In Ridgefield, Connecticut, a cannonball remains lodged in the side of an old tavern. It dates from the Revolutionary War, when British soldiers fired cannon during the Battle of Ridgefield, fought here on Main Street. The earlier history of the town goes back another seven decades to 1708, when two dozen settlers from Norwalk arrived to purchase the hilly land from the Ramapoo Indians. The founders and their families carved Ridgefield from the wilderness. They laid it out on three forested ridges, running north to south. They dug up stones to clear the soil for farming, and they built walls...