SAVE HOYT-BARNUM  -- RECOVERING A LOST SOUL

One of the more surprising aspects of the story about the Hoyt-Barnum House is how much it has been neglected.  Neglected by the Stamford Historical Society, the city government, and yes, the public; like a geriatric community member shuffled from authority to authority in order to receive  SOME kind of care, the Hoyt-Barnum House, has become an annoying burden when it should be revered and lauded as a symbol of Stamford's endurance as a city.

A visit to the lot tells you immediately of that neglect and even abuse.  There is litter all over the lot, a piece of rotting wood from the house lying on the ground, a beat up shed in the back.  It is obvious that no one visits and does anything to care for it. No one.  Also, the ground is used for overflow parking for the police station.  Another act of disrespect and disregard.

From those first few lots, to the present day, this house is the one remaining example of a time long gone. 317 years predates American independence by 77 years, three generations.  That counts for something.  Can you imagine the generations that lived and died in that house?  Can you imagine the marriages, the children they had, the lives they lived?  Those lives were like drum beats that marked the passage of time as our nation grew, right there in Stamford.

The Hoyt-Barnum House symbolizes so much.  The plan to move it is a huge mistake from the word go.  You cannot separate a building from it's place, it's origins, and still call it history.  It becomes the hollowing out of history; a form of decapitation.

So, to you the reader, our appeal is the same. Help us save this house.  Help us to convince the responsible parties that the smarter thing to do is to keep the building there.