The Town of Ridgefield and Ridgefield Historical Society are celebrating the occasion with a full weekend of events, turning back the clock, and bringing the history and characters of the time alive, as well as introducing new important discoveries regarding the Battle.
Ridgefield Historical Society staff and researchers from Heritage Consultants, LLC are documenting areas in town where fighting occurred in addition to the three most well-known engagements along Route 116. What is less known is the fighting that occurred throughout town afterwards which may be described as a “fourth engagement.”
Work has begun on a major study of the Battle of Ridgefield with the formation of an advisory group to oversee the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program grant obtained this year by the Ridgefield Historical Society.
Ridgefield Historical Society staff and researchers from Heritage Consultants, LLC are documenting areas in town where fighting occurred in addition to the three most well-known engagements along Route 116. What is less known is the fighting that occurred throughout town afterwards which may be described as a “fourth engagement.”
Watch a video of Dr. Darla Shaw sharing Revolutionary War stories of important and courageous women such as spy Lydia Darrow (Darragh), Sybil Ludington, and the legend of Abigail Ingersoll Olmstead.
Watch Dr. David Naumec of Heritage Consultants (and part of the research team for the Historical Society’s Battlefield Project) speak about the Battle of Ridgefield at Preservation Connecticut’s virtual noontime chats series, “Talking About Preservation.”
A typical battlefield survey of a private home includes hours of scanning the landscape with metal detectors. Once a signal is detected the archaeologist recovers an object by peeling back the grass and digging a small hole to pinpoint the artifact which is typically found between 5 to 10 inches deep and rarely deeper than a foot.
Heritage Consultants documented significant artifacts recently shared with the battlefield research team: a British musket and bayonet used during the battle. This flintlock arm is known as a “Short Land, New Pattern Musket,” more commonly referred to as a “Brown Bess,” and was made at Dublin Castle, Ireland, circa 1775.
Issue Date: September 13, 2021 Due Date: September 27, 2021 Contract Contact: Sharon Dunphy, Ridgefield Historical Society, [email protected] Overview The Ridgefield Historical Society (RHS), in partnership with the State Historic
The research team completed the “processing” of historical materials gathered since March in terms of cataloging the materials in the Source Database, and analyzed the documents for details needed to reconstruct battle events and the battlefield landscape.