Morningside, Milford, Connecticut:
Milford’s neighborhood of Morningside contains about a hundred acres perched above Long Island Sound. Local historians say that English settlers purchased the land from Native Americans of the Wepawaug tribe in 1639. Then in 1645, Miles Merwin became an owner of the waterfront property. The Merwin family owned the land at Pond Point for sixteen generations. Part of the land was a bluff called “Rock Farm” – because it was sectioned off by shallow walls made from unearthed stones.
In the mid-1860’s the Merwin’s sold Rock Farm to Henry G. Thompson, an industrialist of New Haven’s Thompson Saw Company. Born in Enfield on October 18, 1818, Thompson was born into a wealthy family of carpet manufacturers for whom Thompsonville, Connecticut is named. While sailing the Connecticut shoreline in search of a homesite, a high bluff in Milford caught Thompson’s eye. Due its and daily sunrises, he named the area Morningside.
By 1866, Thompson had acquired 81 acres of land at a total cost of $10,450. Between Thompson Hill Road and Manor Drive he built a 22-room Victorian manor house. The home was completed in around 1870. It was adorned by English and Circassian woodwork and massive walnut doors with silver door knobs. Great crystal chandeliers imported from Europe hung in the halls. In the basement of the manor was a milk room, laundry room, wine cellar, ice storage, furnace room, and pump room.
A bell system was installed throughout the manor. It called servants to attention who would respond according to the tone of the bell. The grounds of the manor featured wide expanses of lawn, rare trees and elaborate gardens. The estate once manufactured its own supply of gas to illuminate lamps on the premises. Several outbuildings included a carriage house, barn, tool house, ice house, and homes for groundskeepers and servants – some of which remain standing today.
After Thompson died in 1902, the real estate developers crept in. Milton T. Yale and the Yale Land Company of Flushing, New York purchased and subdivided Morningside for new homebuyers. The Yale family converted the manor house into a private inn called “The Morningside Club” but the Thompson mansion was later demolished in the early 1930s. Today, the neighborhood is a carefully managed community of homes for almost 200 families. There’s a fantastic sunrise over the water every morning.
Sources
Morningside Barn, Historic Barns of Connecticut, Contributed by 2013.
Morningside History, The Morningside Association
