Darien History

Why “Darien?” It’s Been a Long Trip…Are We There Yet?

We all know how the conversation goes;  it’s always pretty much the same, and it always ends up in the air. “Why,” it begins, “did Thaddeus Bell choose ‘Darien’ as the name for our newly-chartered town?” ‘Darien’ was an old name for Panama, and this town joined Stamford and Norwalk just as Panama—Darien– joined North and South America.   It always seems to start with that suggestion,  and then go downhill from there.