(wĕth'ərzfēld) , town (1990 pop. 25,651), Hartford co., central Conn., on the Connecticut River, adjoining Hartford on the north; settled 1634 by colonists from Watertown, Mass.; inc. 1637. Wethersfield, which is largely residential, produces tools, machinery, and other light manufactures. The oldest permanent English settlement in Connecticut, Wethersfield has preserved many colonial buildings. They include the Joseph Webb House, where Gen. George Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau met secretly in 1781 to coordinate the efforts of French forces with the American army in the American Revolution.