 It was here that, in 1636, the first English colonists founded the settlement of Hartford and laid out house lots in the South Plantation.The area was the site of The Charter Oak, an unusually old white oak tree in which, according to legend, colonists hid the Connecticut Royal Charter of 1662 to protect it from confiscation by an English governor-general.Thus the grand, stately tree came to symbolize the power of nature as a defender of freedom throughout Connecticut.