Historical organizations

Center Street Cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in the country. The first burial, William Holt, was in 1683. It includes tombs and recognitions of Lyman Hall, a signer of the Declaration of Independence born on South Elm Street in Wallingford; Moses Yale Beach, the founder of the Associated Press and Wallingford native; Thomas Yale, one of Wallingford’s founders and the brother of Yale University’s founder; Joseph Benham, a relative of the last people in New England to be tried for witchcraft, Winnifred Benham; several of the town’s original settlers; and veterans of every major military conflict from the Revolutionary War to present.

Wallingford Historic Preservation Trust maintains two wonderful properties in town, the Nehemiah Royce House and the Franklin Johnson Silver Museum. The Royce House was built in 1672 and is the oldest house in Wallingford. Its namesake and builder, Nehemiah Royce, was one of the original thirty-eight people authorized to purchase the parcel of land now known as Wallingford from the Quinnipiac tribe and a local elected official. George Washington visited the house twice when it was in its original location (in 1924 it was moved to its present location). It was owned by the Royce family for over 200 years.

The Wallingford Historical Society, founded in 1916, operates a museum of local history in the Samuel Parsons House, built in 1770. It has open houses a few times per year where visitors can view the historic home and see displays of historic items throughout the building. It has an annual holiday event that includes cookies and Christmas caroling.