USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > New Canaan > Landmarks of New Canaan > Part 21
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In the summer of 1947, Mr. and Mrs. Welles attended the summer school at Oxford Univer- sity in England at the invitation of the Oxford Evacuation Trust Fund, a fund made up of gifts from Oxford parents whose children were sent to American schools during the war. Head- masters and headmistresses of schools which these children attended during the war were invited to this session. Two Oxford children were enrolled in the New Canaan Country School through the war years.
Today the New Canaan Country School is a country day school for boys and girls from the pre-Kindergarten through the Ninth Gradc. A gymnasium, athletic fields, shop, library, art studio, and music rooms round out the scholas- tic program. The lower grades are co-educa- tional, while in the upper grades boys and girls work in separate class groups and have
170
separate sports. They share, however, in many activities. The school is parent owned, and ad- ministered by the headmaster who is elected by the trustees. "The fundamental aim of the
whole program is to help each child build the self-confidence which enables him to relish life in the present and to be prepared to meet fearlessly whatever the future may hold."
o.
KEITH
THE HORSE SHEDS OF ST. MARK'S
THEODORE W. BENEDICT, Author
KEITH WARD, Artist
[February 19, 1948]
In the second chapter of the book of the pro- phet Nahum we read: "The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall jostle one against an-
other in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings." Nahum is rated as one of the minor prophets,
171
and only seventh of the twelve at that, but his ability as a forecaster is brought vividly to life to anyone who attempts to enter or leave the parking space in the rear of St. Mark's Church about the time of the dismissing of the Church School on any Sunday morning.
Roaring motors, grinding gears, rapidly gy- rating steering wheels, and the determined ex- pressions on the faces of fond parents intent on threading the labyrinth, abundantly testify to the sagacity of the seer of Elkosh.
By contrast, the tranquil hospitality of the old horse sheds which shelter the car of the writer and, prior to car days, sheltered his horse and buggy, invites reminiscence.
These ancient sheds have furnished protec- tion from the vicissitudes and inclemencies of the seasons for the best part of a century, hav- ing been erected in the year 1857, as the bill for the materials, now in the possession of the Historical Society shows. They are a relic of a period known only in histories or within the memory of a few, and are destined to go the way of the covered bridge, the well-sweep and many other comforts and luxuries of bygone days.
"There were giants in the earth in those days." Men prayed together and worked to- gether. They wrested their living from the stony New England soil as the ten foot wide stone fences on some of our farms conclusively prove, and had what they had because they worked together.
Cooperation was the order of the times. When a.man began to build a house all the neighbors came to the "raising" and the many hands made light work. Often there was music and dancing, and plenty of good things to eat-and drink.
Consequently we are not astonished to find in the records of St. Mark's Church an account of a group of men working to erect the sturdy sheds which, for many years, were to prevent the cold north winds which swept down over Haines Ridge from chilling to the bone the horses which waited patiently, or sometimes impatiently, while their masters attended di- vine worship.
It is related by the Rt. Rev. Stephen E. Keeler, Bishop of Minnesota, and a former New Canaan boy, in an historical address de- livered in St. Mark's Church in 1934, on the occasion of the Centennial of the Consecra- tion of the present Church building, that on April 7, 1856, it was "Resolved, that Alfred Raymond, S. P. Tuttle, Stephen E. Keeler, S. E. Ogden and others be and hereby are allowed to erect sheds for the better protection of their horses and carriages from the weather while attending Church; said sheds to be placed on the rear of the Church lot and to be used for no other purpose than their ordinary and le- gitimate use-the said Raymond, Tuttle, Kee- ler, Ogden and their associates, their heirs and assigns to have the privilege of renting, selling and otherwise disposing of said sheds subject to the above mentioned conditions and the said Raymond, Tuttle, Keeler, Ogden and their associates are to pay to the treasurer of this society an annual rent for the above privilege of one cent per annum. The above lease to be in force as long as the property is owned by this society and the foregoing conditions are complied with."
The Bishop goes on to say: "The sheds still stand, protecting automobiles rather than horses and it is a grave question whether this is legal in view of 'the specific use' referred to above. In any event I would suggest that if the parish is in financial difficulties that the rent of 'one cent per annum' be collected from the heirs and assignees of the first owners of the horse sheds."
The sheds are approximately 75 feet long and comprise five double and one single stalls, and are built over a solidly constructed frame- work of sturdy timbers (some of which pres- ent mute evidence of the destructive effect of the incisors of impatient "cribbers") beautifully scarf jointed and secured by wooden pins.
The roof boards upon which the shingles are laid are of all sorts of curious shapes, just as they were sawed out of the logs, no attempt having been made to square them up, and some of them vary in width from one foot at one end to more than two feet at the other.
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The following bill for materials and labor was presented to The Historical Society by Mr. F. C. Ogden, a resident of Wilton, and a descendant of Mr. S. E. Ogden who was a brother of the Rev. David Ogden, the first full time Rector of St. Mark's, and to whom the memorial window in the chancel is dedicated.
It is interesting to note the prices of materi- als, the cost of labor (1.00 per day), the old form of spelling (as the word "joice"), and the rates on boards, which are given in shillings, then valued in New England at 12/2c.
The error in the totaling and the possible transposition of figures in the cost of each separate shed we shall have to forgive.
Horse Shed Building
To S. E. Ogden Dr.
A. Raymond
To 98 feet timber 22 21.56
To 4 days work 4.00
To nail etc. .37
25.93
S. P. Tuttle
To 80 feet timber 22 17.60
To 9 days work
9.00
26.60
T. A. Comstock
To 1159 feet roof
boards
9s
13.04
Chas. Comstock
To 102 33/9 feet timber 22
22.64
To Carting
3.50
26.14
T. Davenport
To 20 feet timber 22
4.40
S. Keeler
To 512 days labor 5.50
W. E. Raymond
To 19%2 feet timber 22 4.29
To 494 feet bds. 10s 6.17 10.46
S. Raymond 2d
To 63 Quarter Bch Shingles 10s 78.75
To 1002 feet dress'd Bds 20s 25.05
To 1 joice .13 103.93
Comstock & Co.
To 155% nails
7.28
H. Terrill
To Bill work 59.68
S. E. Ogden
To Cash
Patrick Mein 2.25
To Cash Michail .75
To Cash O'Harrison .50
To Cash
Erastus Tuttle 1.25
To 88 feet Bds 2s 2.10
To 6 Spikes .31
To 1 Lock .25
To Staples
.13
To my own labor & (?) 7.00
To painting fence 5.00
301.31
Deduct for Privy .
6.00
Total Cost of
Horse Sheds
$296.31
Cost of each
Separate Shed
26.9412
Jan. 2, 1857
The horse shed is almost completely effaced from our modern picture. In this section of the country they can be counted on the fingers of one hand and there are unmistakable mur- murings that the Horse Sheds of St. Mark's occupy "room that is more valuable than their company."
For many persons there is a tinge of sadness in the passing out of the old shed and the pa- tient beast who gave his best for the small reward of food and shelter.
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19.54
More than a half century ago it was my job to take care of the family horse and I grew to love him in the doing of it. I had to walk the best part of a mile to school and when I came home for lunch I would give him his three quarts of oats occasionally mixed with a quart of bran-for his health, as he was never ovcr- exercised.
Neddie didn't like bran and sometimes he would give me a disgusted look, thrust his nose down into the mixture, give a sudden "pouff" through his nose, and the bran would fly out of
the manger like the "chaff in the wind." The first time he did it I was caught unaware and I had to get cleaned up from head to foot.
One day I forgot to give him his dinner until I was on the way home at 3:00 p.m. and I shall never forget the look in his beautiful eyes which seemed to say to my guilty conscience "How could you forget to feed me?"
Only a short time ago I reenacted that scene in a dream and awoke with a big lump in my throat and my face wet with tears, but joyful in the consciousness that it was only a dream.
LONE TREE HILL
ELIZABETH P. Mc GHIE, Author
D. PUTNAM BRINLEY, Artist
[February 26, 1948]
Lone Tree Hill is one of the most deeply satis- fying places in all New Canaan to look upon. The hill and the open fields surrounding it have been cut over by man, nibbled over by cows, as long as any one in New Canaan can remember. Because of this, the beautiful con- tours of the earth can be seen. This gives that basic, essential quality loved by all those with a feeling for the land. Land cluttered up with sumac, bushes, weeds-that has "gone back" as the farmers express it-can never give that feeling. Lone Tree Hill looks tillable, used. It looks as though it could support man and beast. It is the kind of land that makes a man aware of his roots-the kind he wants to pass on to his sons.
The following has been taken from the New Canaan Historical Society Annual No. 2. This contains three fascinating maps, and I urge any one who owns land in New Canaan and
has not seen it, to beg, borrow or steal a copy. I quote freely:
"In 1687 Lone Tree Hill was part of the so- called Common Land, and was owned by 31 of the proprietors of Norwalk Colony. This tract of land included all of Norwalk, South Norwalk, Westport, Wilton and the eastern, and major por- tion of New Canaan. Land at that time was of course valuable as the very basis of existence, but not as investment as we know it today. It was so plentiful that everybody could have all they wanted, and most were 'land poor'. So the pro- prietors granted land to all sorts of individuals, such as soldiers of the Indian and Colonial wars, badly needed artisans, etc. But this haphazard method could not last.
"A bitter controversy developed over whether the town meetings had authority over the Common Land or whether it belonged strictly to the original proprietors, their heirs, and assigns. Finally the General Assembly decided the issue in favor of
174
LLOYDS NECK.
MATINICOCK POINT.
5
HUNTINGTON BAY. EATONS NECK. SMITH TOWN BAY.
OYSTER BAY.
OAK NECK
"CRANES NECK. 8 PORT JEFFERSON.
w
HW
.
LONE TREE.
FEB. 13:1948
DI PUTNAM BRINLEY ANA.
Lone Tree Hill
175
the Proprietors. From then on they held separate meetings and began to deal with the division of land in a more regular manner.
"At a meeting in 1706 it was decided to let the land pass from common to private ownership. Lots were drawn to determine the order in which each proprietor could choose the location of his share."
This process of dividing the common land continued for nearly a century, until all land became privately owned. During the first half of the century the movement was very active and naturally this desirable acreage was quick- ly chosen. It became part of the vast holdings of the Benedict and Hoyt families.
There is an ancient road, or driftway, which winds over the hill from Brushy Ridge Road down to Silvermine Road, Mrs. Colbron's house is at the south end, and the John Kel- lam's at the north. Although this remarkable house site has invited for hundreds of years, it has never been proven that any house ever stood upon that road.
The hill and the tree have passed from their colonial owners through the Solomon Lock- woods to the Victor Barnes who still own it. That it has never suffered the onslaught of development is great good fortune, and we are to thank Mrs. Barnes for preserving it in all its peaceful beauty.
Some say that the original Lone Tree has died and been replaced by a new tree. Others indignantly claim that they have been looking at it for 50-60, even 80 years and that it is the same old tree. It is not a large tree, but ap- parently size is not necessarily an indication of the age of a sugar maple. At any rate, all agree that it has been a favorite trysting place for lovers "time out of mind" and it bears many hopefully entwined initials.
Lone Tree Hill used to be seen as a land- mark from all over New Canaan, but so many trees have grown up to obscure the view, that
it can now be seen best only by walking (yes! walking) down Brushy Ridge Road from Ca- noe Hill. Coming to the little stream that runs under the road, one looks up the lovely, un- broken curves, to the crown of the hill against the sky.
From the top there is a very fine view of the whole countryside, and of the Sound and Long Island. On clear days one can see as far east as old Field Point and Crane's Neck which marks the entrance to Port Jefferson Harbor.
To the east is the long and deep indentation of Smithtown Bay and then, more often visible is Eaton's Neck with its sand banks and its whitewashed light-house tower.
Huntington Bay next leads into the small harbors where Northport, Centerport and Huntington furnish safe anchorage for small craft.
West of Huntington Bay is Lloyd's Neck where large sand banks are easily seen on clear days.
Then Oyster Bay leading to Cold Spring Harbor and the town of Oyster Bay. On very clear days Matinicock Point would be farthest west that could be seen.
One more view of Lone Tree Hill worth looking for is that from the Marigold Nurser- ies on Carter Street, for it is unexpectedly different. You look across wooded land to a perfect grassy mound, and to see it from that point in summer is to want to go and sit under Lone Tree and "stop buzzing" for a long time.
But it is perhaps most beautiful on these late afternoons in February when the blue shadows from the stone walls cut horizontally across the great white expanse of open fields, and the special yellow light of winter streams into the sky above the curve of the hilltop.
Go at sunset or sunrise, and do go more than once, for sometimes it looks just like another hill, and at others like a symbol for The Land.
176
gloke tines
MAGAZINES
THE RADIO SI
PARIS
ROWFE IF
PAUWH
NO
PARKING
HERE TO
CORNER
Melloune Brindle
BENEDICT'S SHOE STORE
M. FARMER MURPHY, Author
MELBOURNE BRINDLE, Artist
[March 4, 1948]
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Reprinted from Mr. Murphy's article in the New York Times of June 22, 1924)
At the time when the American colonists were assisting the English in the French and Indian War, before George Washington had any greater fame than that of a subordinate pro- vincial officer, when the population of all the colonies was less than one-third of the present population of New York City, James Benedict, a Connecticut settler, started a shoe factory
on Brushy Ridge at New Canaan. The exact date is not known, but there are ledger entries as far back as 1762. From then until April 26 of this year (1924) that shoe business, in some form or other, has maintained a continuous existence. During these 162 years it has never been out of the Benedict family. It required five generations of them to bridge this ex-
177
tended period which saw seven wars in which America was engaged and marked the entire development of a people from dependent sub- jects to a great and independent nation. It is believed to be the oldest shoe business in America.
The spot where James Benedict began to make shoes by hand is a hill overlooking the Norwalk valley and Long Island Sound. It is now (1924) occupied by the residence of a wealthy New York merchant. From here in the exciting Revolutionary days the Benedicts and their neighbors set off hurriedly with their rifles at the sound of the alarm, dropping their tools on the bench or leaving oxen yoked in the fields to be released later by the women folk. It was from this hill that the diary of an early resident tells of watching the burning of Norwalk which had been fired by the Bri- tish.
James Benedict, who was born in 1743, was succeeded by his son Caleb, born in 1773, who carried on and extended the trade. Caleb's son, Caleb St. John Benedict, born in 1803, then took up the thread but moved down into the village of New Canaan into a house since known as the "Red Onion."
Later he took a partner of the name of Brad- ley. This was dissolved in 1854 and a new firm, Caleb S. Benedict and Co., formed. This final- ly consisted of Caleb, his brother John and his son Junius. About the time of the Civil War the firm became known as J. & J. Benedict, which continued until 1885 when T. W. Bene- dict, son of Caleb S. was taken in. The firm of J. & T. W. Benedict continued until 1893 when it was dissolved "by mutual consent", and the junior partner, T. W. Benedict, opened a retail shoe store on the corner of Main Street and Railroad Avenue, now Elm Street.
When T. W. Benedict died in 1908 his son, T. W. Benedict, Jr., took up on the succession and continued the business as a retail estab- lishment until this spring when he decided reluctantly to end the long family tradition and take up other affairs.
The passing of "Benedict's Shoe Store" is notable as being the end of the oldest shoe
business in America but it is more interesting still in that it marks the extinction of an in- dustry and the removal of the last vestige of a mode of living now known only in histories or existing in the memories of oldest inhabi- tants. Benedict's was only one of several shoe factories in the community and the "cord- wainers of New Canaan" had a fame which extended to the limits of transportation. It is recorded that Caleb Benedict, second of the line, built up a large Southern trade in fine shoes in the early days of the Republic. He also made what were then called "nigger brogans," a rough, heavy shoe fashioned from tan leath- er. Even at that early stage his factory em- ployed from 50 to 60 apprentices and every shoe was made by hand.
New Orleans was a particularly good cus- tomer of New Canaan factories and to this gay city went many of the fine patent leather goods which wholesaled as high as $100 for a dozen pairs. The Civil War cut off all the valuable Southern trade immediately and many firms failed because of it, but contracts for army shoes from the government enabled them to recover. Not alone the far South and the West took the products of this secluded New Eng- land village, but the highest class shops in New York demanded the fine oxfords, slippers and dancing pumps turned out by the Benedicts and others.
Their production made a life that is past and almost forgotten. The manufacturers got their sole leather from the "swamp" in New York but local tanneries furnished much of the soft leather for uppers. Only recently there was found in the attic of a New Canaan house which had once been a tannery an old account book bound in flexible leather and recording prices of pelts bought and leather sold. Before the days of even the first Benedict factory every village did not have its shoemaker and at stated times a travelling shoemaker would come to take orders and measurements for future delivery. In the days of the hand in- dustry which lasted until after the Civil War, for machines for stitching were not developed and perfected until the late sixties, only a
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small part of the work was done in the factory itself. Almost every farm house with which the country was dotted for miles around con- tained a shoemaker's bench, or "ewe" as the slang of the craft had it, and by this means the settlers who wrested with difficulty a liv- ing from the stony ground added to their income. The shoes would be cut and "fitted" in the shop, as the piecing together of the up- pers was called, and every week the farmer- shoemaker would come to the factory and take home a bundle of materials to complete in the evening or on a stormy day. At one time there were as many as 300 who came to New Canaan factories for this kind of piece work. They lived in the hills and valleys round about and as far as Pound Ridge, Ridgefield, Wilton and even farther. Such a thing as pasteboard shoe boxes were unknown and pairs were carefully tied together with string.
The workmen in the factories were called "jers" which was an abbreviation of journey- man. When the machines came in they either continued their trade by their help or drifted into other occupations. Benedict's, who did not care to make any thing but fine hand work found machine competition too much for them and changed to a retail business in 1893, but one of the machine factories kept on until about ten years ago. It occupied an indeter- minately old building on Main Street whose hand hewn timbers of oak were able to support the weight of many machines. Before it was a factory it was a meeting house. It is now deserted and its beautiful early American win- dows and fan lights, whose broken panes show
the accuracy of boyish markmanship, stare sadly as if ruminating on the glories of a sub- stantial and active past.
Shoemaking was not the only industry of those far off days in the village. There were shirt factories and the work was given out in the same manner as in the shoe factories. One aged woman who has died within the past ten years told how she used to walk five miles to town to get shirts to make and five miles to take them back. She would tie the bundle to her shoulders and knit stockings every step of the distance going and coming. She got news of the village and the world the once a week that she went to town. Her grandchildren sit around a radio and listen every evening to voices in Chicago and Havana.
All that old life has departed. Shoemaking, the "gentle craft" whose patrons, St. Crispin and St. Hugh, were of noble, even royal blood, is still practiced only by a few. The descen- dants of these early artisans have either gone to shop keeping or have taken up non-creative occupations. The little farm houses where hands were trained to weave cloth and turn shoes have mostly rotted or been razed to give room for mansions of wealthy city folk.
An honorable craft which gave the village distinction and spread its fame to distant places has been wholly extinguished.
The "closing out of Benedict's" marks not only the ending of a long-lived business and the disappearance of the last trace of a once active industry, but it also signalizes the pass- ing of a social and economic system.
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THE SETH WEED-CHAPMAN- MARTIN HOUSE
ESTHER BRITTAIN GRAVES, Author
LAURENCE LITCHFIELD, JR., Artist [March 11, 1948]
No members of the Weed family are living now in New Canaan on the street which bears their name. There reniain, however, three houses which are designated as Weed homes in deference to this family to whom they orig- inally belonged.
One of the oldest is the Lieutenant Seth Weed house, which is situated on the eastern side of Weed Street between Richmond Hill
and Marshall Ridge Road. Behind the old stone wall, shaded by aging trees, it seems native to the land which has held its roots for more than 200 years. This grey-shingled early Connecticut farmhouse has known few owners through the years. It was not until 1920 that it left the possession of some member of the Weed family. Then it was sold to Mrs. Dillon Brown and Miss Neylon. Three years later,
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in 1923, it was resold to Mrs. A. C. Chapman who retained ownership until 1946 when the house became the property of the present oc- cupants, Mr. and Mrs. LeRoy C. Martin.
So closely is the history of a house bound up in the interests of the owners, it would seem most logical to follow its changes and de- velopment through their hands.
To start with the land: The first settler of the Weed family to come to this country was Jonas Weed who, between 1628 and 1642, migrated from Watertown to Wethersfield, and from there to Stamford Parish. It was his grandson, Abraham Weed, who ventured into Canaan Parish, then the young outgrowth of both Norwalk and Stamford to acquire large holdings of land.
Land was wealth in those early days, to be obtained and cherished. It was the valued in- heritance to pass on from father to son.
By the middle of the 18th century, his great- grandson, the second Abraham Weed, owned about 500 acres between Talmadge Hill north to West Road, all of it being on the Stamford side of the Perambulation Line.
To each of his sons, six in number, Abraham provided land and a home. One of these sons, Enos, was the father of Seth, later Lieutenant Seth Weed, for whom this house was named.
So voluminous are records of the land trans- actions of those early days that it is an almost impossible task to unravel the tangle of in- formation that emerges. One recording can be compared with another, still its identity may remain unsolved in the description of forgotten landmarks.
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