Canterbury

Book excerpt: Canterbury: The First 300 Years provides glimpses of the people, places, and events that have given this town on the west bank of the Quinebaug River a rich and interesting history-three hundred years of history. Beyond the well-known account of Prudence Crandall's opening of New England's first academy for young black women, and fellow citizen Andrew Judson's efforts to close it down, are the stories of Moses Cleaveland, namesake of Cleveland, Ohio; Lillian Frink, one of the first women elected to the state legislature; and Benedict Arnold, Canterbury student and notorious traitor. Canterbury: The First 300 Years reveals a town of industrious businesspeople who have produced items as varied as textiles, fly-fishing rods, mast hoops, and rare orchids, and of farmers who have raised everything from potatoes to skunks.