Jonathan Dickerman House Museum
This small house, with its sweeping roof-line and deep front overhang, was the home of a moderately prosperous farming family in the late 18th-century. It reflects the conservative tastes and plain living of Hamden farmers in that era. The simply designed rooms, with few adornments other than the paneled fireplace walls, are today much as they were when the Dickermans lived here. In its two centuries of existence, the house has never had plumbing or central heating.
In 1792 Jonathan Dickerman II (1747-1821) moved his family eastward from their original farm on the rocky hills of western Hamden to this new home near the river. His father and uncle had settled in Mount Carmel some fifty years earlier and their descendants for more than a century were major landowners with leading roles in town affairs.
In the middle years of the 19th century, after Jonathan’s death, his widow and subsequent owners took in boarders, some of whom worked in nearby mills. In 1875 ownership passed to an Irish immigrant family and the house became know as the “Grogan Place.”
The state assumed title in 1924 when J. Edward Heaton, who had owned the old farm since 1907, donated it to the new Sleeping Giant Park. Heaton had previously rented out the house as a summer place. After it was given to the Historical Society in 1961, the house was moved across the road from its original site on park land to its present location on Jonathan Dickerman’s barn lot.
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TORNADO!
The May 15th tornado deeply affected Mount Carmel and surrounding areas; for many the cleanup and repairs still continue. One beloved local property badly damaged is the Jonathan Dickerman House and the Talmadge Cider Mill, on Mount Carmel Avenue at the "Little Red House." CHECK OUT THESE PHOTOS.
The Hamden Historical Society is attempting to restore these reminders of our town's heritage, but to do so it needs to raise $25,000. Won't you show your support for Hamden's history by donating what you can?
You can send a check to the Hamden Historical Society, P.O. Box 5512, Hamden, CT 06518
Information on how to become a member of the Historical Society, can be found here.
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| * May 15, 2021 - 7:33 p.m. |
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| * May 15, 2021 - 7:34 p.m. |
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This photo was taken less than two hours after this huge tree crashed through the roof last May 15th.
| This photo, also taken the night of May 15th, shows the huge limb that crashed through the roof of the 1810 cider mill barn, which was relocated here from West Woods Road in 1992.
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