History

In 1809, the same year Abraham Lincoln was born, Chauncey Merriman, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, purchased a small farm on the south end of the Shuttle Meadow Lake and planted some apple trees.

His son Anson impulsively planted a thousand Baldwin trees when this variety was still relatively unknown, taking a risk that proved to be successful. Anson’s son Josiah planted some peaches, and his daughter Sarah’s husband, Elijah Rogers, dared to plant 7,000 peach trees, one of the first farmers in Connecticut to grow peaches commercially.

Each successive generation in the Rogers’ family has taken their chances with farming in Connecticut, where the weather can be as much of a risk as market forces. The farm currently grows 20 varieties of apples, 10 varieties of peaches, as well as pears, plums, nectarines, and apricots under the management of John Rogers, Chauncey’s great, great, great, great grandson, his son Peter and daughter Martha and his son-in-law Greg Parzych.