Memories and Stories
A few residents have written stories about their childhood and their memories of Plainfield and Meriden in years past. The Historical Society has not attempted to verify all that is written in the documents below and the points of view expressed are the author’s alone. However, we believe that sharing these first-person accounts and memories gives a unique insight into the development of our community. We hope you enjoy them.
Note: If you have written your own memoirs of life in Plainfield or Meriden and you would like to have them included in this section, we would love to have them. However, the Plainfield Historical Society reserves the right to edit and/or not to publish any document which is disparaging of others or which might otherwise be considered inappropriate.
Steve Taylor shares the history of the Jenney, True and Willow/True’s Brook Road neighborhood, and the farmers and families who lived on the land in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Fred Sweet was born in 1920 and died in 2016 at age 95. He lived his entire life in Plainfield, attending the village school and graduated from Windsor High in 1937. He served in the Army for three years during WWII in the Coast Artillery Anti Aircraft division. He then worked as a bookkeeper for Cone Automatic in Windsor for 43 years. He was the Treasurer for the Town of Plainfield for 53 years, and Treasurer of the Plainfield Community Church for 30 years. He was married in 1946 to Barbara Stone, and after her death in 1977 married Mary Dickerson. Fred and Barbara had one daughter, Judy Ann. Fred grew up on Westgate Road, and he and Mary lived on Center of Town Road for many years. In 2011, Fred was interviewed about his WWII experiences. Listen to “Fred Sweet’s WWII Memories”
Richard W. Plummer was born in Windsor, Vermont in 1932. His stories of growing up in Plainfield will make the ‘old’ folks smile and the young ones wonder: his father, Steve, ran the Plainfield Store for many years; the rifle club practiced in the Town Hall shooting across the stage toward the Maxfield Parish backdrop; read about his hunting and fishing adventures; and much more. Richard graduated from Dartmouth College and served as a Marine during the Korean War. He and his wife, Gloria, have been happily married for over 50 years, living and raising their children in Plainfield. After the Korean War,
he became the Director of Buildings and Grounds at Dartmouth College. He and his wife Gloria were married for almost 52 years before his death in 2010. To read his “Reflections”, click here.
Albert “Abe” Read was born in Plainfield in 1920. He and his wife, Kathleen, were dairy farmers. Abe served Plainfield as president of the Plainfield Historical Society, supervisor of the checklist, auditor of town and school budgets, and a member of the Town finance committee. He and Kathleen were active in the Grange and a variety of Agricultural organizations. Abe and Kitty first farmed on the Charlie Williams place south of Plainfield village, then on the Daniels place on Black Hill until 1962 when they bought the Shadow Lawn Farm in Claremont. After selling that farm and retiring, Abe and Kitty moved back to Plainfield and built a new house on Prospect Hill above the original Read homestead. Abe died in 2010. He wrote two volumes of “Abe Read’s Memoirs” which we have combined and reprinted with permission.
Click here to see Abe’s stories.
