Around Town

Podcast: The History of Wedding Fashion and Tradition

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This week, on 0684-Radi0, our free podcast (subscribe here in the iTunes Store), we talk to Nancy Geary, executive director of the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society, about the organization’s new exhibition. “I Do: The History of Wedding Fashion and Tradition” opened last week in the Town House, the main building at the Historical Society’s campus at the top of God’s Acre, and runs through Sept. 9. 

Here are recent episodes of 0684-Radi0:

News

New Canaan Now & Then: Birdsall House

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With the arrival of the New Canaan train line in 1868, the quiet farming community of New Canaan opened up to the world.  The idyllic New England town quickly became a hot spot in the summer for seasonal visitors.  These visitors, typically from New York City, could easily spend a few weeks in the country to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and have relief from the heat.  In order to accommodate these tourists New Canaan was able to sustain five different inns.  Largest and grandest of all of these inns was the Birdsall House. The building that would eventually become the Birdsall House was built around 1823 by Bradley Keeler.  At this point it was a private two story home, but Keeler sometimes let travelers stay with him.  It was not until 1840 that the home officially became a hotel.  Almost twenty years later in 1859, the first extension was added to the building.  Finally on May 4, 1861 Gilbert Birdsall bought the inn for $4,700. Birdsall himself was a summer resident.  He was originally from New York City where he was a superintendent of the Third Avenue Street Railway Company.  In the summer, he lived on his 200 acre farm that was located on Brushy Ridge.  This farm was used as a retirement home for the horses that could no longer pull the street cars for his company.  Birdsall was not involved with the day to day aspect of running the hotel he had purchased, but instead left that to several different managers over the years. During Birdsall’s ownership, the inn gained the reputation for having clean, comfortable rooms and good food.   Downstairs there was a bar and a sitting room.  Eventually a billiard table was added to the sitting room and the manager promised “a handsome reward to anyone who can make 13 shots in one.”  Parts of the building were lit with gas lamps.  There was also a ballroom on the second floor, which was advertised in the winter as “the coziest dancing rooms in the state.”  At one point a dance school was conducted there as well.  The livery stable behind the inn also had an excellent reputation with at least one traveller going the extra miles so that their horse would have better fodder and bedding.   Thanks to its reputation, the Birdsall Inn hosted many of the town’s most important events.

News

New Canaan Now & Then: Armistice Day Parade

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On November 14, 1918, the New Canaan Advertiser published “The Greatest Day in the History of the Town” which described the Town’s response to news of the armistice ending World War I. Around 5,000 people packed into the town center to celebrate the victory. Church, firehouse, and school bells rang out for 24 hours in celebration as parades and parties filled the cold November day with patriotism and joyful hope for the future as world peace was finally restored. The celebrations were begun by Ira Woundy, who was awoken at 3 a.m. by the noise of celebration from Norwalk and Stamford. Once outside, Woundy ran into T.B. Hall and the two made phone calls to Norwalk, Stamford, and New York City to confirm the news. They then went up the hill and began to ring the Congregational Church’s bell

Before dawn broke, the community awoke to sounds of bells and cheers of victory. From that point on it was an “impossibility to sleep,” as the Advertiser put it. Throughout the morning and early afternoon, the streets of New Canaan became a party. Around 2 pm, an impromptu parade formed with 500 school children at the front.

Now & Then

Now & Then: The Raymond House

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Thanks to letters sent between the New Canaan Historical Society and Howard B. Raymond back in the 1950s, the early history of 32 Seminary Street is fairly complete. The house was built by Howard’s father, George E. Raymond during the summer of 1889. George Raymond was a carriage maker by trade and started his career in the Johnson Carriage Company located on the corner of East Avenue and Forest Street. Raymond, along with his coworker William Brant, started their own carriage business in 1898.  

 This shop was also located on Forest Street seemingly where Gelatissimo is now located. At some point Brant left the business but Raymond continued to work in the shop until his death in 1920. The mainstay of the business was repair work, but by most accounts Raymond was an excellent woodworker who could also build a beautiful carriage. Advertisements for the business were in almost every edition of the Advertiser for a decade. By the time of his death, cars had not become popular enough to have an effect on the business. However, his former employee, Henry S. Duryea, who took over the business upon his death, may have struggled due to changes in modes of transportation. Interested in sponsoring our local history feature “Now & Then”? Contact editor Michael Dinan at editor@newcanaanite.com for advertising details.

Now & Then

New Canaan Now & Then: The Hoyt-Mills-McGhie House

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This photograph was taken sometime before 1888 of 372 Brushy Ridge Road, a home built by Timothy Hoyt in 1732. It was known as Long Meadow Farm. The man seated in the picture is Timothy’s descendant, Samuel Hoyt; his wife, Clarissa, stands in the doorway. Samuel Hoyt was a harness maker who most likely supplied the local farms. His most notable customer and neighbor was Gilbert Birdsall, who owned the Birdsall Inn on Main Street (now the Morse Court parking lot.)

Eventually the Hoyts sold the house in 1907 to Albert and Laura Mills. Little is known of Mr. Mills, a salesman for the Gage Hat Company, but his wife, Laura, is legendary. Twenty years after his death, she remained in the house with 13 Dalmatians for company, along with a herd of Jersey cows. According to Mrs. Harold Gillen in her article in “Landmarks of New Canaan,” Laura was a hoarder, and the house was filled with shoes and dirty dishes on the mantel, men’s nightshirts bulging from the drawers, and the constant drone of the radio. Despite the messy interior, Laura ran a successful dairy business and, in her own words, “was not afraid of man, beast or devil.”

Mills styled herself the “Witch of Endor.” As if to support this claim, Mills was never without her felt cloche hat that had taken on a point over the years. She claimed to be a member of the Mazdaznens religion. (This is most likely a misspelling of “Mazdayasnian” which is another term for the religion Zoroastrianism, an ancient Persian religion that was first recorded in the 6th century BCE.) Her membership in this religion is further supported by the care Mills gave her cows and dogs; she treated animals as if they were human. (A core belief in Zoroastrianism is that all living beings, both humans and animals, have an important role to play and must be treated as such.) In an attempt to convert Mr. and Mrs. McGhie, who purchased the house in 1933, Laura Mills gave them a pamphlet on her religion. The McGhies did not appear to have been convinced. Laura Mills is also the reason why there are no records on Samuel Hoyt’s harness business. Mills apparently threw the records and all the old furniture that came with the house into a bonfire at some point. She felt that, after the McGhies bought the house, they should simply burn it down and buy a Sears Roebuck mail order house to replace it. They refused.