principal men were absent, and at a time when party spirit was prevailing a vote of the town was obtained for selling off the principal part of the square for building lots, and were accordingly used for that purpose. This is stated to be the cause of the singular situation of the church, and the clustered appearance of the village.

The Rev. Samuel Whiting was the first minister in Windham; he was born in 1670, and was the son of the Rev. John Whiting, minister of Hartford. He received his early education from his father, and afterwards finished his education for the ministry under the direction of the Rev. James Fitch of Norwich, there being no college in Connecticut at that time. At the first town meeting in Windham, June 11th,

1692, it was voted to apply to Mr. Whiting for carrying on the work of the ministry. Previous to this, those whose circumstances would admit, used to attend meeting at Norwich, the distance of twelve miles, in a rough and unsubdued road. "Tradition says, and from the records it appears it may say correctly, that the first sermon Mr. Whiting preached at Windham, was on the first day of the week, and the first day of the year, from the first chapter of the Bible, and from the first verse." In May, 1693, as an inducement to tarry with them four years, they offered him £50 a year, an allotment through all the division lots, and to build him a house two stories high and 18 feet square. The land was laid out to him, and for the first year, instead of a house, they added £10 to his salary. In 1696, they built him a house; in 1697, they gave him a call to ordination. In 1699 it was repeated, and 80 loads of wood added to his salary. In Dec. 1700 he was ordained, and the first church was gathered. His salary was afterwards raised to £100 and his wood. In 1725, being on a visit to his friends, he was suddenly seized with the pleurisy, and died at the house of the Rev. Mr. Collins, of Enfield. He was the father of 13 children, 8 sons and 5 daughters.

The Rev. Thomas Clap, afterwards President of Yale College, was the second minister in Windham. He was ordained in 1726, and preached in the place till 1740. Mr. Clap received £300 settlement, £100 annual salary, and £10 yearly for his wood. The Rev. Stephen White was their next pastor, and was ordained in 1740. He continued in the ministry 53 years, till his death, January 9th, 1793. Mr. White in his half Century sermon, preached January 1st, 1790, says,—“6 -"When I came to this town, there were some of the first settlers living. They are now dead, and almost all the next generation. In those days there were scarce any that were not professors of religion, and but few infants not baptized. No families that were prayerless. Profane swearing was little known; and open violations of the Sabbath not practiced as is common now, and there were no Deists among us. The people as a body, were fearers of the Lord, and observers of the Sabbath and its duties. But the present day is peculiar for men's throwing off the Fear of the Lord. Declensions in religion have been increasing for about 30 years past. Such as profaneness, disregard of the Sabbath, neglect of Family religion, unrighteousness and intemperance, the imbibing of modern errors and heresies, and the crying prevalence of infidelity against the clearest light."

The borough of Willimantic is a flourishing village, 26 miles east from Hartford, 3 west from Windham, 44 from Providence, 16 from Norwich city, and 16 from Brooklyn. It contains at this time nearly 2000 inhabitants. The village is built principally on one street on the northern side of the Willimantic, and extends from west to east nearly a mile, and contains three houses of worship, 1 Congregational, 1 Methodist, and 1 Baptist.

There are 6 cotton factories, in all of which upwards of 13,000 spindles are run. There is also a satinett factory, and paper mill.