It was known that Justin Morgan settled somewhere on the Randolph, Brookfield town line, but no one has ever found the exact location. To me, finding this location would give the story of the Morgan Horse in Vermont a new beginning and explain why history played out as it did for this breed of horse. It would be the location of where Morgan and his family came to, where they lived, where his wife died, a spot that he brought his colt home to, where this one of a kind colt roamed, worked and raced. It would be the location that marks the beginning of the Morgan Horse in Vermont.
Justin Morgan Jr., said to closely resemble his father. Courtesy Vermont Historical Society.
We met many people and walked many miles
On The Road To Justin Morgan.
Below are some images of our journey.
There were at least a dozen locations that we came across that we found or people had reported as the Morgan homesite. Randolph Historian Mim Herwig brought us to a spot that she said that her husband Wes had brought her to and they had a picnic. Wes had told her that this was the cellar hole location of justin Morgan. After doing digs and professional metal detecting in an attempt to find proof we were able to disprove this location. Bob Brinck an archeologist did several digs at the Herwig location. It was eighty rods from the Griswold home and not forty rods like Alan Thompson had reported in his article. (click on images to enlarge)
After many years and many visits with Eaton Snow I must announce that he passed away on August 21, 2019. My last visit with Eaton was in May of 2019 when I let him know that we found that his pasture was the pasture that the Morgan Horse was turned out into when Justin Morgan brought his colt to Vermont. We had talked about trying to get a historical marker installed to mark the spot. He signed the paperwork to do so shortly there after. The home was owned by Judge Fredrick Griswold at the time and Griswold and Morgan were friends. Griswold had married Martha Read Walbridge whose father was Henry Walbridge the person who owned the land and cabin that Morgan settled in. The original Griswold home was the section with the porch and the shed. Griswold added the other two section story home later. His office was in the room in the corner of the home or the second window to the left of the front door. The image to the right is a map from Google Earth of the Morgan Homesite location in relation to the Griswold home according to Alan Thompson.
The first image is of Nathan Snow who inherited the farm which was previously the Griswold farm, from his dad Eaton. The middle photo is Niels R. Rinehart. Niels was the first archeologist to dig at the Herwig which was disproved to be the site. The image to the right is of Laura V. Trieschmann the Vermont State Historic Preservation Officer who was very instrumental in guiding me with the correct paperwork to get a historic marker approved and in writing what was to be on the marker.
The picture to the left are of members of The Paranormal Investigators of New England Group who came to my home, and to the Morgan site and spent the night to see if there was any paranormal activity. The image to the right is an image of the original town plot maps of Randolph and of Brookfield. The top map is Brookfield and the bottom map is Randolph. The maps were lined up using Adobe Photoshop and at the same scale. At sometime someone had drawn in the road on land that was suppose to be deeded to Daniel Bowen. There is no record of Bowen so he never claimed his land but it was taken by Frederick Griswold shortly after 1790. This proves that the road was never move and resides in it's original location. It also takes a left right in front of land owned by Henry Walbridge, right were Morgan lived. The road follows the town line but right at the point of the Joseph Griswold parcel (the road drawing stops there) the road turns at a left angle and follows J. Griswolds border until the X on the map and turns right. The X on the map is the Joseph Griswold home. Joseph was Fredericks father.
