 The town was chartered on July 17, 1761, by a New Hampshire Grant and named "Bernard" after the second-listed grantee of the town (with five others), Sir Francis Bernard, 1st Baronet, and since 1760 Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.The town's name was changed to Barnard some time before 1810.In 1928, Nobel Prize-winning novelist Sinclair Lewis bought Connett Place with a total and adjacent Chase Farm.