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Old 02-16-2009, 09:07 AM   #7
Chickie
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Default White Owl/ Gilman Property

The White Owl post cards are terrific. I was wondering if anyone had photos and glad you came through and posted them. I never realized all the various attractions that small piece of property held. Much of it was hidden away by the thick evergreens. Warren Huse’s article sheds more light on its early beginnings and it seems it was older than I thought it was. Very interesting indeed.

Pertaining to the Gilman farm (McIntyre pasture), I believe one of the first houses in that part of town was built by Thomas Sewall. It is mentioned in many of the old deeds to describe properties “on the road leading from Lake Village to Thomas Sewall’s”. Thomas was born in 1784 (died 1868) and his wife was Dorothy Bartlett (1785-1862). Their daughter married Hiram Gilman and the place became known as the Gilman farm after they took up residence following the deaths of her parents.

I recall back in the 1940’s there was a house just north of the Howard Johnson Restaurant on Lake Shore Road and believe it must have been the Sewall/Gilman house. The property was subsequently purchased by Thomas McIntyre. The land extended across Lakeshore Road to where Lowe’s is today and consisted of a web of stonewalls dividing the various pastures. By the mid 1940’s much of it had begun to grow back into a wooded lot, although a section was still being used to pasture a cow or two. There was a blueberry field there with the sweetest berries in the world.
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