theGROVE // a history
Honoring the Land + the Wengunk People
theGROVE is nestled in the heart of the Lower Connecticut River Valley, a region rich in natural beauty and sacred history. Long before roads, towns, or modern structures, this land was home to the Wengunk people—also spelled Wongunk or Wangunk—who lived in harmony with the river, forests, and seasonal rhythms of this land.
The Wengunk were an Algonquian-speaking tribe whose ancestral homelands stretched along both sides of the Connecticut River, from present-day Middletown to the mouth of the river near Old Saybrook. Known as “people of the bend,” the Wengunk thrived through fishing, farming, hunting, and gathering, drawing from the abundance of river and earth. The Connecticut River was not only a source of sustenance, but a spiritual and cultural lifeline.
Though their numbers were diminished and their communities displaced through the pressures of colonization, disease, and land seizure beginning in the 1600s, the spirit and legacy of the Wengunk people remain deeply woven into the land.
At theGROVE, we acknowledge that we are guests and stewards on Wengunk land. We hold a deep commitment to honoring the Indigenous people who came before us by walking gently, listening deeply, and offering our reverence through ceremony, education, and environmental care. May our presence here reflect gratitude and respect for the original caretakers of this sacred valley.
Remembering the Chalany Farm on Cedar Lake Road
Article from the Chester Historical Society, written July 2019, only one year before we purchased theGROVE + saved it from development
Remembering the Chalany Farm on Cedar Lake Road
The 14-acre farm on Cedar Lake Road, once the home of a Czech family, the Chalanys, may soon be a lost piece of history. The property goes on the market later this sum- mer, possibly enticing a developer who will cut the property into home sites.
“However, in spite of many letters, e-mails, texts, and phone calls, we couldn’t secure the buggy from the family’s estate. Recently, however, my persistence paid off. I was able to secure the buggy, and it still was in good condition within the old barn. Additionally, I’ve secured many other Chalany Farm implements, including some horse-drawn plows, an orchard ladder and lots more.”
In the meantime, though, some of this farm’s history has been preserved, thanks to Bill Myers, a longtime Cedar Lake Road resident.
Here’s Bill’s story: “About 10 years ago, rumors were adrift of an old horse-drawn buggy in an old barn, located somewhere on the Chalany Farm. After the old farm was listed for sale on the open market, I ventured down to see if I could find it. Way up in the back, in an old, falling down, decrepit, dark barn, was a very old, four-wheel horse-drawn buggy, jammed into the barn with lots of junk. The barn looked like it would collapse at any moment. The buggy was covered in decades of soiled dirt and obviously had not moved for many years.
“From that very moment, I knew that this buggy must be saved. It is a priceless historical implement of a passing era in the history of Chester. I was determined to see that it was preserved by the Chester Historical Society.
William and Father Robert Chalany, with Cedar Lake in the background. (Photo found online)
Isadore (also spelled Isidor) and Gabrielle Chalany im- migrated to Chester from what was then called Slovakia in 1917. It appears they bought the Cedar Lake property in the late ‘20s. They had six children, Julia, Rose, Helen, Robert and William; their son Alexander died as an in- fant in 1927. Four graduated from Chester High School; William (most people knew him as Willie) did not grad- uate. The family were members of St. Joseph’s Church. The sisters left the farm once they were married. Robert was ordained as a priest in 1952 and spent most of the ensuing years in Africa or New York. Willie remained on the farm until his death in 2008, and Robert retired there and died in 2012.
Chester Historian Rob Miceli remembers, “Father Chalany was mostly not in Chester as an adult, but he still loved coming home and being able to do farming. He was a classmate of my mother, so she chatted with him whenever he was around. Willie used to mow the parking lot of the Fairgrounds. If Father was in Chester at the appropriate time, he would help. They would bale the hay, early on in small rectangular bales, then in later years they had a baler that produced big round bales.”
