Eastford stands in ancient Nipmuck Indian territory, and the Old Connecticut Path, an Indian trail from Massachusetts later used by early colonists, crossed the region. The families of John and Sarah Perry and of William Ward, Senior, first settled the area in 1710, when it was part of Ashford. Eastford Society was formed as a church parish in 1777, and Eastford was incorporated as a town in 1847 after separating from Ashford, itself a town since 1714. General Nathaniel Lyon, born in the Phoenixville section of town in 1818, was hailed as the savior of Missouri to the Union cause and was the first Northern general killed in the Civil War. The population declined greatly from 1860 to 1900, but more recently new immigrants, mostly from Central Europe, restored many of the old farms. Until early in the 20th century, Eastford was a self-sufficient agricultural community with a wide diversity of small industries, and it still retains much of that character, with extensive areas of farms and woodlands.