In 1646, Roger Ludlow had the task of establishing laws for Connecticut. It wasn’t an easy job, but after four hard years he produced the Code of 1650. Sometimes called Ludlow’s Code, it addressed all manner of evils up to and including shuffleboard.
Ludlow belonged to the stauncher group of Puritans who left England during the Great Migration. Arriving in America in 1630, he first lived in Dorchester in Massachusetts before moving to Windsor, Conn. Later he moved to Fairfield, which he founded.
The Hazard Room, a 1792 painting by Thomas Rowlandson.
Roger Ludlow
Ludlow, an Oxford-educated lawyer, had some success in politics – serving as deputy governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and lieutenant governor of Connecticut. But his main contribution to the settlement of New England was his codification of laws for Connecticut. He also co-authored the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, the first constitution in America.
Ludlow’s Code proceeded alphabetically from “Ability” to “Wrecks at Sea,” and it covers the typical crimes. Capital offenses included murder, perjury, witchcraft and smiting one’s parents. Burglars were to be branded with the letter “B” and so forth.
Ludlow didn’t stop with major crimes. His code outlawed swearing, heresy, idleness and stubbornness. And he also singled out shuffleboard for elimination.
Monument to Roger Ludlow in East Norwalk
Shuffleboard
Outlawing shuffleboard was not that unusual considering the Puritan’s general orientation and the nature of the game in Britain. Europeans had enjoyed playing it for at least 500 years. In England, it went by names like shove halfpenny and earlier shove groat.
The basics of the game were similar to today’s shuffleboard. People slid a disk down a board and got points based on where it stopped. It was played in public houses in England and was a time-waster that was generally harmless – except when disputes arose between players or large wagers resulted in hard feelings. The Puritans, who opposed most sports played with a ball, had little use for it.
King Henry VIII played at shuffleboard and outlawed it for commoners in England during his reign. There’s little doubt that the Puritans had no use for the people who pursued it. Some tavernkeepers kept the shuffleboard hidden and secret from any strangers, only brought out for trusted regulars.
Aftermath
Arthur Miller in his play about the 1692 Salem witch trials, The Crucible, notes that Bridget Bishop’s tavern had shuffleboard. That hints at the prejudice the residents of Salem would have held against her.
In the long run, of course, shuffleboard prevailed – morphing into various forms and enjoying popular revivals during the Roaring 20s and the 1950s. Even today shuffleboard can be found in its table and floor varieties.
Purchase of Norwalk, a WPA mural by Harry Townsend, in Norwalk City Hall.
As for Roger Ludlow, the publication of his code represented the high-water mark for his career in New England. He did purchase the land that became Norwalk, but he had also gotten involved in various property disputes.
His troubles included a conviction by a court for slandering a woman he had declared a witch. Ludlow left Connecticut to settle briefly with his brother in Virginia in 1654 and then travelled to Ireland. There he won an appointment to a post of magistrate. He did not return to America and died in the 1660s – well before Connecticut became the gaming and gambling capital of New England.
This story was updated in 2022.
