1892 Map of Gilead

About this map

The Lyman Viaduct stands as a significant engineering feature in the late nineteenth-century landscape of eastern Connecticut, anchoring the New York and Hartford Railroad Air Line Division. This rail network bisects the region, connecting manufacturing and agricultural hubs such as Colchester and Turnerville. The geography is defined by a series of north-south drainage systems, including the Blackledge River and Salmon Brook, which provided the necessary water power for the early industrial settlements found here. Small villages like Chestnut Hill, Gilead, and Liberty Hill are interspersed among the elevations of Prospect Hill and Bulkley Hill. This era captures the transition of the local economy as it moved between water-driven industry at sites like Moodus and the expanding reach of the steam-powered railroads that linked these rural Tolland and New London County communities to the wider New England markets.