Introduction

I’m the fourth generation living on this land that was once the Avery Farm in Coventry, Connecticut. This is a story of the women and men who came before me. It is a story of a fifty-year transition from farmland to residential development from 1896 to 1946, as the country and the world changed around them. I knew many of the people who lived here myself, and others from family stories and artifacts. They were farmers, entrepreneurs, artists, educators, engineers, builders, soldiers, scientists, and just everyday folks who made an impact far beyond their small community.

I have been associated with this land since 1952. My first summer days were spent with family and friends at my grandparents’ cottage overlooking Lake Wangumbaug at 65 Avery Shores, in Coventry, Connecticut, across the street from the home of my great aunt and uncle, Ethel and Arnold Avery, at 74 Avery Shores. Ethel and Arnold were already well into their retirement by the lake when I came into their lives. The memories included here are from family photos and stories over four generations, along with some research and a few artifacts. The narratives are available both as text and AI enhancements with Notebook LM. 

It becomes clear looking through the archives that there is one pivotal character that binds the whole story together: Arnold Poole Avery.

At 20 years old, Arnold was already in the area. He was invited to a corn-husking party at the Loomis house in South Manchester in 1894. Born in Pennsylvania, he perhaps was visiting other Avery relatives. His father purchased the Island View Farm in 1896. In 1902, Arnold was running a boarding house at 33 Asylum Street in Hartford. At the time, Hartford was a financial and literary center, with the likes of J. P. Morgan and Mark Twain.

In Hartford, Arnold was a registered journeyman plumber. In 1902, he also applied for a plumbing license in Northampton, Massachusetts. By 1903, Arnold was developing plans to turn his father’s farm into a resort. In 1908, Arnold married Ethel Mellor in New York City. He was an instructor at the Vocational School for Boys in the Bronx by 1910. Arnold and Ethel would spend summers in Coventry. In 1939, they moved year round to their lake house in Coventry with Ethel’s mother, Mary Ann Needham Mellor.

In 1920, Arnold’s father sold the Island View Farm to a developer, J. Fitzgerald. Arnold, Arnold's father and one brother kept some of the lots along Lake Wangumbaug. Charles Mellor, Arnold’s brother-in-law bought some lots across the street. Charles, a New York civil engineer, did the survey work for J. Fitzgerald and developed the original map of Gerald Park. Lots were sold through a broker in New York City. Many New Yorkers, including many famous vaudevillians settled in the area. Dagmar, a television star, came to spend time at the lake.

While Arnold never developed the resort himself, he put in place the plans for those who followed to realize his dreams.