Nathan Hale was a Revolutionary War hero, a captured spy whose last words “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country” remain one of American history’s most remembered phrases. He was born on a property located in quiet Coventry, Connecticut, in 1755. Evidence suggests that the original homestead was located southeast of the one built in 1776. Parts of the original farmhouse where Nathan Hale was born and grew up are believed to be incorporated into the 1776 house, which Hale himself never lived in.
History of the Nathan Hale Homestead
Nathan Hale’s birthmother died after her 12th child was born. Two years later, her husband, Deacon Richard Hale remarried a widow by the name of Abigail Adams, who had seven children of her own. The combined family totaled 19 people, so plans for a new, larger homestead were made.
Nathan Hale, at that time a Yale-educated school teacher, became a Captain in the Army in 1775. A year later, he volunteered to go behind British lines on Long Island to gather military intelligence for General George Washington. When the British captured him, it was discovered he was a spy, and he was executed. Reports are that his body has never been found, although the family erected a marker for him in the Nathan Hale Cemetery, located on Wagunbaug Lake in Coventry.
The family moved into their new home in October of 1776, a month after Nathan’s death. Deacon Hale lived in the home until his death in 1802. The house remained in the family thereafter for a number of years. David Hale, a minister, taught school in the home and ran the farm. His son, David Jr, planted some maple trees in the front of the house and called it "Holy Grove" because his father had held prayer meetings in that spot. After the death of David Jr, the homestead was sold out of the family.
In 1914, a New Haven attorney named George Dudley Seymour acquired the neglected homestead, and worked to restore it. He furnished the homestead with antiquities and several Hale family possessions. When he died in 1945, "the birthplace" as he called it, was bequeathed to the Antiquarian and Landmarks Society, which still owns and maintains the property.
Ghostly Experiences
Reports of a haunting at the premises go back to George Dudley Seymour, who claimed to have a paranormal experience shortly after he acquired the property. He and a friend had gone to take a tour of the homestead. Upon peeking inside one of the windows, he was met face to face with an apparition of Deacon Hale, father of the hero, which then vanished into this air.
A Hale family servant by the name of Lydia Carpenter is also said to haunt the premises. Her spirit has been reported as sweeping the upstairs and eavesdropping in hallways and in the kitchen. Joseph Hale, brother to Nathan, is said to haunt the basement, where clinking chains have been heard, and other family members may also roam the old colonial house, with disembodied footsteps being heard from time to time.
Hale Homestead Today
The Homestead is open seasonally. The Antiquarian and Landmarks Society holds events there, and even has a mystery tour. The success of the homestead continues, and Nathan Hale, being America's first spy and one of the most well known Patriots, continues to draw crowds. One would have to doubt that the rumor of ghosts on the premises will do any different.
Jennie Arpin - Jennie Arpin lives with her family in Connecticut. Her writings have appeared in the Door Opener and Spirit of Change publications. She ...
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