CAREY PASTURE, BARNEY PASTURE AND LIDGERWOOD PARCEL

These properties total 8.9 acres, and include a sloping wet meadow with huge pasture trees and excellent wildlife habitat. They front  Mountain Spring Road on the east, across from the Barney House and Boulder Brook Lot. They were donated by Ann Carey [1996]; Hattie Lidgerwood and Katherine Garfield [1983]; and by the William Lidgerwood, Richard Noyes and William Haviland families [1980].  The parcels recall the centuries-long agricultural history of the neighborhood and the estates of its well-to-do landowners.

The big barns and sheds are gone now, and the only structures recalling this history are a garage building and a large ancient root cellar dug into the hillside. On the Carey lot is the spring for which Mountain Spring Road is named. Unfortunately, encroachment from neighboring development has damaged the wetland, threatened the spring with siltation, and cut away portions of the protective tree canopy. These common problems are also part of Farmington’s history – though of a sad recent chapter. The Land Trust is working to mitigate the ecosystem damage, and will maintain the historic character of the meadow with twice-yearly mowing and control of invasive plant species.