One may ask, "What is Sandisfield's claim to fame?" A quirky yet plausible answer might be, "No one has ever heard of the place." Not long ago an effort by the Sandisfield Historical Society to raise awareness about this town created a mischievous bumper sticker which read, "Where the h--- is Sandisfield?"

In a previous column I suggested it may be time to reprise that brilliant slogan.

One may also ask, "Why is this town named Sandisfield?" Another good question. Among the names of 19,495 incorporated villages, towns, and cities in this country, we are the only Sandisfield which further supports that our "claim to fame" is obscurity.

And what about "Sandy" as in the name of the tributary, Sandy Brook, which runs through South Sandisfield? Is there a connection or some historical relationship between the names Sand(isfield) and Sandy?

How and Why Sandisfield?

If ever there was a town that deserved to be named in honor of its founders (the Browns), this place is it. Instead, Sandisfield was named for Lord Samuel Sandys (pronounced as Sands), a British nobleman and politician who lived from 1695 to 1770, but probably never set foot in the New World. Sandys held numerous high level offices including Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons. In March 1761, he was appointed as First Lord of Trade and Plantations, at that time one of the most important offices in the British government.

There is nothing written to explain the circumstances of this curious naming, but I have a theory.

Lord Samuel Sandys.
(Photo: Colebrook Historical Society.)

Sir Francis Bernard (no relation to me) was Governor of Massachusetts Bay colony, 1760-69. On March 6, 1762, both Township No. 1 (Tyringham) and Township No. 3 (Sandisfield) were incorporated and given proper names. According to historical accounts about Tyringham, Gov. Bernard named No. 1 in honor of a relative, possibly his cousin Jane Tyringham, back in England. The humble Governor had already named several places after himself including Bernards Township (today, Bernardsville) in New Jersey (1758), and Bernardston in Franklin Co., Mass., (1762). My theory is that to curry favor with Lord Sandys, his influential superior, either Gov. Bernard or his aides proposed the name Sandisfield for Township No. 3. Apparently, the Berkshires land grant proprietors and their chosen principal, Daniel Brown, who worked for decades to establish this frontier town, had no say in the matter.

What about Sandy Brook?

Sandisfield historian George Shepard (1820-93) in his 1885 treatise noted a curious coincidental name association with Sandy Brook and wrote, "Some of the older people claim that it [the Sandy Brook in South Sandisfield] takes its name from one Sandys, an early settler (they say), and they even claim that Sandisfield derived its name from the same source. This, however, lacks confirmation. The records make no mention that can be found of any such person. If named from Sandys he must have been a noted man living elsewhere." Apparently unaware of Lord Sandys from 125 years before, a skeptical Shepard refrained from opining that the roots, Sands, Sandys and/or Sandy in our case were related, leaving the question to history which was wise of him. Since the earliest days of this settlement people have wondered why the little tributary which arises at York Lake and flows thirteen miles southeastward through Colebrook, Conn., is called "Sandy Brook."

Many continue to assume a connection with the name Sandisfield. I have read every scrap of written history about Sandisfield I could find. There is no evidence or even a hint of commonality of the name of this stream with the name Sandisfield.

Sandisfield delegation and members of the Village Council at Ombersley Court, July 21, 2014.

The first known direct contact between Sandisfield and Ombersley, Worcestershire, England, the ancestral home of the Sandys family, was in 1990 when Norton Fletcher, then president of the Sandisfield Historical Society, paid an informal visit. In 2014, the Ombersley Village Council welcomed Susie Crofut, Ben Luxon, Jean Atwater-Williams and Ron Bernard to explore the possibility of a sister-cities relationship.

For now, let's go with this anecdote

Robert Grigg (1930-2016) was the beloved, long-time historian (one of the best) for neighboring Colebrook. Bob was most helpful to me in 2011 while researching material for our 250th anniversary commemorative book, Sandisfield Then and Now. South Sandisfield and Colebrook were socially connected, and Bob knew a lot about the intermarried families on either side of the imaginary state line.

For many years he wrote an informative and often amusing column for the Winsted Journal called, "Bytes of History." In January 2011, certainly with a wink and chuckle, he wrote this explanation about the naming of Sandy Brook:

"Historically, man's association with Sandy Brook can be traced to early Colonial times. A Boston merchant by the name of Sandie, or Sandy, had a contract with the British army to supply hay to their cavalry. He decided to utilize a large open area within the virgin forest in what is now western Massachusetts. This so-called intervail land had been created by the Native Americans as an area that would encourage animals and birds in their food chain, thus making hunting a much more manageable task. This particular land had been created around a series of quite powerful and un-fluctuating springs, thus Sandie, the first European to utilize the hay produced by the native grasses, had his name applied to the map in the form of 'Sandie's Field' and 'Sandie's Brook' which have since acquired modern spellings."

Bob forgot to include sources or explain how a farmer back then could get hay to the British cavalry.

Nevertheless, until something better comes along this fanciful anecdote will have to do. And to my idol, George Shepard: Mr. Shepard, if you are reading this, please know that we are working on it.

More forgotten or unexplained place names in Sandisfield

Besides the naming of Sandy Brook, other vexing mysteries remain in Sandisfield. For example, who named Roosterville, the New Boston section near Hanging Mountain? Why is the extreme southeast section of Sandisfield called the Free Quarter? Why was the section of town renamed as Montville in about 1850? I have a theory about the latter which I hope to prove or at least elevate to plausibility. Watch for a future Historia.