Located 16 miles northeast of Hartford, Ellington was incorporated in 1786 and has retained the charm of a New England village and farming community. Originally part of Windsor, it was known as the Great Marsh. Ellington Center, with its town green and 18th- to 20th-century houses, is on the National Register of Historic Places. Japanese business pioneer Francis Hall donated the jewel of the district to his hometown in 1903—the neoclassical-revival-style library. Archival photographs preserve faded memories of schools, churches, townspeople, and a unique dentist's tooth-shaped tombstone. Ellington captures a time when John Hall's Ellington School was known worldwide, Crystal Lake was a popular summer resort, and Daniel Hallady invented the modern windmill.