Brainard Homestead Traditional Cache
GOJim: Difficult to reach old foundation with all the prickers; state isn't maintaining this park at all. History is interesting, but not much else here of interest, so I think this cache has been here long enough. Removed container.
GOJim
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(regular)
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From East Haddam center, go up Rt 149 N for .8 mile and turn right onto Landing Hill road at the stop sign. Go .4 mile then turn right onto Maple Avenue. In .1 mile turn right onto Creek Row (dirt rd) and park on the right by the open field (a state sign is there).
*****FTF- mr. miggle*****
Welcome to Brainard Homestead State Park. I often saw this little park on maps and wondered how long it had been a park and what was there.
From Plymouth Colony to East Haddam... Timothy Green, who built a farmhouse on this property around 1842, traced his lineage back to the pilgrims who first populated that area of Massachusetts in 1620. Mr. Green never lived on the property, but leased it to a tenant farmer, Jonathan Morgan, who probably paid his rent in produce and meat. The property was sold to Selden Tyler Brainerd in March 1854. Selden and his wife Harriet raised five children in the tiny 30ft. X 25ft. house. One of their children, William, became a dentist and ran his practice from an office in the nearby Goodspeed Opera House. Eventually, the property was willed to a niece, Geraldine W. Hayden of Essex, who left it to the State of Connecticut upon her death, specifying that William should have life use of the property and that it should be called the Selden Tyler Brainerd Homestead Park. Geraldine passed on in 1929 and William in 1936. Sometime after this date the state took down all the buildings on the property.
Years ago the two large fields on the farm were leased to a Mortimer Gelston, who raised hay for his cattle there. Today, as evidenced by the farm machinery stored on the property, the old farm may still be providing a harvest for some local resident. As you view the foundation, try to imagine the life events that occurred here over the 94 years of its existence- births, life celebrations, and deaths. —My thanks to the East Haddam Town Clerk, who provided a history of the homestead compiled by Karl P. Stofko DDS, chairman of the Research Committee of the East Haddam Historical Society during August of 1981.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
tb qbja