Some of Wilton's history is easy to see, with quaint buildings sitting on the town's main roads - but before the Civil War, it was once home to a struggle over slavery.

A deed of sale from an unnamed slave hangs on the wall of Wilton Historical Society, and interest in the subject spiked last summer.

Beginning in the early 1700s, enslaved people worked in some of Wilton's wealthiest homes, though in smaller numbers than in the South.

Not everyone approved - a house on Seeley Road was a stop on the Underground Railroad.

Connecticut began gradual abolition in 1784, but in Wilton and elsewhere, slavery lingered for decades.

What sets Wilton's history apart is how violent the battle over slavery became. In 1838, anti-abolitionists set off two bombs - one at the Georgetown Baptist Church and the other on Pimpewaug Road.

Connecticut outlawed slavery 10 years later - more than a decade before the Civil War.