CLATTER VALLEY EASEMENT. 13 acres , donated in 1986 by Burges
Smith and H. Rankin Olyphant.
Over the years, Farmington citizens have periodically felt that their
village needed improvement in one way or another and have formed
a committee to do so. There have resulted several committees of town
leaders dedicated to the purpose. The first of these was in 1818. Its
members were George and Horace Cowles and Samuel Richards.
Their efforts led to a sidewalk from the Barney [then Treadwell] House
to the Lodge [185 Main Street, then Ezekiel Cowles’]. A “Sidewalk and
Shade Society” was active during the Civil War years. The long-lived
“Village Improvement Society” was formed in 1873 under the
leadership of Sarah Porter, and meetings are documented until 1902
shortly after her death. The group promoted landscaping, street lighting
and the tear-down of a disreputable tavern on what became the Town
Green. There were also social events, such as picnics at the river and
in John Hooker’s Grove. [Now a Land Trust easement on Reservoir
Road]. Twentieth Century interest in historic preservation led to the
creation of the Farmington Historical Society in 1957, and the Historic
District in 1965.
Following our 1976 Bicentennial Celebration, many of the same
community leaders who led these initiatives joined in 1980 to establish
the Clatter Valley Road Society. Names on its letterhead include
Roberts, Schaus, Hornblow, Bissell, Reed, Barnes, Freymann, Taylor,
Thomson. This group aimed to strengthen and expand preservation
efforts. Among their goals was to expand Historic District and Land
Trust protections into the area north of Route 4 along Mountain Spring
Road and beyond. Though the group disbanded a few years later, it
succeeded in stimulating historic and open space preservation
throughout the town.
The “Clatter Valley Road” followed the trail on which Farmington’s first
settlers crossed Talcott Mountain and came down into the valley. It ran
north of present Rte 4, crossing Talcott Notch, Metacomet, Vine Hill
and Prattling Pond Roads. It then dropped down the hillside to join
Mountain Spring Road near the Emerys’ driveway at # 92. The road was
called “Clatter Valley” because of the noise of carts and of the weekly
Hartford stagecoach on its stony surface. The original road was
replaced by Route 4, and reverted to brush and trees. However,
the old path remained as a track through the woods, and was well
known to local people. It was never again used as a public way, but in
1909 it narrowly escaped being re-opened when the Town fathers
tabled a request by Mr. Hartigan of the trolley company and owner of
Unionville’s Electric Park. In recent years, traces of the old road have
been kept clear of brush by thoughtful neighbors.
The Clatter Valley Road Society adopted the name in order to
emphasize that the scenic and historic area north of Route 4 merited
preservation. Their generosity and foresightedness has resulted in
several Land Trust properties along Mountain Spring Road, and the
Clatter Valley easement. The easement follows the course of the old
road through the woods and down to Mountain Spring. It provides that
the track will be kept clear of brush, but that the second-growth forest
will remain in its natural state, uncut and unbuilt.
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