USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > New Canaan > Landmarks of New Canaan > Part 29
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The Thomson family consists of William A. and Barbara Buxton Thomson, their daughter Barbara Lee, wife of Carroll W. Laird, now living in New York and their son William Page Thomson. Mrs. Thomson was born in Superior, Wis., daughter of Edward Timothy Buxton and Lucinda Lee Buxton. Mr. Thomson is a native of Lancaster, Pa.
WATCH TOWERS OF YE NOROTON VALLEY
EUGENIE E. CARVER, Author
EDWIN EBERMAN, Artist
[January 6, 1949]
We set out in the early afternoon to find the cliffs. I was fortunate in having Stephen B. Hoyt as my escort. It was just the kind of quiet, tawny October day to follow a trail through the woods and into the past.
We turned west off Weed Street where a gate and a little roadway leads to Russell's Pond, as it is known in this neighborhood. H. T. White has recently bought the property, but I think the pond will stubbornly remain Russell's Pond for some years to come. We cut into a field at the left and followed it along where it skirts a sudden rise of ground, stopping to talk as we went and setting the scene of an earlier day.
"This plain that ends here so abruptly stretches from here to the Sound," Mr. Hoyt said. "In the old land records it is referred to
as Ye Great Plain, or Shittim Plain and the cliffs are referred to as Ye Clefts or Cleffs."
Shittim, I was told, meant locust. Solomon's Temple was built in part of Shittim. The Great Plain, in those early days, is said to have been covered with locust trees. The village of Springdale, in the region about the railroad station, as recently as 50 years ago was thick with a pink flowering bush locust of excep- tional beauty.
After we had gone about two hundred yards we ducked under a wire fence and started up the hill. The musty fragrance of other years rose about us as we climbed ahead through beds of leaves.
New Canaan was part of a piece of land over a hundred square miles in size that was bought from the Indians by Roger Ludlow,
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Watch Towers of Ye Noroton Valley
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Captain Patrick and Nathaniel Turner for the usual assortment of hardware. These men re- sold their interests to groups of settlers. Until the latter part of the 18th century all of the land in the western side of town was owned by a small number of families living in Stam- ford. They were the Proprietors of the Com- mon land. The Proprietors settled near the shore, where living was easier, and led a highly socialized existence. As time passed and new settlers arrived they were at length allowed to draw lots for a parcel of ground, the number of acres depending on the size of a man's estate. Thus the cliffs, as witnessed in old deeds, were in reality a landmark. The Noroton River, ris- ing from the lake on the Taggart's property and crossing Greenley, Wahackme and Frog- town roads, was another important boundary: "North or South by Ye Clefts, East or West by Noroton River."
The first proprietors to "pitch" upon the lands in "Ye Gret or Shittim Plains near ye clefts" were Slawsons, Stevens, Seelys, Bells, Waterburys, Weeds and the ubiquitous Rev. John Davenport, who eventually acquired by proprietary grant all the land on the Stamford side of Canaan Parish not otherwise owned.
These grants are very difficult to define as to their bounds which were usually marked by initialed tree trunks. We know that the Weeds, beginning quite properly with the patriarch Abraham, finally consolidated their great hold- ings to include "Ye Clefts" and continued to own them down to the quite recent past. In fact, if one proceeds in a woodland ramble north along the crest of the ridge, strange ex- cavations here and there claim attention and awaken curiosity as to their purpose.
These are the famous "Gold Mines" where several generations of Weeds delved into the granite only to find their dreams of wealth were in vain. At the foot of the upper end of the ridge on the edge of the little Noroton Valley, lies the "Old Fort" of Stephen Weed. Here poor, visionary Stephen, lately returned from his im- prisonment in the Old Sugar House during the Revolutionary War, kept faithful watch over the valley farms against the British Fleet, which he feared might sail up the river.
We went ahead up a rather gentle slope for about twenty minutes. The trees more or less obscured the view ahead and my eyes were busy watching out for brambles underfoot. So it came as a surprise to find we were on top of the cliffs. I have not seen the like in New Ca- naan. They stretch for about a city block-a great, massive gray, granite ridge with a sheer drop below to the west. Here and there they are split with deep cleavage lines. The ground below is littered with stones and small boulders that have been plucked off the side of the cliff. In their haphazard landing they have in one instance formed a rather snug little shelter and on one side a wall of stone has been added to make it more weatherproof. Traditionally, this was one of the Leather Man's haunts. It has acquired the name of "Leather Man's Cave."
The Leather Man first made his appearance some time around 1860. A man with a dark stubble of beard and a clumsy outfit made wholly of leather patches bound together with thongs knocked at the door of a Connecticut home. What he wanted was something to eat. This he indicated by pointing to his mouth for it was not his habit to speak. He was a rough and swarthy looking individual, not at all cal- culated to inspire confidence in a housewife's heart.
His hat, also made of leather with a heavy visor across the front, was pulled well down over his eyes. He carried a large leather bag slung across his shoulder and a heavy staff. Ac- cording to the report of those who handled his clothes after he died, he needed the staff. It was said that his clothes weighed 60 pounds! For upwards of 25 years he walked a syste- matic and solitary course across southeastern New York state and southern Connecticut, ap- pearing at regular intervals at the same houses for food, and occasionally accepting tobacco or a piece of discarded leather.
His journey was made for the most part by unfrequented woodland trails and his nights were spent in a series of caves or shelters that lay along his route. He was found dead in a hut in Briarcliff in 1889. Legend and reality made him as mysterious as a character in a fairy tale and what was generally known about him in
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his later years has served to deepen the ro- mance.
He was at length conceded to be Jules Bour- glay formerly of Lyons, France. There he fell in love with the daughter of a leather merchant named Laron who objected to the alliance. At length, Monsieur Laron agreed to take Jules into the business so that he might prove his worth. Shortly after this Monsieur Laron's business failed, because of a mistake on Jules' part. The consequent tragedy of separation from his beloved is supposed to have unhinged his mind. Several years later he moved to this country and started his wanderings "clad in the substance of his ruin." Truly the little cave seemed a grim and lonely spot for him to be nursing his broken heart with the somber cliffs towering relentlessly behind him.
The cliffs are made up of ribs of granite ledges. The rock foundation is Post Cambrian. Now and again in the rock's surface a vein of quartz will show itself. It was quartz that the Connecticut Indians used for arrow heads. In the field just east of where we were there have been dozens of arrow heads found. It was easy to imagine Indians from the high eminence shooting at grazing herds of deer below. Spring ploughing turns up arrow heads and the sun glitters on the quartz tips. "But my best one,"
said Mr. Hoyt, "I found in a pile of earth as I was potting carnations."
We stood on top of the last cliff for quite a while. He spoke of what an adventurous place the cliffs were in his youth. The first really warm spring day and the word would pass around school: "The cliffs! Let's go to the cliffs!" We thought of the games of Indians, the daring climbs up the face of the cliffs and felt quite content to be three feet back from where those bold young legs had scrambled.
Turning to go, we came on a dozen or more enormous, fallen tree trunks. They were gray with age, but quite sound. From the ground by the broken root of the largest, a hopeful four- foot sapling spread yellow leaves.
"There hasn't been a mature chestnut tree in Connecticut for over forty years," Mr. Hoyt said, "and once perhaps sixty per cent of our forest trees were chestnut. Their long creamy blossoms, fragrant as grapes-how lovely they were! And every fall we used to gather bushels of chestnuts, bushels of them!"
The little sapling will not grow to maturity. It is tragic that we can do nothing to help their struggle to acquire immunity from the dis- ease. Its ancestors lie prostrate below the old and dimly remembered boundary of 'Ye Clefts."
THE MASONIC TEMPLE
THEODORE W. BENEDICT, Author
WALTER RICHARDS, Artist
[January 13, 1949]
The story of the present Masonic Temple, cov- ering a period of three-quarters of a century, is one of hopes and disappointments, of suc- cesses and failures, and of the eventual achievement of an aspiration cherished for more than a hundred years.
Built for use as a Baptist Church and opened for its first service on February 6, 1873, it had a career of vicissitudes and discouragements for its small band of worshippers who, to quote the New Canaan Messenger, "stood manfully by the Church through its trials, but their ef-
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forts have proved unavailing and now (1900) they have been obliged to give up the struggle and have voted to transfer the property to the state organization."
Among the staunch supporters we find the name of Gould S. Weed who lived in White Oak Shade and who was the first elected su- perintendent of the Sunday School which was organized March 13, 1873, with 16 members: The Rev. E. S. Raymond, Mrs. David Defor- est, Mrs. Henderson Selleck, Misses Annie Husted, Hattie E., Carrie and Nellie Gabrielle, Mamie E. Bouton, Minnie Button, Viola Brown, Missie Stewart, Masters Willie Defor- est and Edward Bishop.
Gould Wecd was succeeded by his son, C. B. Weed, for a short time and he was followed by John M. Gabrielle, Francis Hall and John A. Weed. The average enrollment was about 50, never exceeded 80 and the average attendance was about 30.
The first pastor was the Rev. Eben S. Ray- mond, who served from 1875 to 1879, dying in office. He was succecded by the Rev. E. M. Ogden, who resigned in 1883. The next regu- lar pastor was the Rev. W. R. Terry who re- signed in 1885. The church was then without a regular pastor until 1887 when the Rev. E. C. Sage assumed the duty and served a year or more, being followed by the Revs. H. S. Kidd, T. L. Dibble, J. B. Rittgers and H. R. Traver.
We are indebted to Mrs. Thomas Whitney, nee Alice Avery, who served as organist dur- ing the pastorate of the Rev. Rittgers and the Rev. Traver for the names of some of the regu- lar attendants at church services: Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Avery and Miss Nellie Avery, Mrs. Barraclough, Mr. and Mrs. John A. Weed, Mr. and Mrs. John B. Wecd, Mr. and Mrs. Levi Brush, Mr. and Mrs. Loomis Scofield, Miss Emily Weed, C. Banks Weed and family, Mr. and Mrs. George Nichols, Mr. and Mrs. Wil- liam Henry and family, Mr. and Mrs. Erastus Tuttle and family, Miss Minnie Mills and her mother, Mrs. Raymond and Miss Betsey Tuttle.
On December 27, 1900, the property was dceded to "The Connecticut Baptist Conven- tion, a legal corporation organized under the laws of the State of Conn.," and for several
years the church was conducted as a mission under this authority, under the care of the Rev. C. A. Paddock and the Rev. Edward Bell. The property was then purchased by Dr. J. W. McLane who, with a group of public spirited citizens, built an addition as large as the origi- nal building, remodelled the interior and or- ganized a "Young Men's Club" of which the .
Messenger of November 28, 1908 says:
"The old Baptist Church building on North Main Street, which during the summer has been under- going extensive alterations, will hereafter be known as 'The Boys' Club.' The object of this club is to promote social intercourse among its members, maintaining a reading room and gymnasium for them, and to contribute in other ways to their physical, intellectual and moral advancement.
"The management is entrusted to a board of governors composed of H. C. Turner, J. E. Hersam, Nelson Silliman, S. H. Tuttle, E. A. Burdett, Frank Kelley, H. B. Offen and George E. Purdy.
"There is also an advisory board: Charles E. Merrill, F. H. Adriance and Dr. J. W. McLane. The active officers are E. A. Burdett, president; Nelson Silliman, vice president; J. E. Hersam, secretary; H. C. Turner, treasurer, and A. B. Bailey, super- intendent of State Missions, assisted by the Rev. P. S. Evans."
On October 21, 1909, Dr. McLane sold the property to a group comprising Rush Taggart, Payson Merrill, Charles E. Merrill, Neilson Ol- cott and Dickinson W. Richards, who in turn sold it, on September 23, 1913, to the New Ca- naan Reading Room and Circulating Library Corporation.
By this time the Boys' Club had begun to languish and we find in the October 16, 1913 issue for the New Canaan Advertiser an item that the Y.M.C. building has been rented for motion pictures.
The next change of ownership was on Sep- tember 3, 1915, when George T. Smith pur- chased the property and resold it to F. E. Green.
Mr. Smith and S. S. Brinckerhoff had op- erated a motion picture theatre under the name of the Suburban Theatre for some time, but shortly after the acquisition of the property by
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Walter Richards
The Masonic Temple
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Mr. Green they sold their equipment to a New York concern. Mr. Green leased the premises to Samuel Kantor of Norwalk who operated a mo- tion picture theatre in that city.
An interesting clause in this lease, which was dated March 9, 1916, reads: "Also the Lessor agrees that the Lessee shall have the right and privilege of removing the front now in said theatre and to place therein the front formerly used in the Pleasant Hour Theatre in Norwalk."
Mr. Kantor was also associated with Peter Chick and Edward Jones in the operation of a larger theatre in the old Nichols Opera House, on the site where Rosen Brothers store now stands. Soon the Pleasant Hour Theatre was closed as the three partners gave their entire attention to the Opera House project, and once more the old building stood silent and deserted.
One hundred and twenty-three years ago 28 members of the Masonic fraternity, mostly af- filiated with either St. John's Lodge, No. 6, of Norwalk, or Union Lodge, No. 5, of Stamford, petitioned the Grand Lodge of Connecticut to "empower them to assemble as a legal lodge to discharge the duties of Masonry in a regular and constitutional manner according to the an- cient form of the fraternity." These petitioners were: Richard Fayerweather, Horatio Weed, Joseph Watson, Eliphalet Weed, Caleb Bene- dict, Ebenezer Carter, jr., Thaddeus M. Keeler, Hanford Carter, Caleb S. Benedict, John J. Brown, Leander Slauson, Samuel Carter, Sam- uel Carter, jr., Darius St. John, John Seeley, Rufus Richards, Hiram Talmadge, Jacob Reed, John F. Raymond, James Stevens, Sam- uel Raymond, Daniel Bostwick, Anson D. Pen- noyer, Henry Chambers, Isaac Lockwood, Eliot F. Raymond, Enos H. Weed and Stephen Betts.
The charter was granted under date of May 30, 1825, and the lodge was installed on June 22 in the "Meeting House" which stood a trifle to the southeast of the present Congregational Church.
Several meetings were held "on the Monday preceding the full moon" at the home of
Nathan Hanford, which stood on the north side of Brushy Ridge Road at the turn near the top of the hill. Then, on October 10, 1825, the lodge "voted that the committee shall contract with the town to give them not more than $20 a year for 20 years for the upper room in the town house, and the room to be finished within the gallows posts and to have two windows on a side, and arched over head with two rooms at the west end."
This old town house was later converted into a dwelling which for many years served as the Congregational Manse and is now the resi- dence of Dr. George C. Ludlow, on Oenoke Avenue.
In 1859 the lodge moved into the upper part of the Benedict shoe factory, which stood at the corner of Main and Elm streets. This build- ing was destroyed by fire in 1875 and the rec- ords and paraphernalia of the lodge were saved "by the heroic efforts of Justus K. Raymond and Norbert Bossa."
Temporary quarters were secured in the hall of the German Singing Society on Locust Ave- nue, opposite the present firehouse, and later in Good Templars Hall which stood in the rear of the site now occupied by the First National store.
In October of the same year the Benedicts had completed a modern three-story steam- heated building, the top floor of which was de- signed for lodge purposes and Harmony Lodge was quartered there until May 4, 1910, when, the property being sold and the building being converted into apartments, the lodge was again obliged to move, and accommodations were se- cured with the Odd Fellows, in their own building, now the Ferrera Block on Main Street.
During all these shiftings from place to place the desire for a home of their own had been steadily developing into an aspiration in the minds of these Masonic brethren, and the old deserted theatre, with its historic and sacred background presented a most alluring pros- pect, but wherewithal was lacking as the Ma- sonic Order is purely fraternal and has little purpose in accumulating funds in any great amount.
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Undismayed by the difficulties and uncer- tainties of the project a group of 15 members of the lodge: W. H. Bertine, W. H. Barrett, T. W. Benedict, F. W. Ruscoe, Alex McKen- drick, Edward Rutledge, F. S. Dawless, A. J. Webster, W. D. Hoffecker, E. A. Burdett, G. F. Bertine, C. E. Dartt, T. F. Rae, Thomas Tun- ney and E. B. Lawrence, met and organized the Harmony Fellowcraft Club of New Ca- naan, Conn., Inc., underwrote the necessary funds and authorized their president, W. H. Bertine, to purchase the property from F. E. Green.
The deal was closed on January 2, 1917, and "joy was everywhere"-Mr. Green was happy to unload what had become a white elephant; Mr. Kantor was relieved of a long lease on the closed theatre, and the Masons of New Canaan had seen their dream come true.
Remodeling was begun immediately under the supervision of William A. Boring, a mem-
ber of the lodge and an architect of national repute, whose services were rendered gratis; the reconstruction of the front of the building was a gift from L. M. Monroe as a memorial to his father, who was a past master of the lodge; and much of the work on the interior was done by members over weekends and at little cost.
The temple was completed and dedicated to the service of Masonry by the officers of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut on May 23, 1917, with an overflow gathering witnessing the in- spiring ceremony which has come down through a succession of ages in this ancient craft.
It seems quite fitting that this old building, erected to God and dedicated to His service, should become the permanent home of the Ma- sonic Order, whose simple creed is: "The Fatherhood of God, the Brotherhood of Man, and the Immortality of the Soul."
THE BENEDICT-EELS-THATCHER HOUSE
T. A. V. DU FLON, Author
T. A. V. DU FLON, Artist
[January 20, 1949]
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The Benedict house has been the subject of several articles else- where in its relation to the history of New Canaan. In this article T. A. V. Du Flon applies an architect's knowledge to research into the manner in which it was built.)
This old building "reared" for "John Benedick, Jr., Second," upon the Clapboard Hills of Nor- walk before the organization of Canaan Parish is probably the oldest existing framed house in New Canaan. Architecturally it belongs to what has been called the fourth phase in the development of the Connecticut house-that phase in which the added lean-to became an integral part of the original construction. Full
two stories high at the front and "less than one" at the rear, the Benedict house is a fine exam- ple of the "Mansion House" of the period, and at the same time very unusual in parts of its construction.
Erected, circa 1724, by "Deacon John Bene- dick, Jr." as a gift to his son, "John Benedick, Jr., Second," who had but recently wed Dinah Bouton of Norwalk, it still stands on Carter
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Street where for nearly 225 years it has been a mute witness to the peaceful pursuits and the alarums and excursions on the Clapboard Hills.
On February 13, 1722, Samuel Carter of Norwalk had given to his son, Ebenezer, 152 acres of land "lying within the township of Nor- walk, and situated upon and near the Clap- board Hills." From this tract, in 1724, Ebenezer Carter had sold to "Deacon John Benedick, Jr." eight and one half acres, "be the same more or less."
No doubt Deacon John, when he purchased this forest land where the great oaks stood tall and straight, had well in mind the style of house that would be most fitting for the time, the location and the family circumstances. Most likely he had already consulted with his chosen master carpenter. Let us join him as he sits at his table with his plans before him and meditates on the many features and details of the proposed building, and comes to his de- cisions regarding them.
After the fashion of the time it would be a "tall" house and "well finished" like those of his better favored neighbors-or perhaps a mite more ... well, certainly not pretentious. It should face the east, fronting on Clapboard Hill Path that ran north and south along the easterly crown of the ridge.
On the first floor there will be two large rooms, a "parlor," or "best room" (13 ft. by 18 ft. 4 ins.) to the north and a general living room, or "keeping room," of similar size and proportion to the south. Across the back under the lean-to, a kitchen, pantry and the "parlor bedroom."
Between the two main rooms and in front of the chimney stack will be the chimney bay, or stair porch. Calculating generously for the necessary bulk of the stack with its oven and fireplaces the bay will be about six feet by something over ten. This is spacious enough to accommodate stairs of ample width and easy ascent. They will start on the left near the keep- ing room doorway and wind up in front of the stack. At the top a landing, one step down, will make winders unnecessary, if the first floor ceil- ing height be not over seven feet. That, thought
Deacon John, will be high enough to avoid bumping the "summer" accidently, yet not so high that the living quarters can not be made comfortably warm in winter.
Opposite the door to the keeping room an- other door must give into the parlor, and at the front there will be a broad doorway with a glazed transom-possibly with five "bubble glass" lights.
It would pleasure one to have a dignified entrance of classic line and beauty, such as one sees in the better houses of the towns, but would it be fitting here on the Clapboard Hills? In a rustic neighborhood one should not be prideful nor affect formality and, in any case, the stoutness of those doors of six bevelled pan- els in moulded rails and stiles goes not without question. If the panelling is also to show on the inside to adorn the porch, as would be desir- able, the door would be without backing and little over one and one-eighth inch in thickness. However, long "strap-L" hinges of wrought iron would largely prevent sag and warp and add greatly to its strength. Those or the "snake-head" type, put on with red Morocco leather washers under the nail heads, would seem to be just the thing. No reason to think that such an entrance will give an air of inhos- pitable formality.
Probably there will be three rather high slab- stone steps before the entrance, for as there is to be no cellar under the best room nor lean-to, it will be advisable to carry the first floor joists on sills raised well above the ground level.
The cellar, as it would be used principally for the storage of roots and other more delecta- ble products of farm and kitchen, was of great- est importance, but needed not to be large and so would be under the keeping room and porch only. The steps from the outside must be of squared oak logs sawn lengthwise on the di- agonal and pinned to the stringer. No flimsy construction here to shame the massive stone substructure of the chimney stack that must be built deep and broad enough to support the hearth stones and share with the foundations the burden of the ponderous house frame.
The keeping room, the parlor, the keeping room chamber and the kitchen will each have
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The original Benedict house must have looked about like this
its fireplace. As the keeping room will benefit from a southern exposure and the protection of the other rooms against the north wind, the fireplace here need not be large (3 ft. 7 ins. wide; 2 ft. 10 ins. high). This will help con- serve the woodpile and allow for a fireplace in the chamber above, with its chimney-flue on this side of the stack. The best room, being on the north will have a larger fireplace (4 ft. 4 ins. wide; 2 ft. 11 ins. high). Although infre- quently used, this room will have to be made comfortable on special occasions. In the kitchen, last to be considered perhaps, but first as the life-giving heart of the household, a fire- place high and wide with a bricked-in oven at the back. Not only of good dimensions must it be, but also well furnished for the everyday business of life and ( more pleasant to think on ) against those hearty occasions when, with sev- eral generations gathered around the hearth- stones, it will be necessary to roast a sheep, a shoat or a quarter beast.
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