HERENDEEN HOME

Inscription

HERENDEEN HOME
NATHAN HERENDEEN, 1741-1807,
PURCHASED 1,000 ACRES HERE
IN 1789. LAND FOR CEMETERY,
CHAPEL & PARK DONATED TO
TOWN BY HIS DESCENDANTS.
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2021

The Herendeen Home, in the community of Shortsville, is the former home of early resident Nathan Herendeen (1741-1807). Arriving around 1790, Nathan Herendeen purchased 1,000 acres of land here in 1789 for only £100. Following his death in 1807, Herendeen bequeathed to his son, Welcome Herendeen, a significant portion of his estate, which consisted of his home, farm, and hundreds of acres of land, which remained in the family for several years.

Over time, Herendeen’s descendants donated the land to create the South Farmington Cemetery and adjacent Chapel as well as a park known today as Meeting House Park, in honor of the Old Religious Society of Friends Meeting House that once stood there. In the park lies a stone with a plaque bearing the following inscription:

In Memory of the Friends Meeting House erected on this site in 1823. The land was given by Welcome Herendeen, being on the original farm of his father Nathaniel Herendeen, who settled here in 1790. The memorial placed by the Herendeen Assoc. in 1928.