Clark Farm Tenant House Site facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Clark Farm Tenant House Site
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A glass bottle found at the site
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| Nearest city | East Granby, Connecticut |
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| Area | 0.3 acres (0.12 ha) |
| Built | 1860 |
| NRHP reference No. | 01001554 |
| Added to NRHP | January 31, 2002 |
The Clark Farm Tenant House Site is a special historical place in East Granby, Connecticut. It's where an old farm building used to stand. This building was home to farm workers in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Finding this site helps us learn a lot about how these workers lived. It shows us what kind of things they owned and used every day. Because it's so important, the site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
Contents
What Was the Clark Farm Tenant House?
The Clark Farm Tenant House Site is found near a main road in East Granby. This land once belonged to the Clark family. They owned a lot of land in the area during the 1800s and early 1900s.
What Can You See There Today?
Today, the only parts of the house you can see are the old stone walls of its foundation. A foundation is the base of a building. These walls are made of fieldstone, which are natural stones found in fields. The foundation measures about 18 by 29.5 feet (5.5 by 9 meters).
Old photos from the 1930s and talks with people who lived nearby help us imagine the house. It was a simple house with a pointed roof, called a gable roof. Other parts of the site are hidden underground. These include a shallow well for water and a privy, which was an outdoor toilet.
Who Lived in the House?
Historians believe that tenant farmers lived in this house. Tenant farmers were people who rented land and a house from a landowner. They worked the land but did not own it. This house was likely used from about 1860 until around 1940. The house sadly burned down in the 1940s.
The land was owned by Charles P. Clark. He owned hundreds of acres in the town. He was also one of the biggest tobacco growers in the area. Records show that Mr. Clark owned four houses. He probably lived in one and rented the others to his tenant farmers.
How Was the Site Discovered?
The Clark Farm Tenant House Site was found in 1996. This happened during a project to build a new state highway. In 1998, a team of archaeologists carefully dug up the site. This is called an excavation.
During their work, they learned how big the site was. They also found more than 3,000 artifacts. Artifacts are old objects made or used by people. These included many everyday items. They found pieces of pottery, glass, buttons, and nails. They even found old trolley tokens and a pocket watch!
