Longing For Home

Speech given by Lisa Lansing Simont on Memorial Day, May 25, 2015.

Two thousand fifteen is a year for anniversaries: It’s the 70th of the end of WWII; the 60th of the end of the Korean Conflict; the 150th of the end of the Civil War; and the 40th of the end of the Vietnam Conflict.

It’s even the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, although it’s safe to say Cornwall, Connecticut, didn’t have a dog in that fight!

But we did in the other wars both far away and here at home. After the servicemen and women had gone away to take up their duties, the families they left behind lived their version of the war, out of harm’s way, but often lonely and worried. Every family has its stories and its memories. Here are some of mine.

Here in Cornwall during World War Two we were a community mostly made up of women. My mother and I moved in with my grandmother Martha Hubbard for the duration. Three of her five children were away in the war – Gordon and Tom in the Navy and Lydia in the International Red Cross. It was a quiet life. My mother and grandmother planted a large garden and kept chickens to supplement wartime rationing. Milk was delivered several times a week from the Calhoun barn.

We all waited for the mail, the telegrams and sometimes the telephone. I was three years old by the end of the war, but even as a toddler I could sense the tension in the waiting.

Once in a while my father came home on leave from his ship, tall and handsome in his uniform. I thought he was terrific! Once or twice my mother and I went down to New York on the train from West Cornwall, summoned by my father calling from a pay phone at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He had a few hours ashore and was dying to see us. It was very exciting but after my father returned to his ship -- and we were back home in Cornwall -- my mother cried and hugged me very hard. I remember that.

Between these rare leaves my parents wrote hundreds of letters to each other, letters full of affection and funny stories which masked the loneliness my mother felt and the danger my father was often near. Letters found their way from Cornwall to the South Atlantic traveling finally to my father over a rope line between ships, the mailbag bouncing up and down, skimming the water. Letters went back over the same route to Cornwall where they were read and reread again and again. These letters -- hundreds of them tied up in bundles and sorted by date -- fill two large cartons at our house. I haven’t the heart to throw them away.

By this time 70 years ago service personnel were coming home and picking up where their lives had stopped. This was what they had longed for – to get back on the tractor, bring in the hay and have supper with the family. Just the ordinary events of living, precious to them because they could have lost it all far away in some place whose name you couldn’t pronounce. Still, being home took getting used to, especially with a family that had learned to get along by itself during the long years of deployment. Everyone had to adjust to peacetime life.

Who were they? Their names are on the memorial stones behind me. Some of these men didn’t make it home and those are the ones we honor today. The lucky ones came home to the place where they longed to be and helped build this community into the Cornwall we love. Many of them are gone now too, some are buried in the North Cornwall Cemetery where Virginia Gold told some of their stories this morning.

We all have our stories. Remember them. Tell them. Keep on telling them to the children and the grandchildren so they can carry these memories into the future.

Thank you!

Hardscrabble Road

Photo essay by CHS Executive Director/Curator Raechel Guest.

Unlike many other Connecticut towns, Cornwall never saw a construction boom during the 20th century. In fact, as Cornwall's population diminished from a peak of 2,041 in 1850 to a low of 834 in 1920, entire areas of Cornwall were abandoned and allowed to return to woodland. As such, Cornwall is almost like a giant playground for archaeologists, with ruins glimpsed under layers of leaves in numerous locations throughout town.

The Hardscrabble Road area of East Cornwall is one of those abandoned areas. During the 1700s and 1800s, Hardscrabble Road ran from Flat Rocks Road all the way to Woodbury. In 1854, Hardscrabble Road had a saw mill, a grist mill, a clothing factory, and two houses. There was a high road and a low road: the high road ran along the top of a hill, while the low road ran along the West Branch of the Shepaug River. The mills and factory were built along the low road, while the houses were located up the hill, where it was warmer and drier.

The road closest to the West Branch of the Shepaug, looking back toward Flat Rocks Road. Hawkins Pond is in the distance to the left.

The entrance to the upper Hardscrabble Road, as seen from Flat Rocks Road.

Hardscrabble Road has been used in recent decades, as the wheel ruts testify.

There were two houses on the Hardscrabble high road. The first, which was long gone by 1973, was the home of J. Avery in 1854 and Buel Avery in 1860.

The second house collapsed relatively recently. A portion of one wall remained standing when I visited in 2012.

The ruins of the last house on Hardscrabble Road.

Residents of the house:

1854  E. Barber
1874  D. Parmalee
1900  Charles Jacus
1906  Mrs. Earle Phelps
          Benjamin D. Bailey (tenant house)
          Henry R. Ashton

The high road is clearly visible to the right. Less visible is the low road to the left, which runs along the side of the West Branch of the Shepaug River.

The lower road can be difficult to see at times, but the stone wall is a good guide.

Ruins of one of the mills or the factory.

Ruins of one of the mills or the factory.

Ruins of one of the mills or the factory.

Ruins of one of the mills or the factory.

West Branch of the Shepaug River which once fueled a small industrial hub.

Remnants of a dam?

I would love to consult with an archaeologist on this formation. In this view, it looks like it could be a well, but as you'll see in the next two photos, it's more of an oblong, definitely not a circle.

Another view of the mysterious structure.

And a third view, from the far end. The stones line the sides of a depression.

The ruins of a retaining wall or building foundation overlooking the water.

Another view of the wall or foundation.

The Hardscrabble Road section of Cornwall is now part of Wyantenock State Forest. There are no officially marked trails to follow, only the remnants of roads used in centuries past.

"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.