NUGGET #18
Ram Pasture was situated along West Lane (then called Bedford Road) in and about the triangle created by Parley Lane, High Ridge and West Lane. In the early 18th Century, the town owned a sizable flock of sheep, pastured on common land and probably tended by a town-hired shepherd or by volunteers. These sheep were hired out to fertilize farmers’ fields and consequently support education. Periodically, a “sheep meeting” would take place. One on Dec. 24, 1742, voted that “the money coming for the hire of the sheep last year shall be given as bounty to help maintain the Town School forever, and when the money is gathered it shall be delivered to the committee that is appointed to take care of the bounty money given by the Government to support ye School…” Apparently the rams for the flock were kept at the Ram Pasture while the sheep were probably held nearby, perhaps in the vicinity of Olmstead Lane.
From Glenna Welsh, Proprietors of Ridgefield and George L. Rockwell, History of Ridgefield.
