"The Castle: A Cornwall Love Story"

The Cornwall Historical Society is pleased to announce the publication of “The Castle: A Cornwall Love Story” by Jeffrey Jacobson. The book is an adaptation of the lecture presented by Jacobson in 2010 and includes 21 historic and contemporary images of Cornwall’s “Castle” and its first residents.

The Castle is a unique Cornwall landmark, built during the 1920s by NYC socialite Charlotte Bronson Hunnewell Martin. Shortly after purchasing Turtle Bay Gardens, a complex of brownstone townhouses in New York City, Martin began building a unique country retreat for herself and her husband, Dr. Walton Martin, in Cornwall. Dubbed “The Castle” by locals, the 8,412 square foot mansion was completed in 1924 and was used as a summer retreat. Charlotte added a pottery to the estate in 1927, hiring Vincenzo Rondinone to be her resident artist. Rondinone's Narrow Valley Pottery, and the Castle itself, became integral parts of Cornwall's history.

Over the course of the past 50 years, following the death of Charlotte Martin in 1961, the Castle has been a private country retreat for a number of owners, one of whom added a helipad to the property. The Castle's most recent owner, hedge fund manager Alphonse “Buddy” Fletcher, purchased the Castle for $5.9 million in 2000.

Jacobson will discuss his research on the Castle at a special talk and book signing on April 11, 2015. The program will be held at the Cornwall Town Hall, 26 Pine Street, beginning at 4 p.m. Copies of “The Castle: A Cornwall Love Story” will be available for purchase for $15 each. Cash or check only, no credit cards.

"The Castle: A Cornwall Love Story" may also be purchased online through Lulu.com and Amazon.com.

Mohawk Farms Fancy Butter

Mohawk Farms butter wrapper
Collection of Cornwall Historical Society

Sheldon Clark started making butter at Mohawk Farm in East Cornwall during the mid-1800s. His wife, Melissa, assisted with churning butter. She started making cheese for the family in 1868.

In collaboration with Noah Rogers, Sheldon Clark shipped his butter from the Cornwall Bridge train station to markets in New York and Bridgeport. He eventually scaled back and sold butter only locally.

Sheldon Clark whetting a scythe, c. 1880
Collection of Cornwall Historical Society

Sheldon and Melissa's son, Andrew Clark, took over the farm in the 1880s, producing butter in half-pound and one pound pats, which he delivered to his customer's homes weekly. As with the previous generation, Andrew's wife, Mary Lydia, assisted with the farm, curing the cream daily, stirring it twice each day with a specialized hand tool.

Mary took over the butter business following Andrew's death in 1925, managing to keep it going through the height of the Great Depression with the help of her children and grandchildren. Other family members and friends pitched in as well to help keep the farm producing butter until 1941.

Mary Lydia Clark, c. 1920
Collection of Cornwall Historical Society

Index to Cemeteries

Thanks to dedicated work by John Calhoun and Charles Gold, an index to every gravestone in the Cornwall cemeteries is now available for researchers.

Cornwall Cemetery, 2014.

The cemetery indexes can be accessed via our website, or by clicking on the cemetery names below. For the larger cemeteries, a downloadable Excel file is also available (accessed on the cemetery's page).

Allen Cemetery	Bradford Cemetery	Calhoun Cemetery	Cornwall Cemetery
Cornwall Hollow Cemetery	Great Hollow Road Cemetery	Mountain Creek	North Cornwall Cemetery
Smallpox Cemetery	Town Records	Wilcox Cemetery	Wright Hill Cemetery

Cornwall Hollow Cemetery, 2014.

Scrapbooks

Historical societies love scrapbooks, because they are time capsules that help us connect to both the person who made them and the place where they were made.

We have a small collection of scrapbooks at the Cornwall Historical Society. Here are highlights of some of them.


Emily Marsh's WWII Scrapbook

During World War II, Cornwall librarian Emily Marsh compiled photographs, newspaper clippings, service badges, letters, and hand-written notations in a simple three-ring binder.

Emily Marsh WWII scrapbook.

Emily Marsh WWII scrapbook.

Emily Marsh WWII scrapbook.

Emily Marsh WWII scrapbook.

Emily Marsh WWII scrapbook.

West Cornwall News Clippings, 1880s

An unknown person pasted newspaper clippings into an old account book during the 1880s, preserving a slice of life for future generations.

West Cornwall news clippings scrapbook, 1880s.

West Cornwall news clippings scrapbook, 1880s.

West Cornwall news clippings scrapbook, 1880s.

West Cornwall news clippings scrapbook, 1880s.

West Cornwall news clippings scrapbook, 1880s.

Emeline L. Merz Scrapbook, 1941

Emeline Merz pasted newspaper clippings of her own writings, as well as a Letter to the Editor written by her husband, Kenneth Merz, in this scrap book.

Emeline L. Merz scrapbook, 1941.

Emeline L. Merz scrapbook, 1941.

Harriet Bennett Scrapbook, early 1900s

Suffragist Harriet Wilcox Bennett used this scrapbook to preserve newspaper clippings that interested her, sometimes with annotations indicating a personal connection to the clipping. A significant portion of the clippings relate to Bennett's activity as a supporter of women's suffrage.

Harriet Bennett scrapbook, early 1900s.

Harriet Bennett scrapbook, early 1900s.

Harriet Bennett scrapbook, early 1900s.

Katherine W. Pratt Scrapbook, 1914

Katherine Willston Pratt's scrapbook, marketed for young women graduating from high school, includes photographs of her classmates, treasured letters, and other mementos of her social activities. Pratt was the daughter of Rev. Dwight Mallory Pratt, originally from West Cornwall, who served as the minister of the Walnut Hills Congregational Church at Cincinnati from 1900 to 1914, when Katherine created this book of memories.

Katherine W. Pratt scrapbook, 1914.

Katherine W. Pratt scrapbook, 1914.

Katherine W. Pratt scrapbook, 1914.

Katherine W. Pratt scrapbook, 1914.

Katherine W. Pratt scrapbook, 1914.

David Johnson's Housatonic River

Christmas has come early to the Cornwall Historical Society! We are delighted to share the most recent donation to our collection--a wonderful oil painting of the Housatonic River at West Cornwall by David Johnson (1827-1908).

David Johnson, Housatonic River at West Cornwall, 1870s.

Johnson was born and raised in New York City and began his art career by painting landscapes in the Catskills, studying with Jasper Crospsey. Johnson joined the National Academy of Design in 1859 and continued traveling in the Northeast, painting landscapes in the White Mountains, at Lake George, and in central New York state. He painted at West Cornwall and other Connecticut locations during the 1870s.

Detail showing a man fishing and smoking a pipe.

Johnson won a first-class medal for art at the 1876 Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia and an award from the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association of Boston in 1878. He exhibit a painting of the Housatonic River at the Paris Salon of 1877.

Detail showing two people on the opposite bank of the river, possibly on a boat.

Reverse of the painting, showing Johnson's signature and the painting's title.

Another painting of West Cornwall, done in 1875 by David Johnson, is in the collection of the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, CT.

CHS at the Christmas Fair

Looking for some unique gift ideas? How about a Cornwall Historical Society jigsaw puzzle, Cornwall pottery, or a CHS gift basket? We'll have all of these and more at the Christmas Fair this Saturday, December 6, from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the United Church of Christ, 8 Bolton Hill Road.

New! 500+ piece jigsaw puzzle featuring bottles from the Cornwall Historical Society collection.

Our new puzzles were developed by CHS Board member Karen Doeblin, who put some extra effort into finding just the right puzzle-maker:

Every great museum shop has a puzzle with an image from its collection;  so why shouldn't the shop at the Cornwall Historical Society have one?  As a jigsaw puzzle fan, however, I know how frustrating a poorly made puzzle can be, so we went to the premier, small custom puzzle maker at Eureka Puzzles in Brookline, Massachusetts.  He has created a beautifully made puzzle that all skill levels can enjoy with an image of beautiful bottles from our own collection. We hope you enjoy them!

Original photograph used for the new jigsaw puzzle.

Cornwall Historical Society gift basket, ready for giving!

Todd Piker's Cornwall Bridge pottery.

Coltsfoot Farm Milk Bottle

Our collections include this fun milk bottle from the Coltsfoot Farm.

Coltsfoot Farm was started in 1885 by John Edward Calhoun, taking its name from the Coltsfoot Valley, where his cattle grazed.

The slogan, "a bottle of milk is a bottle of health," was introduced by the Thatcher glass manufacturing company of New York and soon became a nationally used slogan.

The Calhoun family sold off their dairy cattle and equipment at a two day auction in 1966. The farm property was leased and the dairy operations continued on site by Ronald Laigle, Robert Laigle, and Raymond Thuillard.

Coltsfoot Farm closed permanently in the mid-1980s.

View of Coltsfoot Valley today.