Granby, Connecticut
Hartford county. This town was incorporated in 1786 and was that part of Simsbury which contains the famous Simsbury mines; the old state prison of Connecticut. The cavern, once occupied as a prison, is now worked, as formerly, as a copper mine. This odious place, unfit for the residence of the worst of criminials, is 16 miles N.N.W. from Hartford. The pit or cavern is more than 50 feet in depth, dark, damp and dismal. The worst stigma that can be cast on the good people of Connecticut is, that this infernal region was suffered to remain nearly 40 years the abode of their fellow beings. There are some hills in Granby of considerable elevation. Barn door hills rise between four and five hundred feet, and have the appearance of having been separated by some convulsion of nature. Turkey hills and Salmon brook are pleasant villages, and have the appearance of prosperity. Farmington river waters the former, and a branch of that river, the latter. Population, 1830, 2,722.
