Granby, Connecticut is a charming rural residential community about 14 miles north of Hartford, on the north-central Massachusetts border. Granby is home to many urban professionals who work in Hartford’s insurance and financial industry.

Connecticut Magazine ranked Granby the #3 Connecticut small town (population 10,000-1500) to live in and the #1 small town in Hartford County. The combination of Granby’s rural character along with its proximity to major metropolitan centers makes Granby one of the best cities in Connecticut for your home and family.

The community we know today as Granby was a wilderness when it was first settled by a handful of hardy Puritans in 1680 who came to Talcott Ridge from Windsor and named the area “Salmon Brook.”

Because they were on what was at the time the frontier of English civilization, these “foreigners,” as they were called, settled together for mutual support and defense among the branches of Salmon Brook, several miles from the main settlement of Simsbury and separated by “a great expanse of pine barren plain”. The ground was rocky and the beautiful stone fences that give the town such charm today it was hard work to clear the fields of glacial rocks in order to till the land.

One of the first defining incidents of the community in 1707 was the capture of twenty-two-year-old Daniel Hayes by three Native Americans when he went out to check his horse in the meadow. The capture was witnessed by other settlers and a rescue party gave chase but was unable to catch up with the captors.

They took him all the way to Canada on a month-long journey, tied him up every night, and then forced him to run the challenge. Near the end of the gauntlet, he ran into a wigwam to avoid being struck by a club.

The woman in the wigwam had recently lost her husband and son in the war, faced the attackers by declaring their haven sacred, and adopted Hayes as her son. For several years he took care of the woman and was finally sold to a Frenchman.

The Frenchman cut him a deal, and Hayes earned enough to buy his freedom after two years. He then returned to the area from which he had been removed seven years earlier, settled on a farm in what is now Granby, and became prominent in early community affairs.

By 1709, eleven families had settled in what is now Granby, but during certain periods it was deserted when Indians were a threat and kept the community’s growth slow. As the aging population of the first generation of settlers grew, they resented the requirements of the long journey to church in Simsbury each week and were finally given the right to form their own church society in 1736.

They remained an independent-minded community, and during the Revolutionary War they resisted sending their people to fight in the Continental Army, insisting on serving in their own militia companies. In 1786 Salmon Brook and Turkey Hills were separated from Simsbury and became the town of Granby.

Today, the Salmon Brook Historical Society maintains the 1732 Abijah Rowe House, the 1790 Weed-Enders House, the 1870 Cooley School, and the 1914 Colton-Hayes Tobacco Barn & Museum, with many exhibits of life through the centuries. XVIII and XIX.

Housing in Granby is primarily older colonials and single-family homes of traditional designs, though condominiums and new construction are also available. Along with several small businesses, there are also a few home farms and orchards still operating along winding back roads.

The Granby Education System, which provides a public education to about 2,200 students and a full range of academic programs, also offers evening classes for adults.

The McLean Game Refuge is 3,400 acres and formed by glaciers, providing outdoor activities such as nature study, hiking, cross-country skiing, and picnicking. Enders State Forest has a group of hiking trails to six waterfalls. A 72-mile stream consisting of two branches of the Salmon Brook and a major tributary of the Farmington River flow through the city.

Recreational amenities include tennis courts, a playground, baseball fields, a swimming pond, a summer day camp, and a youth center. An exciting Memorial Day road race draws runners and spectators from Granby and surrounding towns.

Located about a 25-minute drive from Hartford and Springfield, Massachusetts, Granby is served by State Routes 10, 20, 189, 202, and 219. Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks is six miles east on Route 20 .

Granby’s combination of country charm and colonial homes, along with its proximity to major metropolitan centers, makes Granby one of the best cities in Connecticut for your home and family.