A Little Pomerance Park History...

From a 2007 article that I somehow missed:

An Estate, and a Family, Are Split

BARBARA W. TUCHMAN used to hike up to a tiny wooden cabin, no larger than 100 square feet, on her Cos Cob estate, to sift through notecards of research and type the history books that would make her famous. She could look across the valley from there and watch the deer gathering on the opposite hill at dusk.



Ms. Tuchman twice won the Pulitzer Prize and is one of the best known historians of the 20th century. Her greatest legacy will always be those books, which have sat on the nightstands of presidents. But this land in Cos Cob, she felt, was another kind of legacy. Near the end of her life, she feared that her three daughters would sell it and she wrote them impassioned letters imploring them to keep it in the family.

It was not to be.

A few years after Ms. Tuchman's husband died, two of her daughters sued the third, attempting to divide the land and sell their portions. The dispute has lasted four years.

Earlier this month, a judge divided the 43.4 acres that remain of the estate. Cos Cob is part of Greenwich and the town plans to buy about two-thirds of the property, while Alma, 56, Ms. Tuchman's youngest daughter, will continue to own and live on the 12.52 acres left. She will likely appeal the ruling.




Barbara Tuchman's father, Maurice Wertheim, a wealthy banker, bought the approximately 120-acre estate in 1912, the same year she was born. She was raised in New York, but spent weekends and summers in Cos Cob riding horses, swimming in the pond and enjoying the natural beauty of the land. Greenwich residents sometimes got to enjoy the property, too. John B. Margenot Jr., a longtime Greenwich resident and former first selectman, said he remembers skating at the Tuchmans' pond with other children.


''They were good about things like that,'' he said.


Ms. Tuchman graduated from Radcliffe College in 1933 and married Dr. Lester Reginald Tuchman, a New York internist, in 1939. Around the end of World War II, the couple moved into a building that held a chicken coop and potting house on the Cos Cob property. The Tuchmans still lived in New York, but went to the house on weekends and during the summer. Their three children rode horses in a ring next to the house and rowed a canoe to an island in the middle of the seven-acre pond for picnics.

Meanwhile, Barbara Tuchman became famous. Her book ''Guns of August,'' about the beginning of World War I, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1962. She ''treated herself'' to the writer's cabin with its stone fireplace using the proceeds from one of her books, said Alma Tuchman. When she was deep into a book, she would climb the hill to the cabin at 7 a.m. and stay there for the next 12 hours, save for a trip back to the house for a sandwich, which she would carry back on a tray, Alma Tuchman recalled.

The telegram informing Ms. Tuchman that she had won her first Pulitzer Prize still hangs in her study in the house, next to a picture of former President Jimmy Carter with a note attached assuring Ms. Tuchman that the president was reading her book.



Though the world was lining up at the door, the family became less apt to open the property to members of the community as time went on: ''It wasn't any longer a small-town community,'' Alma Tuchman said.

Late in life, Lester and Barbara Tuchman moved to Cos Cob for good and Ms. Tuchman continued working on her books. She still had a book on the best-seller list when she died in 1989.



While she was still alive, Ms. Tuchman had deeded the property to her daughters to share evenly.



Alma Tuchman retired from her job as a journalist and moved to the property in the late 1980's, but her sisters lived in other parts of the country. Lucy Eisenberg, a retired lawyer, lives in Los Angeles. Another sister, Jessica Mathews, is the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. Ms. Eisenberg said she did not want to comment about the property. Ms. Mathews did not return phone calls seeking comment.



Barbara Tuchman insisted nothing be done with the property for 10 years after her death, Alma Tuchman said. She wanted the land to remain in the family's hands because it had given her ''a basic happiness and comfort ever since our establishment here as a family,'' Barbara wrote in a ''letter to my family'' in 1988. In the letter, she specifically warned against selling it to the town to use ''as a park or so-called 'open space.'''



But after the 10 years passed, the dispute began, pitting the sisters against each other. Alma Tuchman wanted to remain living on the land and preserve the entire parcel for the family, but her sisters wanted to claim their own portions, eventually deciding to sell them to the town.



With the sisters unable to resolve differences, Ms. Eisenberg and Ms. Mathews sued Alma Tuchman in October 2000. The case dragged on: The file has five parts and is about six inches thick, its own epic history.



Ms. Eisenberg and her husband, David, have created a trust to control their piece of property. In June 2001, the town of Greenwich entered into an agreement with Ms. Mathews and the Eisenbergs to purchase their share of the property for $8.67 million. In May 2002, the town intervened in the lawsuit to protect its interest.



The decision came back Aug. 4. The judge, David R. Tobin, split the land into two pieces, giving about two-thirds to Ms. Eisenberg and her sister and one-third to Alma Tuchman. Her 12.52-acre portion, which will be maintained as a private estate, is worth $9,525,000, according to Judge Tobin's ruling.



The land given to the two other sisters is 30.74 acres and is worth $18,050,000, the judge said. All of this is subject to appeal. The Eisenbergs and Ms. Mathews have agreed to make a charitable donation to the town to make up the difference between the value of the land and the price they have already negotiated.



Alma Tuchman said she no longer speaks to her two sisters. Barbara Tuchman, she said, would be ''appalled and sickened'' by what happened.

The town has not yet decided what it will do with the land, though it has expressed interest in allowing it to remain undeveloped as open space. The town has already purchased the adjacent Pomerance property, part of Mr. Wertheim's original estate and deeded to another one of his daughters. The town allows the public to use it. The parcel owned by Ms. Mathews and the Eisenberg trust could be added to the Pomerance parcel to create one larger piece of open space.

Jim Lash, the first selectman of Greenwich, said the town planned to review the ruling once it is final and decide what to do. He said he foresees three options for the land: open space, playing fields, or low-income housing.



''There are a number of possibilities there,'' he said last week.

Alma Tuchman, a conservationist who talks about the threatened species on the property and the various kinds of weeds clinging to the trees, is concerned that even if the town decided to keep the land as open space, it won't spend money on maintenance. The Pomerance property has already been overtaken in spots by weeds, and last week garbage and a discarded beer can floated in the pond.

''Over all it's very admirable in concept for the town to spend so much money acquiring open space, but I think it's also irresponsible to acquire land that you cannot take care of, and I think it's clear that the town can't take care of what it already has acquired,'' she said. ''Open space becomes nobody's land and nobody's responsibility.''

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 Wyndygoul's "manor" house, located at the top of a one-quarter mile uphill drive, was designed by Seton in a style that reflected his unique personal architectural ideals, later carried out in three other houses as well. It combined the styles of American western stucco and stone with British Tudor and was a three-story construction, with low, beamed ceilings, thick walls and wood cornices, a large bay window, and generally simple, somewhat boxy lines.

Circa 1908. "Wyndygoul, home of E.T. Seton." The writer-naturalist Ernest Thompson Seton, one of the founders of the Boy Scouts of America, at his Cos Cob, Connecticut, estate.

Goodbye, Remington Arms!

This well-known paranormal hot spot was not just notorious for it's ghostly activity, but also known for being quite an eyesore.  So they're demolishing it.

I just drove by it, intact, about two weeks ago with Joe and commented on how it was a long while ago that they said they  announced plans to demolish it.  Well, a few days later they got crackin'.

General Electric owns the property after buying in 1920, and took nearly 100 years to make any changes.

I wonder if demolition will rid the site of all those spirits? The article below states that it might be the site of a newly built high school.  Ut-ohhhhh.  Lol.

(A good site with information on history of Remington Arms: travelchannel )

(More information on Remington hauntings: Examiner.com)

CT Post- The demolition of the historic General Electric plant on Boston Avenue is nearly complete.
Built by Remington Arms in 1915 to supply munitions to czarist Russian troops, the landmark row of 13 interconnected, five-story buildings was sold to General Electric in 1920 and was officially shut down in 2007. Almost all of the bricks and broken concrete from the structure are being used to fill tunnels and flatten the property for future development, which could include a new Harding High School.

The final section of the GE property during demolition in Bridgeport, Conn. June 25th, 2012. The huge facility was built by the Remington Arms Company between 1915 and 1916, for the production of munitions during World War I

Revised Contract for Mill River Park Approved

STAMFORD -- The Board of Finance approved contract changes for the Mill River Park renovation Wednesday, averting what organizers said could have been several months of delay if the measure had not moved forward.

The revised contract agreement, if passed by the Board of Representatives next month, would pay the project's chief contractor, Olin Partnership, an additional $108,000 for a redesign of the project's first phase. The roughly $13 million undertaking, which comes after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed $8 million of work in June, would redevelop the park from Broad Street to Main Street, installing utilities, promenades, lighting, landscaping and hundreds of trees. A second phase, from Main Street south to the cemetery at Richmond Hill Avenue, would be contingent on future financing, organizers from the Mill River Collaborative said.

The $108,000 comes from a pool of already approved funds, city officials said.

Mill River Collaborative Chairman Arthur Selkowitz said he was pleased with the decision of the board, which voted 5-to-1 to approve the changes. The move will encourage private donors and investors as the collaborative attempts to raise funding for the project, he said.

"I think the board's action today allows us to move forward aggressively on the private fundraising side," Selkowitz said. "It shows a vote of confidence in the project."

Selkowitz said the approval allows the collaborative to keep the renovation plan on its timeline, which projects breaking ground by spring, with construction complete by summer 2012.

The board's action was a turnaround from last month, when Republican Board of Finance Chairman Joe Tarzia chose to delay action on the request due to questions raised by Independent board member Kathleen Murphy on the project's financing. Murphy said she does not believe it was proper that the city advanced roughly $6 million to the Mill River renovation in city bonds, rather than via a special financing arrangement known as tax increment financing bonds. Such financing dedicates expected future tax revenue increases within a designated area -- in this case, property surrounding the park -- to finance debt issued to pay for the project.

Murphy, who voted against the contract change, said she did not believe those issues were resolved Wednesday. However, Tarzia said he was satisfied with a commitment from the city's finance chief, Fred Flynn, to sort the matter out by mid-March. Before the vote Wednesday, Tarzia said he wanted to "get this thing straightened out without moving backward."

Tarzia said a commitment on the part of city leaders that the project would, in the future, be financed through TIF bonding rather than general obligation bonds further reassured him.

In another matter, the board approved a revised list of capital projects slated to be financed with an upcoming issuance of $35 million in city bonds. In the most notable revision, city officials added aspects of the second phase of the Stamford Urban Transitway to the list. City officials previously said they would not allocate money to the South End road project until completing a thorough review of the first phase, which has had cost overruns and delays.

Flynn said Wednesday the administration changed its mind because it did not want to put federal funding for the project at risk.

"Part of it has to do with the commitment of federal money that we have, and we don't want to jeopardize that," Flynn said. "We can always substitute something else if our conclusion is there are higher priorities and more pressing issues than that."

Murphy raised objections to the change, saying the transitway should not be funded when schools are in urgent need of capital improvements. Republican Bob Kolenberg agreed.

The measure passed 4--2, with Murphy and Kolenberg casting the dissenting votes.

In other action, the board approved an additional $50,000 to finance an ongoing audit of alleged misconduct by city employees. The money would supplement $200,000 approved in previous votes, including $50,000 last month, to finance an investigation into alleged thefts of scrap metal at the city weigh station and thefts in the city finance department.

Flynn said he hopes the city will not need to spend the entire amount to conclude the investigation, while Tarzia said he expects the city will be able to recoup its expenses on the audit once it is complete.

However, the chairman of the board's Audit Committee, Democrat Tim Abbazia, said he could not support the additional money, as it had not been previously discussed.

The board approved the funding, 4--0, with the board's two Democrats, Abbazia and Mary Lou Rinaldi, abstaining from the vote.

EVP at Fort Stamford?

I hope the visual annotation works so that you know when the exact whisper comes, but if not it's working you can hear it right at 12-13 seconds- I hear a voice whisper "hallah" after I ask if there are any more people left!!

This is a spot in Stamford where in 1999 a few people took a few visits to investigate activity- see about that here : http://krystle-ann.blogspot.com/2010/10/fort-stamford.html

Awesome Antique News Article!

Anything vintage and weird about my own home town is right up my alley!
Click picture to view article:

Crazy article.. A "demented" woman by the name of Menthol Sweeney sets fire to a barn on what is now Conyers Farms in backcountry Greenwich, CT.

Afterwards I googled Converse Farm too see what came of it:

MRS. SWEENEY IN SANITARIUM; Denies Setting Fire to Converse's Barn -- Believed to Be Insane.
STAMFORD, Conn., Nov. 29. -- Araminta Sweeney, who was suspected of incendiarism when the $10,000 burn on Conyer's Manor, the estate of E.C. Converse, the steel magnate, in Greenwich, was destroyed by fire last Wednesday night, has been committed temporarily to a sanitarium by Judge Charles D. Lockwood in this place.

SAYS THREAT UPSET HIS NIECE'S MIND; Miss Sweeney's Mental..
STAMFORD, Conn., Dec. 2. -- The acute mental condition of Araminta Sweeney, the woman accused of writing anonymous letters and making threats against Mr. and Mrs. E.C. Converse, is due largely to an anonymous letter which she herself received last January, according to Charles Brown, her uncle by marriage.

GREENWICH RECORDS BIG REAL ESTATE DEAL (Pay Article)
GREENWICH Conn June 10AP Fourteen hundred acres of the Converse Farm one of the largest estates in the town of Greenwich

Converse Farm Sold For Building Lots, Brings $1,400,000 (Pay Article)


"Banksville was named after Samuel Banks, who settled on the upper reaches of the Mianus River in the northeast comer of Greenwich in 1700. For the next 200 years it was a quiet farming community, but in 1904 Edmund Converse assembled more than 1,000 acres to create Greenwich's greatest estate, with forty buildings and a staff of 200. Farming operations continued up until 1960. It then lay fallow for twenty years when it was finally sold to the Conyers Farm Partnership and its 1,468 acres subdivided into sixty lots. Conyers Farm is the home of many well-known residents who can afford its magnificent ten -acre lots. It is also the locale for the Greenwich Polo Club where many town residents go to enjoy the polo games on a Sunday afternoon. (As an interesting sidelight, Conyers Farm would not exist nor would most of backcountry Greenwich be the same, had a proposal in 1945 to locate the headquarters of the United Nations here not been defeated by an alarmed group of Greenwich citizens.)

Banksville's small business center near the New York State line is reminiscent of a simpler time. Many of its residents refer to Banksville as the land that time has forgotten. "

If You're Thinking of Living In / Cos Cob; A Quiet Villagelike Section of Greenwich

Not to toot my own horn... But yeah, Cos Cob is great.

NY Times- OF the 15 neighborhoods that make up Greenwich's 50 square miles, one, running north-south along the eastern side of town, has a name that is said to be unique: Cos Cob.

Nobody knows what it means, although the Greenwich Historical Society has been sifting through a mass of conjectures about Indian chiefs, Indian words, early settlers' names, 17th-century Dutch words and so on for years.

The neighborhood itself is somewhat of an aberration for Greenwich -- a quieter, more villagelike part of town with few of the estates, celebrity residents or personal wealth of greater Greenwich.

Its community spirit, which survived two severe floods in the 30's and 50's and several destructive fires, asserted itself again when its library, housed at various times in a school, over a supermarket and in a store front, ran out of locations, was cut from the town's library budget and threatened with extinction.

Although there is a large and superbly equipped main libraryin downtown Greenwich, Cos Cob wanted its own and spent 15 years raising $1.3 million locally, in small amounts, to purchase a piece of property on Sinoway Road and build a 5,000-square-foot library. It opened in 1999, and 631 bricks in its walkway are inscribed with the names of the donors.

''It's a very close-knit community,'' said Rowland Harris, a second-gen eration real estate agent, now semiretired. ''Everybody is friendly, and we have everything we want right here.'' R. M. Harris Realty, the only real estate office in Cob Cob, is over a plumbing shop on the Drenckhahn Boatyard property on River Road. Mr. Harris's father brought the family to Cos Cob in 1923, when they lived over the Diamond Hill Liquor Store. Their prospering real estate and insurance business financed a move to a three-bedroom house on a 50-by-200-foot lot on Valley Road. ''In 1965 we sold it for $23,000,'' Mr. Harris said. ''It changed hands several times and sold recently for $773,000.''

Those figures portend a Cos Cob more like the rest of Greenwich. Gloria Meyering, a broker at Prudential Connecticut in Old Greenwich, said: ''Cos Cob has traditionally been considered the backbone of the middle economic group of Greenwich, but prices have gone so high and continue to climb. I have not been able to find anything for three clients looking for something between $300,000 and $400,000,'' a former benchmark for a medium-priced house.

''With prices rising all over town, you still get more house for your money than anywhere else in Greenwich,'' said Pam Chiapetta, broker at Coldwell Banker in Old Greenwich. ''Not everybody is a millionaire. We still have a strong middle class and a cross section of blue- and white-collar people.''

Her office manager, Nancy MacDonald, citing the lack of inventory in an overheated market, said: ''There are only 28 listings of single family homes, and they are priced from $569,000 to $3.25 million. Out of Cos Cob's 22 condominium complexes only four or five units are available, ranging from $389,000 to $725,000.''

In the past three years, Joe Pagliarulo, a local builder, has found a niche for himself in Cos Cob's new luxury market. He has built a half-dozen 6,500- and 7,000-square-foot homes on two- and three-acre parcels with tennis courts and swimming pools along Stanwich and Cognewaugh Roads. Priced from $1.4 million to $3.1 million, they sell as fast as they are built.

With handsome profits to be made within the neighborhoo d, some elect to stay there, moving up from one house to another. Two and a half years ago, Wayne and Suzanne Sullivan bought a small older house and recently made a $200,000 profit selling it, enabling them buy a larger, more costly home on Valleywood Road where they plan to raise a family. Valleywood, Mead Avenue and Valley Road are among the most desirable addresses in Cos Cob. Mr. Sullivan considers Greenwich real estate a blue-chip investment and Cos Cob a bonus in ambience. ''I think the people are a little different here,'' he said, ''a little nicer than in other parts of Greenwich where we looked.''

Shops, services and restaurants on a section of the Post Road called the Hub supply everything Cos Cobbers may need. Anything more, from Saks Fifth Avenue to the Greenwich Furniture Barn to three-star restaurants, can be found among the more than 150 establishments in downtown Greenwich.

While most of Cos Cob is inland, its Mianus Riverfront, Cos Cob Harbor and proximity to Long Island Sound have perpetuated a relationship with the water that began in the 18th and 19th centuries, when it was a major commercial shipping port. Potatoes, onions and apples, about all that would grow in the rocky soil, were transported by ship from Cos Cob Harbor to New York City. But the industry declined with the advent of the railroad in the mid-1800's and disappeared entirely when the harbor's depth was compromised irreparably by the damming of the Mianus River.

TODAY fishing, recreational boating and charter trips have replaced the packet boats, and marinas are lined up on River Road. Beacon Point is the largest, with 250 slips at $95 a foot per season and a Fishermen's Pro Shop where live and frozen bait, fishing licenses and gear may be purchased. Rick Kral, the owner, also owns Cos Cob's only hostelry, the Cos Cob Inn, originally an 1870's rooming house, with 14 rooms across River Road from his marina. ''It's set up for couples,'' he said, ''quaint and romantic.'' Rates for two are $99 to $249 with continental breakfast. Jacuzzis, private porches, sitting rooms, working fireplaces, modems and voice mail are standard in some rooms and suites.

Boat owners may also apply for membership at one of Greenwich's five yacht clubs, none located in Cos Cob. Those with more limited resources can avail themselves of the Mianus River Club, Cos Cob's town-owned marina, where launching costs $50 a season. ''If you don't come in around April 15 for a launching permit, you probably won't get one -- they go so fast,'' said Fred Walters, superintendent of marine and facility operations. A limit of 15 permits are sold annually to out-of-towners. Dockage for boats up to 35 feet runs from $240 to about $2,000, depending on size.

Cos Cob residents have access to all Greenwich recreational facilities, including the town-owned Griffith E. Harris 18-hole golf course, named for Rowland Harris's brother, ''Griff,'' who was first selectman from 1952 to 1958. Fees are $85 a season, with a $15 greens fee per round for residents 18 to 64 years of age, or $45 and $11 for people over 64. Nonresidents pay a $45 greens fee per round. There are also five private country clubs in Greenwich.

- more boasting here, lol -

Libby Holman

I learned that the Treetops Estate, on the Greenwich/Stamford border, was once home to early blues singer Libby Holman... And that her ashes are scattered on her estate... She died in 1971 when she committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. What!

_______________________

Interesting bits:

Death:

"On June 18, 1971, Holman was found nearly dead in the front seat of her Rolls Royce by her household staff. She was taken to the hospital where she died hours later.Holman's death was officially ruled a suicide due to acute carbon monoxide poisoning.

According to the Holman biography Dreams That Money Can Buy by Jon Bradshaw, few of Holman's friends believed the coroner's report that she had committed suicide. Some of the circumstances didn't add up, in particular the question of how the slight, aging Holman could even open and close the heavy, manually-operated garage door. The book was described by the New York Times reviewer as a "flat, unsympathetic narration of Miss Holman's life there are few insights to be had". For many years, Holman reportedly suffered from depression over the deaths of President Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, the recent presidential election loss by Eugene McCarthy and the illness and deterioration of her friend Jane Bowles."

Husband's death

"In 1932, during a 21st birthday party Reynolds gave at Reynolds for his friend and flying buddy Charles Gideon Hill, Jr., a first cousin to Reynolds's first wife Anne Ludlow Cannon Reynolds, Holman revealed to her husband that she was pregnant. A tense argument ensued. Moments later, a shot was heard; friends soon discovered Reynolds bleeding and unconscious with a gunshot wound to the head. The authorities initially ruled the shooting a suicide, but a coroner's inquiry led them to rule it a murder. Holman and Albert Bailey "Ab" Walker, a friend of Reynolds's and a supposed lover of Holman's, were indicted for murder.

_______________________

"Libby's only child, Christopher Smith Topper Reynolds (January 10, 1933 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - August 7, 1950), died tragically as a teenager. Libby had given her son permission to go mountain climbing with afriend on California's highest peak Mount Whitney, not knowing that the boys were ill-prepared for the adventure. Both perished. Those close to Holman claim she never forgave herself. In 1952 she created the Christopher Reynolds Foundation in his memory."

_______________________

Suit Filed Over Sale Of Connecticut Land
Published: October 28, 2000
"In the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in State Superior Court here, the developer, Brickman Associates, said it had agreed to buy the property for $15 million and it accused International Paper of backing out of the deal.

The Treetops property, a 110-acre plot that includes a 33-room house, was once owned by the torch singer and actress Libby Holman, who died in 1971."

_______________________

Torch Singer's Estate May Become a Connecticut Park

"The estate has an elegant and gaudy history. During the 1940's and 50's, parties given by Ms. Holman were attended by celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor, Mike Todd, Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, Roddy McDowall, Imogene Coca and Martha Raye.

The property is also the site of an annual spring daffodil show. Ms. Holman planted thousands of the flowers and the corporate owners have opened the estate one weekend a year to let the public see the blooms.

In the spring, Treetops, the estate of the late singer and actress Libby Holman in Greenwich and Stamford, Conn., is a carpet of daffodils. (Chris Maynard for The New York Times) Map of Connecticut highlighting Treetops: Treetops is one of Fairfield County's largest undeveloped tracts."

-Torch Singer Suicided-

-Excellent page & biography of Libby -

Hartford Circus Fire

A facebook friend of mine mentioned about the Hartford Circus Fire in 1944, and it's one more event added to the list of crazy things that I've some how missed knowing about.

I found this very good blog detailing all about it, and am posting a few pictures from it along with a few other good links.

I can't believe something so bad could happen in such a way- thousands of people, of families, enjoying their fun-filled afternoon of pleasure, turning so disastourous, so.. terrorfying. I can't imagine what it was like for the survivors... The parents who lost children, children who lost parents, siblings losing their brother or their sister...

And it pisses me off more so learning that it wasn't an accident that had caused such a loss of life, it was arson.

Read this in-depth blog here...

-Paranormal investigation at the site
-More photos
- Wikipedia entry

Blythewood Sanitarium, Inc.

I never even heard of Blythewood until my grandmother mentioned it.
My maternal grandmother's father was a Greenwich milkman in his day (1920s/30s), and would tell my grandmother all about what a strange place it was. He even brought home a cat he took from there, apparently they weren't wanting to keep it. As sharp as Mama is being in her 70s, she doesn't remember details, but told me that her father would speak strange deaths and hushed-up experiments. I decided to research this Sanitarium, find out where it was, and just what went on there.

One article certainly captured my attention and began all the feverish research:

FIND MEMPHIS WOMAN IN GREENWICH LAKE; Her Body Weighted With Stones Leads Officials to Believe Mrs. Biggs a Suicide.
September 08, 1921
"GREENWICH, Conn., Sept. 7.--Within a few hours after she had wandered away from Blythewood Sanitarium on the Stanwich Road here, the body of Mrs. Albert Biggs, a prominent resident of Memphis, Tenn., wss found in a lake on the Maurice Wertheim estate in Cos Cob, formerly the Ernest Thompson Seton property."

This lake is a five minute walk from my house.

I wasn't sure it was this actual pond-it was called a lake then, and additionally the only body of water on Wertheim estate.

At first I couldn't find where the Sanitarium was located. I searched my butt off on Google and web articles, looking for anything with an address on it. Unfortunately, when Blythewood existed, it refrained from using a formal address, apparently for privacy reasons... I was told this by an employee at Greenwich Library that I had working on the case. I was eventually let known that the property existed where Greenwich Baptist Church is today, on Indian Rock Lane (off of Stanwich Road, across from Central Middle School).

The article states that the lake that Mrs. Albert Biggs drowned herself in was 1/4 mile from the Sanitarium, so I pinpointed it as the one by my house.

What raised suspicions to me concerning the article is this...

"In her clothing were found stones with which she had evidently weighted herself down. There was also a note stating that her body would be found in the lake on the Wertheim estate."

Isn't it a bit redundant to drown yourself in a lake, all while having a note stating where you'll be found?
I'm not sure if I'm hinting more towards foul play with that one, but it seems to be fishy to me.

________________________________________

Now, not that I'm a tightwad, but pay articles through New York Times (or any other publication) on the internet are not cheap. I discovered a few more interesting and shady articles involving disappearances and more drownings..

I can't buy every article, so I just gathered all the information I could by the short descriptions, etc.

Here are a few:

Local Youth Gone From Sanitarium
June 29, 1935
"Arthur M. Collens, Jr., 22. of this city, son of Arthur M. Collens, president of the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company, disappeared from the Blythewood Sanitarium in Greenwich shortly before 5 p. m. Thursday. His disappearance was made known Friday when he failed..."


BODY FOUND IN POOL.; Inmate of Sanitarium Believed to Have Drowned Himself.
June 30, 1935 (14 years after Mrs. Biggs)
"...few miles from the spot where the body of Joseph Goodglass, apparently the victim of gangsters, was found, an attendant of Blythewood Sanitarium, here, ..."


ANOTHER pool death:
Ends life on Wertheim Estate
Aug 22, 1941
COS COB, Conn., Aug. 21 Offline body of Miss Rena Seeley, 45year-old nurse of 3366 Bronx Boulevard, New York City, was found floating in a swimming pool on ...


MRS. A. ALEXANDER LEAPS UNDER TRAIN; Lawyer's Wife, a Sanitarium Patient, Eludes Nurse at Greenwich and Is Killed.
Nov 16, 1935
"..Mrs. Susan Tilton Alexander, 27 years old, of Bernardsville, N.J., whose marriage to Archibald Stevens Alexander, a lawyer, was one of the events of the New York social season of 1929, killed herself here today by jumping in front of a train.."

BODY OF O.W. JAQUISH, ARTIST HERE, IS FOUND; Authority on Design Had Been a Patient in Greenwich Sanitarium.
Sep 9, 1931
"..body of Orrin William Jaquish, who has been missing since Aug. 27 from Blythewood Sanitarium on Stanwich Road, Greenwich, where he was a patient, ..."
(Court case against Blythewood involving liability of his disappearance and death)


WALTER LEWISOHN HELD IN SANITARIUM; Has Been Detained at Greenwich, Conn., Since May 22, Court Action Brings Out.
Sep 14, 1923
"..Walter Lewisohn, member of the firm of Lewisohn Brothers, bankers of 11 Broadway, has been an inmate of the Blythewood Sanitarium for the insane at Greenwich, Conn., since May 22, it was disclosed yesterday. He has written many letters to friends and to his attorney begging them to obtain his release..."

Walter Lewisohn Victim Of Fumigation Poison
Aug 2, 1938
"...Former Banker, Friend Of Elwell Of Murder Mystery Case, Dies At Greenwich Sanatorium Greenwich, Conn., Aug. 1 ..."

Trio Cleared In Gas Death At Sanitarium
Aug 28, 1938
Bridgeport, Aug. 27.--(AP.)--On the basic of his speculation that escaping gas probably caused the three persons who were supposed to be guarding the door of Sunset Cottage at Blythewood Sanitarium Greenwich, to fall asleep on their posts. Coroner Theodore E. Steiber...

Sanitarium Operator To Face Charge
Jun 17, 1953

GREENWICH, June 16 (AP)-- William H. Wiley, 37, operator of Blythewood Sanitarium here is under arrest on a charge of operating a mental institution without a license.

DR. WILLIAM WILEY DIES IN GREENWICH; He Founded the Blythewood Psychiatric Sanitarium With Wife in 1906. UNUSUAL METHODS' USED
November 08, 1936

Negro Maid Held For Theft of Ring

Feb 27, 1927
Eliznbotn Kennedy 17 viu arrested today charged with of a ring valued At 1000 As chambermaid at Blythewood Sanitarium la Greenwich she 18 ...


WOMAN DIES, MAN HELD.; Police Are Told That Car Struck Victim on Cos Cob Road.
May 9, 1932
Mrs. Mary Marley, an attendant at Blythewood Sanitarium, died at the Greenwich Hospital early this morning: from injuries received late Friday night. ...


WATSON F. BLAIR, CAPITALIST, DEAD; Chicagoan, Who Retired 37 Years Ago, Victim of Pneumonia in Greenwich, Conn.
"Watson Franklin Blair, retired Chicago capitalist and grain commission merchant, died yesterday of pneumonia in the Blythewood Sanitarium, Greenwich, Conn., where he had long been a patient. He was 74 years old. Funeral services will be held tomorrow at his home, 720 Rush Street, Chicago."

ALEXANDER F. ULLMAN; at Former Betting Commissioner Saratoga Dies at 84
Sep 4, 1943

Ullman, onetime betting commissioner at Saratoga and other York tracks, died on Thursday at the Blythewood Sanitarium, Greenwich, Conn., at tile age of 84. ...

BLYTHEWOOD HALL BURNED; Fire Destroys Gymnasium of Sanitariu..
Dec 22, 1939

"... The large gymnasium and recreation building on the Blythewood Sanitarium grounds, on Stanwieh Road, was burned early this-morning at--a--loss estimated ..."

WARREN DIES AT 47, A VICTIM OF STRAIN AS HEAD OF POLICE
Aug 14, 1929
"Joseph A. Warren, former Police Commissioner, died of general paralysis yesterday morning in the Blythewood Sanitarium at Greenwich, after a gradual decline ..."

___________________________________________

In all my research, I've come to find that the most well known patient from Blythewood seems to be Mrs. Marty Mann, a pioneer in the understanding of female alcoholism.
Her name outnumbers Blythewood articles, but in digging into her articles I was able to find more information on the Sanitarium itself:

"Perhaps fortunately for Marty's remaining shreds of pride, charity patients were never identified at Blythewood. As she rode through the big iron gate of the sanitarium, the contrast with Bellevue was "like going from Hell to Heaven.

Blythewood Sanitarium, once a private estate belonging to the notorious Boss Tweed, had opened in 1905 under the direction of Mrs. Anna C. Wiley, a nurse who had proved exceptionally successful with mentally disturbed patients.

Situated on fifty acres of rustic, wooded land bisected by a meandering stream, Blythewood at it's peak had eight main buildings, eight cottages, a chapel, a building for occupational therapy, and even a little golf course. Handsome naturalistic landscaping and shrubbery graced the grounds."

Most of the buildings are gone today, it was hard to figure out what building was what, but on my visit up to the present-day Church, I saw that the Chapel is still there.

Four separate buildings housed the seventy-five patients. Marty checked in at the main house next to the gate. This gracious mansion with white columns was the estate's original house. Blythewood's administrative center, it contained the doctors' offices as well as the "graduate house" for patients soon to be discharged...

..After being admitted, patients were sent to the "lockup house." There they would be held a few hours or days for observation. Farthest from the road was what was called the "violent house." Many of the patients in this building arrived by ambulance. The violent house contained a padded cell. Marty could hear occasional screams when she was walking back from pottery class. Patients in the violent house were often restrained, with their hands tied. Closer to the road was the "middle house". It had two floors, a finished attic, common rooms, and a small central dining room."

.......

"Though the sanitarium had been established as primarily a psychatric facility, its location in Greenwich was ironic regarding services to alcoholics. The town, a moneyed, educated, urbane bedroom community of New York City, had a reputation for widespread inebriety. As late as 1979, the problem of alcoholism was so pronounced that national study, reported in the Greenwich Time of July 30, 1979, called Greenwich the alcoholic capital of America, second only perhaps to the San Fernando Valley of California."

-read more here-

-blythewood sanitarium, inc. in pictures-

-records of other Greenwich and Fairfield County, Connnecticut Sanitariums (Crestview, Ardendale)-

Greenwich map, 1938:

Park-ing place: Trust Wants to Move Lyon House to Playground

I'd like to know how the h*ll anyone goes about physically moving a couple-hundred year old house?
Greenwich Time- A small park next to the Dorothy Hamill Rink parking lot in Byram is being eyed as the location for an historic Colonial-era home.

But a small playground located there would have to be nudged aside if the Thomas Lyon House was moved to Sherman Avenue, said Jo Conboy, chairman of the Greenwich Preservation Trust.

"There is a tiny, tiny playground with one or two slides that we would relocate and pay for; maybe we can even have it beside it (the house)," she said.

Lee Black, a local resident who regularly takes her 17-month-old son Dan to the enjoy the small parks jungle gym and handful of other amusements, doesn't want to see its character changed.

"I hate to see the little park go away, it is such a beautiful space," Black said Wednesday. "It's just a great playground for small children and it's nice to have in the neighborhood."

Black said she favors preserving the town's rich history, but is concerned about losing a park in a neighborhood that has many small children.

On Thursday, the trust received the town's backing to continue its efforts after the group appeared in front of the Board of Selectmen.

"It seems to me to make total sense," First Selectman Peter Tesei said about the move.

That selectmen's support does not mean approval has been granted to the trust to move the home. Trust board member Eric Brower said it helps the trust's fundraising efforts by showing that the group has the town's tentative support.

The park is located adjacent to the rink's parking lot and close to the McKinney Terrace senior housing complex. Close by, small American flags flutter next to about a dozen plaques to Byram residents who died in World War II. The plaques are located amid a grove of trees that stand next to the rear of the senior housing, formerly the Byram School.

On Wednesday morning, Byram resident Barbara Stella was walking her daughter's Jack Russell terriers Ginger and Lilly in the park.

"I don't think it is a very good idea because there are a lot of children playing here," she said, adding that placing the home there might leave it the target of vandalism.

"There are a lot of teenagers who hang around here at night," Stella said. "You find beer bottles in the morning here. It's pretty isolated especially after dark."

The trust wants to move the home because it is backed up against a hill and is wedged in by West Putnam Avenue and Byram Road, Conboy said.

Placing it in the park will give the house a commanding view of the Byram River valley, Conboy said.

"That has the most beautiful view. It's right on top of the hill," she said.

The Thomas Lyon House, believed to be one of the oldest structures in town, now sits at the bottom of that hill at 1 Byram Road at the intersection with West Putnam Avenue.

Not all area residents oppose the move.

"I think an historic building there would be better in this day and age," said Eugenie Menten, who lives on nearby McKinney Terrace.

She said "unsavory" characters walk through the area and believes the building may deter them.

The home's present location doesn't offer any convenient parking, said Conboy, as the only available spots are along Byram Road. She also believes it is not safe because of heavy traffic on West Putnam Avenue.

Conboy said the trust realizes that if it is successful in moving, members would also have to work around the schedule of activities at the rink because the parking lot fills quickly during events there.

All this is moot, of course, if the town, which owns the home, does not give the move final approval. And then there is the small matter of money.

Although no formal budget has been hammered out, Conboy estimates it would cost $200,000 to move the house, including site preparation, and another $300,000 to renovate it. The trust also plans to do studies on the move and its impact on the area.

Michael Bocchino, president of the Byram Neighborhood Association, said moving the house to the park makes sense.

"We feel that relocating up to the top of the hill is the best location," he said Thursday. "It provides ample parking, parking for buses, and it provides a safe, well-lit location for the home."

The house is "a lost treasure," in its current location on Byram Road and is easily overlooked, Bocchino said.

He said there still is room for a children's play area and suggested it could be updated if the house does move.

Brower told selectmen the house would schedule its open hours so it wouldn't conflict with sporting activities at the rink and a nearby baseball field.

The home is believed to have been built around 1695 by Thomas Lyon Jr., according to research the trust has, Conboy said.

The house originally was located on the north side of the Post Road, but was moved in 1927 to its current location due to road widening on West Putnam Avenue.

Julia Lyon Saunders, the last of seven generations of the family to own the home, gave it to the Rotary and Lions clubs to be used as a welcome and information center for the town.

It also was used as a rental property for many years.

In 1980, the Rotary Club ceded its interest to the Lions Club, which, in turn, handed it over to the town in 2007. The town continues to maintain the site.

The trust believes the land was given to Thomas Lyon Jr. by his father.

Once restored, Conboy believes it will draw Lyon descendants and other tourists to Byram and the rest of town.

"It's a wonderful asset to the own because it will bring people from all over," she said.

-- Staff Writer Frank MacEachern can be reached at frank.maceachern@scni.com or 203-625-4434.

Wallingford Central Hotel Fire

I skimming shadowlands.net in search for haunted locale, and read this description:

Wallingford, CT-
Shell Station on Center- Now a Texaco station. - Once a hotel that had a fire, killing most of the people inside. Then the Shell gas station was built in its place. It is now out of business because of hauntings occuring in station. Not only scaring customers but workers too.

http://theshadowlands.net/places/connecticut.htm


I looked it up, and sure enough, there was a hotel fire:

-article link-

Creepy. Wonder what's going on with the location lately..

I added it to my haunted locale map, by the way!

Ghost Hunting: Easton Union Cemetery and Gallows Hill in Redding

Easton Union Cemetery in Easton, Connecticut is one of the most notorious paranormal spots in the country, known for its White Lady.

In the 1990s, an off-duty firefighter claims to be the first person to have actual damage after hitting her, and along with the damage, has an incredible paranormal experience including a second ghost being seen as well. Read this account, from wikipedia.com (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Cemetery_%28Easton,_Connecticut%29):

"People who have "hit" the White Lady with their car have never had any damage turn up on their vehicles, except in the case of an off-duty fireman in 1993. He was driving his pickup somewhere between Union Cemetery and Stepney Cemetery, which is ten miles away, when the road in front of him took on a reddish glow. In those few surreal seconds, he saw a farmer with a straw hat sitting beside him and a lady in white approaching in the roadway with her hands reaching out toward him. He slammed on the brakes, but it was too late. He heard a thud and even ended up with a dent from the impact, yet no trace of the woman, or the farmer who had been sitting beside him, was ever found.The fact that he heard and was left with physical evidence of the impact is most unusual in cases of cars driving through or into apparitions."

It's so well known that in one of my college courses, 'Death and Dying', my professor (who's a RN) asked us how many have heard of the white lady or tried to see her- more than half of the class raised their hand. A good handful claimed to have actually seen her apparition.

There are other things seen and heard in this cemetery, including a pair of glowing red eyes that follow along those who walk. They can be read about in the wikipedia link above, along with a woman heard crying.

Union Cemetery is connected to Stepney Cemetery in Monroe by Route 59, as seen in this map:

The upper marker (on right side of map) marks Stepney Cemetery, and lower marks Union Cemetery. The marker on the left is Gallows Hill, which I'll mention in a bit.

I was determined to travel between the two cemeteries to see if we witness anything. Stepney Cemetery (in Monroe) is supposedly haunted by it's own white Lady- Hanna Cranna, ex-witch. Read about her here: (http://www.monroehistoricsociety.org/hannacranna.html)

I researched neighboring towns as well, and read of quite a few places in Redding that are apparently haunted.

Gallows Hill particularly interested me. One site's description (http://compmast.tripod.com/putnam/gallows.html):

"Nothing had so much annoyed Putnam and his officers during the campaign of the previous summer on the Hudson than the desertions which had thinned the ranks, and the Tory spies who frequented the camps and conveyed information to the enemy. To put a stop to this it had been determined that the next offender(s) of either sort captured should suffer death as an example.

On February 4th, 1779 Edmond Jones, previously from Ridgefield, was tried at a General Court Martial, found guilty of being a spy, and was accordingly sentenced to death by hanging.

Similarly, on February 6th, 1779, John Smith of the 1st Connecticut Regiment was found guilty of desertion, and sentenced to be shot to death.

General Putnam determined to execute both persons at once...... "make a double job of it," The lofty hill dominating the valley and the camps (known to this day as Gallows Hill) was chosen as the scene of the executions. Following the hanging/shooting, every soldier of the three brigades was ordered to march by a look at the mangled remains."

I also read on another site that none of the soldiers wanted to step up and kill their peers, and that General Putnam ended up taking over and doing the deeds himself. I also heard that they chose the spot on Gallows Hill because one of the boy's mother lived within view; and that it was her house that the soldier had deserted to in the first place resulting in the treason.

I wish I knew the exact spot in the area where the executions took place (on the highest point, which is hard to determine during night), but I know Gallows Hill Road is the road I want to travel.

Then there's this bridge on Diamond Hill Road (from this site: http://reddinghistory.wordpress.com/2010/01/12/haunting-in-connecticut):

"Diamond Hill: Just below the Mark Twain Library there is a super hot area where three people drowned in two separate floods…a couple died in 1955 after their car was caught in the swollen river, and a man died in 1982 attempting to clear the falls in a raft.

At the Diamond Hill Road bridge, Edward Arthur Phoenix, 53, and his wife, Veronica, 47, of Fox Run Road lost their lives when their car was swept into the river below the bridge. Mr. and Mrs. Phoenix were coming home from dinner at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Blair of Great Pasture Road.

A three and one-half hour frantic and near successful attempt to rescue Mrs. Phoenix from a tree, after her husband had been swept to his death, made the tragedy even more horrifying. While volunteer firemen and neighbors tried vainly to reach her in the darkness she clung doggedly to the tree, aware of the efforts to save her. But at length her strength failed and she fell into the river and drowned. At one time the rescuers were within 20 feet of the tree but were turned aside by the tremendous force of the torrent.

An Army helicopter spotted the woman’s body Monday Morning, 1,500 feet from the Diamond Hill Bridge. Mr. Phoenix’s body was recovered early Tuesday about 50 feet further downstream."

Finally, the last place I wanted to visit, Topstone Road. Shadowlands.net describes there being a small lit tent that people have observed disappearing next to train tracks that you cross over:
(http://theshadowlands.net/places/connecticut.htm)

So our journey finally begins..

We travel up route 7 in Redding, and off of route 7 to the right is Topstone Road. Now my boyfriend is one not to linger or take his time while touring. If it were up to me I'd probably drive very slow and maybe get out of the car if the feeling hits, but Joe just coasted along the road- nothing to be seen. No tent apparition, nothing creepy really at all.


We then headed for the Diamond Hill Bridge. Diamond Hill Road itself was quiet and pretty dark, just mildly creepy. The little bridge itself wasn't anything huge, the water below didn't look too far below or two deep-from our view it seemed to be more like a creek. Hard to imagine it being a powerful, scary current like it was on the day the couple plunged in- but remember, that was during a flood. There was nothing too creepy driving over the bridge, nothing seen, felt or heard. Had I gotten out and stood on it though, perhaps the story might've went differently.

The best part of the night was Gallows Hill Road. A super long road, Gallows Hill went on forever, narrowed down, widened up, and turned into a dirt road at one point as well. We felt very strange and creeped out on this road.

The visual of the road alone was creepy, but there was a cold, anxious-type feeling I felt in my core, and the cold feeling ended up being physical as well. We recorded a 10 DEGREE DROP in temperature. Joe's volvo read outside atmospheric temperature being at 50 degrees fahrenheit just outside of the road, then once on the road it lowered itself to 40. This was by far the strangest thing to have happened all night.

We finally made our way to the end of the road, which spilled out to route 59, then headed up towards Stepney Cemetery.

As previously mentioned, people claim to have run over the White Lady on all different spots stretching out along 59, so the more we got to travel this route, the more confident I felt for seeing something.

It is a nice creepy and semi-darkly lit road, but nothing on the way up. Stepney Cemetery disappointed me somewhat- it's situated right in a downtown-ish area, in a well lit spot that's in plain view, so we definitely weren't able to linger for long. Joe was a little irritated, feeling like it was a waste of time driving those five minutes up route 59 to where we were, but I knew we now had another good chance of seeing something by going back down 59 towards Union.

The ride down was uneventful, there were a few other cars on the road, the time then being around 12:15 am. Nothing scary to report, sadly. It seemed like any other back-country road. As we reached the bottom, with Easton Union on our right, Joe simply stopped at the stop sign, and took the left towards Merritt Parkway. I wish I could've circled around a little more, maybe park for a second- but we were all aware of the police's presence in the area.

Behind the cemetery (which situates itself on the corner of the four-way intersection) is a road. The only other time I came up to Easton Cemetery I parked on that road, about halfway down, and pulled the windows down a bit. I listened for anything I could hear, and besides the quiet all I heard was an animal stepping on a branch and cracking it. I heard this sound coming from my left, which wasn't the side of the road of the cemetery, it was opposite. Maybe that sound is what creeped me out, but before and after hearing it, I felt like something was wrong with that area, even though it wasn't part of the actual cemetery.

Later on I researched the area I parked in, and discovered that two separate victims of murder were dumped in a sinkhole where I heard the sound. (http://bansheeparanormal.com/union-cemetery-ct.html)

While getting onto the merrit, we mentioned how funny it was that the real creepy spot of the night turned out to be Gallows Hill, because of that incredibly noticeable cold spot. I hope to return again soon, before Halloween, but wish I had a EVP recorder.

_________________________________________________________
P.S: I found the spot of the executions on Gallows Hill.

It's in the Gallows Hill Natural Preserve area, and can be found on this site: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=491483

Tomac Cemetery

(full album here)

This little-known burial ground (at least was little-known to me until now) is the site of my town's first settlement. It's the oldest burial ground in town (obviously), and backs up to the Innis Arden Golf Course. Many of the tombstones are illegible and many more are in need of repair.. Some of the stones' remnants are so tiny that you need to be careful not to trip over them.



There are a good number of revolutionary war veterans buried here, along with Civil War.

(view more here)

Greenwich Burying Grounds

VIEW SPOTS HERE!!

Haunted Locale

Places that are apparently or confirmed to be haunted.
-*not finished at ALL!*-

CLICK HERE TO SEE SPOTS!

Creepy Staten Island

Staten Island is VERY creepy.


SEE SPOTS HERE!!

Creepy Places- Connecticut

SEE SPOTS HERE!!

Super Long Hiatus

I apologize for everyone out there (that still read this) for my incredibly long suspension of posts- I recently started a new job, and have been busy personally as well.

The last few weeks I've become keenly interested (again) in the paranormal and strange. I was researching the hell out of ghost/haunting legends and locale, then somehow branched off into historical research.

I found a lot of interesting information (to me, at least), like how around the corner from my house there was once an infamous sanitarium, Blythewood, which housed all sorts of people with varying levels of mental disease. In my researching of articles I found a series of strange suicides/disappearances of patients from Blythewood, including one article regarding a patient who drowned herself in a pond right by my house that I regularly visit.

My mind was blown- ever since finding this out I've been feverishly researching my town's history as well as our neighboring towns. It's amazing to me learning of things that have happened right here almost "under my nose" in a way, if it weren't just for a small thing- time periods.

It's quite suitable I delve into all this creepy stuff, October's here and fall is quite simply the perfect time.

I've also gotten into mapping out burying grounds and cemeteries, both large and small, new and old, in Fairfield county.

Once I figure out how to post my Google maps on here I will, and share with anyone who's interested all the different creepy spots I've found, whether it be a supposed haunting or just creepy because of something that had historically happened in that spot (usually going hand-in-hand anyways).

Thank you all for loyally visiting, I hope everyone is well!

-Krystle