The timeline below excerpted from Bob Russell’s WILTON, CONNECTICUT: Three Centuries of People, Places and Progress. Available from the Wilton Historical Society.
1794 – Josiah Raymond began buying land in this area, and soon after, he and his son Platt Raymond built two homes on the property and established a farm here. Under Lewis Raymond, son of Platt, the farm encompassed nearly 300 acres.
1799 – The large White house (the Raymond-Ambler House) was built by Josiah Raymond and was occupied by the Raymonds and their Ambler descendants until 1999.
1800 – Lewis’s daughter, Hannah, married Charles A. Ambler, and they eventually inherited the farm. Their two sons, Charles M. and Lewis Ambler, lived in the two houses until their deaths in the 1930s. The large yellow house at the entrance to the Farm was built around 1800, and was occupied by the Raymond and Ambler families until 1937.
1880 – The white horse barn was built.
1899 – The red hay barn was built by local carpenter George Taylor.
1900 – The ice house was built by George Taylor. He also built the back wing on the white house, and remodeled the yellow house, taking out the center chimney and traditional front stairs, and adding the bow windows on north and south.
1918 – Charlie M Ambler married Anna Schuessler.
1919 – Elizabeth (Betty) Ambler was born to Charlie M and Anna Ambler.
1942 – Betty married Reed Shields, the first president of our Wilton Kiwanis Club.
1950 – Betty + Reed divorced. He moved to Ridgefield and she went back to live with her mother at the family homestead.
1998 – Anna and Betty continued to run the farm until Anna died in 1988 at 95, Betty continued on until she died in 1998 at 79.
1999 – The Town of Wilton, with overwhelming taxpayer support, purchased this beautiful 200-year-old working farm.