Sites built adjacent to the river by nomadic peoples at the end of the
last Ice Age, 12,400 years
BP of the
Younger Dryas indicate the presence of the earliest peoples to populate the region that would become known as southern
New England. In the winter of 2019, the remains of the site were excavated in
Avon, along with stone tools and artifacts constructed from materials in neighboring regions. The upper Connecticut and Farmington River valleys were the lands of the Native American
indigenous people called the
Massaco, a sub-tribe of the
Tunxis, who were affiliated with the
Wappinger. The name Tunxis, a word in the
Quiripi family of
Eastern Algonquian languages, derives from the indigenous term
Wuttunkshau for "the point where the river bends". Halfway through the course of the river, in a
floodplain in the town of
Farmington at the base of the
Metacomet Ridge, the flow of the Farmington River changes its direction to the northeast, where it eventually joins up with the
Connecticut River in
Windsor. When Europeans first arrived, the "Tunxis Sepus" territory consisted of a 165-mile square area bounded by Simsbury to the North, Wallingford to the South, to the northwest by Mohawk country, and on the east by the current towns of Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield. In 1645, the Town of Farmington, Connecticut was named by the Connecticut General Assembly, and this was re-affirmed in 1650 by the execution of a deed by the General Assembly and the reservation of land for the "Tunxis Indians" near "Indian Neck" on the east bank of the Farmington River. people's chief fishing grounds The land of the Massaco was subsequently purchased by the Dutch. This and its settlement during the era of the
Connecticut Colony are described in the
early history of Simsbury. The Spoonville Dam, built on the Farmington River in 1899 below the
Tariffville Gorge in
East Granby, was breached in the
Flood of 1955 and remained as a partial dam for several decades before being removed in July 2012. The dam, as well as the bridge crossing the Farmington River downstream at
Route 187, derived its name from the
silver plating factory erected in 1840 on the north bank of the river. It was the first factory of its kind in the United States.
Historical crossings Several bridges constructed in the 19th century and early 20th century still span the Farmington River to this day. Among these are: • Farmington River Railroad Bridge, a stone
arch bridge in Windsor, Connecticut built in 1867 • Town Bridge, a
Parker through-truss bridge in Canton, Connecticut constructed by the
Berlin Iron Bridge Company in 1895 • Pleasant Valley Bridge, a Parker through-truss bridge in Barkhamsted, Connecticut built in 1939 • Unionville Bridge, a Warren through-truss bridge in Unionville, Connecticut built in 1939 == Recreation ==