USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > New Canaan > Landmarks of New Canaan > Part 36
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The New Canaan Messenger, which was first
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published in 1877, often had items concerning the Birdsall House. Franklin Stevens, son-in- law of Mr. Birdsall, took over the management in 1877 and the Messenger frequently men- tioned his success in this, and of his "elegantly equipped stables, with carriages, carryalls, and finely bred horses ready for the finest occasions and worthy of patronage." In its issue of June 16, 1877, we find the first advertisement of "The Birdsall House Stables, Franklin Stevens, Pro- prietor."
The winters were much colder in those days, with plenty of snow, so that sleighing parties were frequent, and the Messenger reminded its readers to "remember the Birdsall House, which has the coziest dancing rooms in the state." The statement was later borne out by the fact that a dancing school was conducted, in the grand ballroom on the top floor, by a Prof. Newell and a Mrs. Teasedale.
Later Mr. Stevens leased a place on Railroad Avenue (now Elm Street), opposite the pres- ent Breslow Brothers store, where he and his sons carried on a livery and boarding stable.
On the site of the Breslow Brothers store, but about 50 feet back from the strcet, stood an old barn with large doors opening on the front and rear, providing easy access from the stable to the Birdsall House property, and also furnish- ing considerable storage space for carriages and sleighs.
With the advent of the automobile the livery business gave way to taxi service and the busi- ness was moved to a garage opposite South Avenue, now the site of the Murphy store.
The Messenger in 1883 speaks of the grow- ing interest of the New Yorkers in coming to New Canaan during the "heated term" and carried a paragraph in the first column of the editorial page extolling the town. Its popula- tion was then 3,000; there were "40 places of business on Main Strect, and four churches, and it lies in an elevated and healthy situa- tion."
The railroad, which had come to New Ca- naan in 1868, made it very convenient for drum- mers to stop off on their way to Boston, so that certain ones could be expected to be guests of the Birdsall House at regular dates. One would
recommend the place to another so that its rooms were usually filled. The good board and rooms at very reasonable rates, added to the convenience of the Stevens livery, which en- abled the drummers to go to towns in this area, kept the personnel of the hotel decidedly busy.
On September 23, 1884, Mr. Birdsall sold the property to Mrs. Laura J. Crosby of Brewster, N. Y., for $12,000, reserving a right of way "from Main Street to and from the rear of my lot, on the north side of these premises 108 feet deep for wagons and carriages, during the term of my natural life."
Mrs. Crosby evidently did not make a suc- cess of her venture for on March 11, 1887, she quit claimed the property to Thomas J. Fairty, administrator of the estate of Mr. Birdsall, who had died on August 9, 1886.
The death of Mr. Birdsall was a shock to the community. The Messenger, in its obituary no- tice, mentioned his "splendid contribution to the spirit and life of New Canaan, his sincere interest in its people, and the many kindnesses shown to individuals by him.
"He had spent the last 12 years of his life continuously in New Canaan and while he was known to have been ill, it was not realized how serious his ailment was because of his unfailing cheerfulness and keen enjoyment of life."
The hotel to which he had given so much thought carried on as he would have had it, and when the writer (Mrs. Rockwell) first came to New Canaan in 1893 it was under the very capable management of Mrs. Birdsall.
An advertisement in the New York Press, offering good, wholesome, home-cooked food, fresh vegetables and fruit, and attractive, cool rooms at the rate of $5 and $6 per week, soun- ded almost too good to be truc cven in those days; but it was true, so true that many of us who met for the first time that summer, re- turned year after year to enjoy the delicious food, airy rooms and homelike atmosphere.
Mrs. Birdsall died on January 19, 1907, and the hotel was carried on by Mr. and Mrs. R. B. Morse (Mrs. Birdsall's granddaughter) for a number of years when it was leased to Mr. and Mrs. William Crane who ran it for several years until it was taken over by Mr. and Mrs.
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A. M. Doremus (Mr. Doremus had formerly been associated with E. A. Burdett in a dry goods and furnishings business on Main Street ) who continued the business for several years more, it being taken back eventually by Mr. and Mrs. Morse, who after a few more years converted the building into apartments which have been eagerly sought for and fully oc- cupied until today.
The recent purchase of the property by the town of New Canaan, and the proposed re- moval of this old landmark as part of the pro- gram for improving the traffic situation will undoubtedly fill many of us with conflicting emotions-regret at the passing of one of the few remaining mementoes of the early days of
New Canaan, and satisfaction in the thought that we live in a progressive community where sentiment must give place to the safety and convenience of the many.
The co-authors of this story, one of whom writes from the viewpoint of a "summer board- er" who became a lover and a resident of New Canaan, and the other from the lifelong recol- lections of the seventh generation of native sons, crave the indulgence of the reader for the omission, for lack of space, of many delightful anecdotes and human interest stories with which the history of the Birdsall House is re- plete, and hope that at some future time they may be collected and told.
THE AMOS PENNOYER- GOODWILLIE HOUSE
WILLIAM A. THOMPSON, Author
MELBOURNE BRINDLE, Artist
[November 17, 1949]
It would be interesting to know what Samuel Weed said to Amos Pennoyer that day in 1743 when the latter bought from him the land on West Road where the Stuart Goodwillie house now stands. Was Samuel a persuasive sales- man or did Amos just want the land because that gentle knoll, framing the rolling country to the west and the gorgeous sunsets that gilded it, was an ideal building spot?
Perhaps it was in the early spring when things were greening and the robins gave the world fresh hope. Maybe the two talked it over, leaning against a stone wall, warily avoiding the resurgent poison ivy that even in those days was the pestilent boutonniere of Connecticut. Perchance there was a mug of cider involved, because so many good things were inspired by the apple, including the might and the industry
that piled the boulders we now use for fences.
We can only guess about the details of the transaction, but it is reasonably sure that one of the parties being certain the other had said his last word as to the price, lifted his cocked hat, pushed back his wig, wiped his moist brow with a large kerchief and remarked "It's a deal," or whatever words were most appropriate in 1743 to close a real estate sale.
The Amos Pennoyer house, in its original form, was a square, frame dwelling of the type common to the Connecticut countryside. It was built around an ample chimney, with fireplaces on all floors including the basement where there were ovens for baking and facilities for smoking meats. Antiquarians would class it as a "manor" or "mansion" house, rather than a "farm" dwelling.
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That Amos was a man of taste who liked his comforts is attested by the large number of fireplaces, the quality of the floor boards that still survive and the fact that he set his house under the welcome shade of a plane or syca- more tree whose ancient, giant limbs still spread over the Goodwillie home. Driven deep in the tree and almost covered by the bark, is a massive, hand-wrought iron hook from which, unless this reporter's ignorance mis- leads him, a hammock must have been swung, suggesting again that Amos knew the value of repose and leisure, despite his busy life.
The Pennoyers were a powerful and numer- ous Connecticut family, as everyone in these parts knows. The first Pennoyer in Connecticut was Robert, who was born in England in 1614. He was kin of William Pennoyer of London, who distinguished himself by giving money for scholarships to Harvard, although it should be said in justice to his memory that neither Yale nor Princeton was in existence at that time. Robert was evidently a frisky young man who got about a bit. We have it from the Rev. E. B. Huntington, in his "History of Stamford," who says that "according to Savage," Robert Pen- noyer was sentenced to be whipped in 1639 when he was 25 years old. There is also a record of a complaint lodged against him in 1648 for "drinking wine and becoming noisy and turbu- lent and abusing the watchman."
Details of these robust episodes are unfor- tunately not available, but it seems youth and exuberance raised problems even in the best of families then as they still do. However, in 1676, William, one of Robert's stalwart sons, was among those to whom Stamford awarded land for house lots, in recognition of their valor in fighting against the ever troublesome and vicious "Enjins," as the recorder of the episode chose to spell Indians.
Amos Pennoyer's early days as a homestead- er on West Road-or, Perambulation Line, as it was then known-were marked by various stirring events in history. The French and the English were at each other's throats as the un- finished business on the national agenda and the Indians kept the Colonists worried and fighting for their lives.
It was in 1744 that France formally declared war on England and that English settlers be- gan moving into the Ohio Valley to push the French around at every opportunity and keep up the fracas in the New World. But the French were full of fight and that same year they left the happy valleys of Cape Breton to wipe out the town of Canso in Maine. It was in this war-known as King George's-that William Pepperell took the great fortress of Louisburg.
Then in 1746 we hear of a thousand Con- necticut fighting men enlisting to join the ex- pedition against Quebec. If Amos was a sub- scriber to the Boston News Letter, a pioneer Colonial newspaper, he probably read some of this stirring news evenings by candle light.
And it was just a year before Amos set up his new home that Mr. Hoyle published his "Rules of Whist" in England, thereby laying the foun- dation for many future arguments among bridge experts and even encouraging contro- versy among people who felt they had solved the riddle of stud poker.
While this is not intimately related to the story in hand, the writer heard a poker player once say that Mr. Hoyle was the author of the following definition of the great Amreican pas- time: "The object of the game is to acquire and to retain as many of the counters called chips as possible." This might well have been said by Calvin Coolidge on Boston Common.
If you read the new and highly entertaining "Stonington Chronology" by William Haynes, you will find that in 1743 a man named Increase Billings fulfilled the promise of his name by winning an election as selectman of Stoning- ton only to decrease perceptibly in 1744 when he was defeated at the polls.
It was just a year or so after Amos Pennoyer bought his land from Samuel Weed that the latter sold to Samuel Pennoyer, a brother, ten acres and a house. This land is said to have adjoined Amos', being west of West Road and north of Greenley. Your correspondent is not able from records he has seen to fix the exact location of the house in question, but he ven- tures the guess that it was the one that stood north of the brook on the present H. V. B. Smith place and which was burned in the late
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HellerANE Brinicle
The Amos Pennoyer-Goodwillie House
1780s. Certainly the "Visitation List" of the Rev. William Drummond, who spent much of his time calling upon his parishioners, notes a house belonging to Samuel in that sector in 1772 and a logical conclusion may be that about 1790 the latter or his son built the origi- nal structure of the Smith dwelling to replace what was lost by fire.
Through Mr. Drummond's "Visitation List" which he kept in the form of a diary, you may get an intimate glimpse of the Pennoyer's neighbors. Here was a hard-working preacher, indeed, as witness these entries of the visits he paid in a single day, January 14, 1773, to parish- ioners who lived west of the "turtle-back" known as Canaan Ridge and in the upper part of Weed Street and Greenley Road:
"Charles Weed, Sen'r, Elizabeth his wife; Han- nah, Charles, Enos, children.
"Hezekiah Weed, Phebe his wife; Hezekiah, a child; James Reed, an apprentice.
"Sylvanus Hait, Sen'r (this name was spelled Hoyt and Haight, as well), Elizabeth, his wife; Hannah, Lisie, Sylvanus, Sarah, children.
"Widow Rhoda Weed, Anne, her daughter; Samuel Baker, doctor.
"Amos Pennoyer, Sarah, his wife, David, Sarah, Mary, John, children.
"Daniel Chittester (spelled also Chichester), Rachael, his wife; widow Abagain Chittester, his mother, all in Communion.
"Samuel Pennoyer, Sen'r, Martha, his wife; Sam- uel, Abagail, Abraham, Hannah, William, Rhoda; Susanna, wife to Isaac, his son, and a child un- baptised.
"Martin Kellogg, Mercy, his wife; Martin, Mercy, Zadok, Mary, children; Eleazar and Love Bene- dicts, residenters; Phillis, a niger young wench."
A brother of Samuel, jr., was Gould Selleck Pennoyer, whose wife, Sarah, was the heroine of an inspiring episode touching the burning of homes by British soldiers in the Brookside Road section of Darien where she lived with her family. This was during the early days of the Revolution.
As related in a most interesting article by Mrs. Gerald I. Cutler, the story goes that the Redcoats fired the Pennoyer roof and that
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Sarah, with a six-months old baby in her arms, filled a pail with water, climbed aloft and put out the blaze without even mussing baby's hair. Thrice the fire was applied to the shingles and each time the undaunted woman drowned it. Finally, the British officer in charge, like Stonewall Jackson under the influence of Bar- bara Fritchie, felt the stirring of a nobler na- ture and called off his arson squad. It may com- fort New Canaan housewives to be reminded that housekeeping was an exacting problem even in those times.
The record says that in 1809 Amos Pennoyer turned over his house to his son Nathan, re- serving the right to dwell there with his wife as long as they should live and stipulating that his daughter, Sarah, be welcome also to re- main until she married. One wonders if this particular Amos was the original purchaser or a son. Even though Amos may have been a very young man when he built in 1743, he must have been a very old gentleman if he was still about when Nathan took over. But there were giants in those days.
Anyhow, Nathan lived until 1850. He died without making a will and "an heir and a credi- tor of said deceased," says the record, objected to the appointment of the widow, Betsy, as ad- ministrator of the estate. So the court chose Nehemiah E. Weed of New Canaan, to fill that job and an agreement by the widow and four heirs resulted, whereby the son, Amzi, and his mother divided the house between them, 50-50 north and south.
This procedure was not uncommon then, but the meticulous care shown in setting the rights of the parties concerned upon the record beau- tifully illustrates the traditional habit of the legal profession to take no chances.
It is highly probable that Betsy and her son were in agreement on most things, except, per- haps when to have pie and when pancakes for breakfast, but the attorneys wrote it out with their quill pens that mother was to enjoy the right "to pass and repass through the front door
and from the shed to the well" which she could "use half the time." She, they said, was to take the south half of the cellar and the east half of the barn.
As for Amzi, he could if he chose go through the kitchen from his half of the house to his mother's half, could "pass and repass up and down the chamber and garret stairs." He got the wagon house in the deal, while Betsy drew the fowl house-probably a mixed blessing for her, since it meant feeding the chickens.
Just how Amzi's estate got back the house in one piece was not discovered in the writer's in- quiry. In the placing of a mortgage that is recorded "one third of one half" of the house was pledged, showing that some of the heirs maintained the division for some time. But upon Amzi's death, his widow, Sarah Ann Pen- noyer, took over the property and held it until 1913, when it was acquired by the late Francis Green whose estate sold it in 1936 to Mrs. Helene Russ Warren.
Mrs. Warren modernized and remodelled the house, adding greatly to its size. She also landscaped the grounds, so that the "Pennoyer House" is one of the most inviting and striking Colonial homes that arrest the attention of all who travel West Road.
It was in 1940 that Mr. and Mrs. Goodwillie bought the place and they live there today with their son, David Henderson Goodwillie. Com- ing from Cleveland in 1939 to New Canaan, they lived first on Valley Road. Mrs. Good- willie was Julia Vogt, of Montclair, N. J. Mr. Goodwillie, also a New Jerseyite, was born in Glen Ridge, and is an executive with the Syl- vania Electric Co.
It is a happy coincidence that another giant plane tree shelters the H. V. B. Smith house op- posite Greenley Road, planted there perhaps by Samuel Pennoyer, jr., who remembered how serenely his Uncle Amos' place stood in the shadow of a mighty sycamore. The Pen- noyers loved their homes and their countryside and their neighbors held them in high esteem.
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PHOTOGRAPH BY COURTESY OF HOUSE & GARDEN
THE GLASS HOUSE
BETTY F. GEERLINGS, Author [November 22, 1949]
Writing an article for the Landmarks series concerning a house whose past is nearly alto- gether in the future presents its problems. Philip C. Johnson's house on Ponus Ridge con- founds the New England eye. It dictates a new way of living. It predicates a way of thinking unfamiliar to the majority of the citizens. It conjures a dream out of a nebulous time-to- come and places it in fixed (if transparent ) form on a solid Connecticut hillside. Where
then should an humble historical researcher begin?
The answer to that, obviously, is-with the land. So at the risk of repeating what more eru- dite scholars know in much greater and more fascinating detail, it is back to 1692 that one must turn.
In that year Jonas Weed, an affluent subject of the King, finding himself in disagreement with the Church of England, joined the first
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large expedition to America ("thirty sails") under the newly-formed New England Com- pany, and landed at Charlestown. In this sim- ple statement one can find two sure indications of his character-he was a man of strong con- victions and of courageous ambitions.
Records reaffirm these qualities of his, for very soon after landing and settling in Charles- town it is noted that the town became distaste- ful to Mr. Weed-more ships brought new people "causing congestion," and new people brought new church dissensions. So Mr. Weed and his family headed for the Connecticut River Valley where settlers were forming the three river towns of Hartford, Windsor and Wethersfield.
At Wethersfield Jonas built on what must have been most desirable property by both past and present standards. A beautiful, broad bend of river flowed below his home, and be- hind stretched his Great Meadow, easily tilled and fertile, a spot on which an intrepid colo- nist might well be expected to relax his intre- pidity and enjoy life-within righteous limits, of course.
But relaxation was not for Mr. Weed. Again church dissensions arose-one wonders if per- haps the inability to relax was not at the bot- tom of these troubles-and the Rev. Mr. Dav- enport from the New Haven Colony was called in to arbitrate. Through his agent he purchased the land of Stamford from the Indians (on these deeds appears the mark of Ponus, saga- more of the Toquams ) and on a Sunday in 1640 the congregation of Wethersfield formally di- vided. One group went out one door to its homes, and the smaller group went out the other door and on into the wilderness of Stam- ford, part of which was to be Canaan Parish. Jonas Weed, progenitor of all New Canaan Weeds, was of this latter group. And it was his descendants who first took possession of the land on Ponus Street whereon the Glass House now stands.
To the best of all existing knowledge dealing with this site of Mr. Johnson's, neither Mr. Weed nor anyone else ever built on that por- tion of his large properties. This makes it a particularly suitable bit of land on which to
find a home of unique conception and unpre- cedented design.
And a further nicety in the machinations of Fate is the parallel that can be drawn between the pioneering characteristics of its first and its present owner. These are the two most in- teresting observations to be drawn from re- search into the history of the property.
After the initial astonishment natural to most of the populace seeing their first completely transparent home, certain solid qualities in the planning can be sensed. The cultivated grass area plainly defines the living space. Within this area the rectangle of the opaque brick guest house contrasts with the larger airy rec- tangle of the main house beyond.
A balanced composition in the placement of these two buildings is to be provided by a piece of sculpture which is not yet installed, but whose position will be marked by a sanded base. The position of the large circular chimney which seems to peg down and anchor the deli- cate substance of the main house, is off-center and near the facade which faces the road, thus giving the bedroom, living and dining areas an uninterrupted sweep over and beyond the val- ley. All this is apparent from the outside.
From the top of the property at the entrance to the drive, the happy location of the house itself is also apparent. An initial gentle slope down from the road flattens out to provide a plateau into which the house is settled with an air of belonging just there. Beyond the house and on either side the level drops abruptly, the grass-planted area stops, and casual woodland takes over. Thus a natural semi-circle of large trees forms a spreading mass of branches above and behind the strong horizontals of founda- tions and roof, and between the pattern of their trunks can be seen the wide stretch of the Rip- powam Valley and High Ridge backed by Long Ridge.
This is a lovely location with a truly magnifi- cent view, and the most casual beholder must feel his imagination stirred by the thought of living with it in the intimate proximity afforded by glass walls. Radiant heating coils in floor and ceiling provide an all-over warmth to bal- ance the large glass areas. Great panels open
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to the outdoors so in summer there is a mini- mum of transition in temperature between in- doors and out.
Sliding screens of natural pandamus cloth hung from ceiling tracks provide textured shade and privacy when and where needed. In short, the dwellers in the Glass House can live literally with nature, and to whatever degree it pleases them-whether as suburban commuter or, at the other extreme, as (pampered) dryad.
In writing for the Landmarks series one has a dimly desperate feeling of recording for pos- terity. Mr. Johnson's house has been written up and photographed in two great national magazines, "Life," and "House and Garden" so that inhabitants of California should be nearly as well informed concerning it as its Connec- ticut neighbors.
For the record, however, here are the salient facts-the house is a glass-walled room, 56'x32'x 10'6" high, containing living, dining, sleeping and kitchen areas. The latter are separated from the living and dining areas by storage cabinets. A brick cylinder, 10' in diameter con- tains the chimney and bathroom. The living area at night is illuminated by candles, con- cealed spotlights ... and indirectly by spot- lights on the roof which light the surrounding trees.
The owner's personal requirements would of course make it unsuitable for a typical Ameri- can family. One would need to lead a bachelor existence as does Mr. Johnson, in order to live without doors to shut on members of one's family. One would need to own a large piece of land as does Mr. Johnson, to be sufficiently insulated from the neighbors' view. One would need an immense and highly sophisticated wis- dom to eliminate so much yet keep the re- mainder adequate for modern living and aes- thetically satisfying-and that is certainly of all the qualifications-the most rare. "House and Garden" fits the house to its owner-archi- tect most illuminatingly in its October, 1949 issue, as follows:
"Philip Johnson is a man who combines warmth and sensitivity with a restless intellect, impatient of bromides. His interest in architecture being
scholarly as well as creative he feels no compunc- tion about looking backward for inspiration. Thus his house, despite its originality, conveys a sense of historic continuity.
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