Town Land, Waters, and History Are Linked
Do look up, down, and all around for town stories in plain sight
The East Haddam Land Trust and East Haddam Historical Society have collaborated on a series of mini-documentaries that draw the connections between land preservation and local history.
The "Saving Land, Saving History" project comprises three videos on local land preserves (Hammond Mill, Patrell, and Bernstein) and two more profiling the land trust and the historical society.. The videos feature interviews with local historians and conservationists, beautiful new drone and earthbound footage, and historical photo archives.
"Saving Land, Saving HIstory" was awarded the 2021 Excellence in Conservation Award from the CT Land Conservation Council and the 2021 Award of Merit from the CT League of History Organizations.
The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry was founded in 1867 as a way for farmers to improve their lives through better farming methods, to provide farm families with a place for social gatherings, and to lobby Congress and state legislatures on issues important to farmers.
East Haddam's farmers decided to join the burgeoning Grange movement in 1889, establishing East Haddam Grange No. 58, in a meeting at the old Town Hall. John Bigelow Gelston, who had recently returned from a job in New York City to the family's East Haddam farm to help his aging parents, was one of the organizing farmers who formed the local chapter.
Brothers Joe and Julian Bury produced freshly cut meat products from their humble barn store with a quality and authenticity available nowhere else,.
The brothers ran the front and back of the shop with the help of a changing crew of teenagers, who could see the Bury's barn right behind the high school.
Drone shot by Frank DiNardi