The Firelands

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In 1792 the western section of New Connecticut, known as the Western Reserve, was granted by the state of Connecticut to 1,870 families living in the Connecticut towns of Greenwich, Fairfield, Danbury, Norwalk, New Haven, East Haven, New London, Groton and Ridgefield, whose homes had been burned by the British during the Revolutionary War.

The 500,000 acre tract of land, which was called the Firelands, encompassed the western most townships in the Western Reserve, including present day Erie and Huron Counties, and the eastern part of Danbury Township on the north side of Sandusky Bay in Ottawa County.

Many of the “fire sufferers” never emigrated to the Firelands. Many sold their land to speculators. One such man was William Winthrop of New York City who bought many of the sufferers’ claims. He hired Jabez Wright, an early settler of Huron and surveyor of the Firelands as his land agent.

Many of the first families who came to the Firelands traveled by covered wagons pulled by teams of oxen or horses. Others traveled to Buffalo, where they either followed along Lake Erie's sandy shore by wagon or loaded their possessions on small boats and journeyed by water.

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