STONE ACRES FARM
A Connecticut Family Legacy since 1765
North Main Street, Stonington , CT
A Short History compiled by Robert Simmons
Since 1765, Stone Acres Farm has been tended by nine inter-related families – four generations of Phelps, two generations of Edwards and three generations of Paffards. The first greenhouse dates back to at least 1835 and is believed to be one of the oldest in Co
nnecticut . The formal box bushes are over 180 years old. The original main house was built by Dr. Charles Phelps in 1765. He served as a local physician, first Judge of Probate, Selectman and Representative in the Connecticut Assembly. In 1774 he joined the revolutionary Committee of Correspondence and in 1788 voted to ratify the U.S. The house was used to shelter refugees from Stonington Village during the British attack in August 1814. The new main house was built in 1830 by Captain Charles H. Phelps whose ships carried granite to New Orleans to pave their streets. He also acquired the mahogany book case and artifacts during voyages to South America and China . He was an original incorporator of the Providence Stonington Railroad – the first inter-state railroad in America –and donated the Borough clock in 1838. Sadly he died with 250 others on the S.S. Lexington in 1840. Charles Phelps widow, Anna Hammond married The Rev. Erskine Edwards, a direct descendent of the ‘fire and brimstone’ preacher Jonathan Edwards; and the property passed to the Edwards family. On the death of Eugene Phelps Edwards in 1938, the property passed to his brother and sister in law, Dr. Frederic C. and Helen Adams Paffard. She was descended from the distinguished Adams family in Boston , Massachusetts . During the 1930’s Dr. Paffard introduced pasteurization to the dairy farm operation and produced bottled milk for the community during the Depression and World War II. During the 1938 hurricane, the house served as a shelter for stranded train passengers. Dr. Paffard passed the property to his son, Frederic C. Paffard, Jr., Vice President of PPG Industries, who left it to his wife, Edith Rizer. She gave 75 acres of woodlands to the Avalonia Land Trust in memory of her husband and, on her death in September 2008, the farm passed to her four daughters – the tenth generation of family ownership. In recent years the farm has focused on flower and perennial plant production for sale to the general public. The Garden
The plantings in the garden span over 100 years. The quarter mile of boxwood bushes, for example, date back to the 1830s. The gazebo, fish pond and rose arbors were first placed at the turn of the last century. There are over 40 varieties of daffodils and hundreds of varieties of plants and flowers. The trees on the property have suffered from repeated storms and hurricanes. The ‘eye’ of the 1938 hurricane passed right through Stonington and destroyed most of the specimen trees on the property. Thereafter, Helen Adams Paffard transplanted a cedar, golden arborvitae, Hinoki Cypress, Cryptomeria Japonica, Umbrella Pine and Metasequoia from the Brooklyn Botanical Garden in New York as well as other plants and bushes. The so-called “Ha-ha” in front of the house was designed to keep the livestock out of the garden and yard without the inconvenience of a fence. The bridge over the “Ha-ha” was re-built in 1986 to replicate an earlier one dating back to the turn of the last century. The smaller greenhouse dates back to at least 1835 and is considered one of the oldest in Connecticut . The larger “Grapery” produced fresh fruit year-round for the Phelps and Edwards families but has fallen into disrepair. The June 2011 edition of Connecticut Magazine features Stone Acres Farm in an articled titled “A Garden Legacy” written by Tovah Martin.
