Sherman is the northernmost and least populous town of Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 3,527 at the 2020 census.[1] The town is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region. The town was formed in 1802 from the northern part of New Fairfield. It is named for Roger Sherman, the only person who signed all four founding documents of the United States of America.[2] He also had a cobblers shop in the north end of town which has been reconstructed behind the Northrup House in the center of town.
Sherman is a popular weekend retreat for New York City residents, with about a third of its residents weekenders. The town is located 62 miles (100 km) northeast of New York City, making it part of the New York metropolitan area.[3]
Sherman has one area on the National Register of Historic Places: the Sherman Historic District, bounded roughly by the intersection of Old Greenswood Road and Route 37, northeast past the intersection of Route 37 East and Route 39 North and Sawmill Road. The district was added to the National Register on August 31, 1991.
The land which is now called Sherman was formerly occupied primarily by native people of Algonquian lineage.
In 1724, colonial settlers from Fairfield, Connecticut, received approval from the General Assembly of the Colony of Connecticut to establish a new township. According to one account, they negotiated with Chief Squantz of the Schaghticoke tribe. Alternatively, it is told that they did not negotiate with Chief Squantz because he moved to the north end of Squantz Pond land area and refused to "sell" the township of New Fairfield. They returned in the spring of 1725, but found that Chief Squantz had died during the winter. His four sons and heirs refused to sign the deeds. It was not until four years later that the white men called "The Proprietors" finally got the drawn marks of several other native people who may not have had authority to sell the land.[4] They "purchased" a 31,000-acre tract of land that is now New Fairfield and Sherman, for 65 pounds sterling, the equivalent of about 300 dollars, on April 24, 1729. The deed was recorded on May 9, 1729, and is now deposited in the archives of the State Capitol in Hartford, Connecticut.
Rob Zombie (born 1965), musician and film director lives in Sherman
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 23.4 square miles (61 km2), of which 21.8 square miles (56 km2) is land and 1.6 square miles (4.1 km2), or 6.68%, is water. Sherman is bordered by New Fairfield to the south, New Milford to the east, Kent to the north, and by Pawling, New York to the west.
Naromiyocknowhusunkatankshunk Brook
Sherman is the location of Naromiyocknowhusunkatankshunk Brook[7] (29 letters), in the north end of town near the New Milford border. The name of indigenous origin means "water flowing from the hills". The Naromi Land Trust in Sherman derived its name from the brook.[8]
In some deeds it is called Deep Brook. For some time the brook was officially known at the state level as Morrissey Brook, but an official name change was put into Public Act 01-194, "An Act Concerning Certain Real Property Transactions," which was approved July 11, 2001.[9] The 29-letter name was noted in an 1882 book, History of the Towns of New Milford and Bridgewater, 1703–1882, by Samuel Orcutt.[10] The state department of transportation has also created a customized road sign for the longer name.[11]
Candlewood Lake
Candlewood Lake stretches from Danbury in the south, north to Sherman at a park named Veterans' Field. The lake is the largest in Connecticut. It is artificial, created for the Rocky River hydro electric power plant in New Milford on the Housatonic River. The water is pumped through a large pipe into the lake.
Squantz Pond
Sherman bounds the north end of Squantz Pond, which was a natural pond that was expanded with the creation of Candlewood Lake.
As of the census[13] of 2010, the population was 3,581 people, including 3,469 white, 35 Asian, 15 black, 1 Native American, 16 other, and 45 of two or more races. 76 of these people identified as Hispanic or Latino.
The income per capita is $55,920, which includes all adults and children. The median household income is $118,750.
There were 1,388 households, 460 of which contained children under 18.[14]
Spring view of Sherman end of Candlewood Lake with Candlewood Mountain
Government
Sherman town vote by party in presidential elections[15]
Sherman tends to lean Republican in presidential elections. Lyndon B. Johnson won the town by 13 points in his presidential victory in 1964. In 2008, Barack Obama managed to edge John McCain by just under four points.
In popular culture
Sherman is the location where a presidential candidate becomes possessed by the Devil (and/or sells his soul) in the novel "The Hell Candidate" by Graham Masterton (writing under the name "Thomas Luke") (Pocket Books 1980; currently out-of-print).
Another Graham Masterton novel, "Spirit" (Dorchester Publishing Co. 2001, copyright 1995), is a ghost story set in Sherman in the 1940s and 1950s.
United States
Connecticut
