Sandy Hook, Connecticut


Sandy Hook is a village in the town of Newtown, Connecticut. It was founded in 1711.
Sandy Hook borders the village of Botsford, the Newtown borough, and the towns of Monroe, Southbury, and Oxford along the Housatonic River. The village of Sandy Hook includes the communities of Berkshire, Riverside, Walnut Tree Hill, and Zoar. It also extends for a short distance into the Town of Monroe along Old Zoar Road and Bagburn Hill/Jordan Hill Road.

History

Sandy Hook was founded when several proprietors with land in the area relocated together to reduce isolation. Within a year of the settlement of Newtown, some of its proprietors began moving away from the central village to some of their larger parcels. Colonists found that the Pootatuck River at Sandy Hook allowed for saw and grist mills, leading to it becoming one of the first outlying areas to be settled. The neighborhood did not grow dramatically until the mid-19th century post-industrialization.

2012 school shooting

, Adam Lanza shot and killed his mother at home, then went to Sandy Hook Elementary School where he killed 26 people before taking his own life. It was the mass shooting in U.S. history at the time, after the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings.

Landmarks

Sandy Hook has a few historic landmarks on the National Register of Historic Places.