Nut Plains is a section of Guilford, named for the abundant hazelnuts found there by early colonial settlers. Before the establishment of the Boston Post Road through Guilford, a seventeenth century thoroughfare crossed East River at Foote’s Bridge Road in lower Nut Plains, where one of the last unpaved sections of the original New York to Boston carriage road survives today. In this neighborhood is the house built in 1810-1811 by Col. George Foote. Although the house has an address of 829 Goose Lane, it’s front facade faces Foote’s Bridge Road. George Foote farmed on the property of his grandfather, General Andrew Ward, and replaced the old Ward farmhouse with his new Federal-style home. This earlier house once stood on the current site of the front yard of 829 Goose Lane and its history was linked to a number of notable individuals.
Colonel Andrew Ward IV purchased a farm in nut plains in 1740. He fought in the French and Indian War and was at the Siege of Fort Louisbourg. Col Ward‘s son, Andrew Ward V, was also at the battle, and later rose to the rank of general in the Revolutionary War. He inherited lands from his father and lived in the old farmhouse. His eldest daughter, Roxana, had married Eli Foote, who died leaving his widow penniless with ten children. Roxana and the children, one of whom was Col. George Foote, came to live on their grandfather Andrew Ward’s farm and the farmhouse came to be called “Castle Ward” by the children. Gen. Ward also laid out the the private Foote Cemetery at Sandy Knoll. The cultured Ward-Foote family hosted many guests, including the young poet, Fitz-Greene Halleck, and the Rev. Lyman Beecher, who married Gen. Ward’s granddaughter, named Roxana after her mother. Lyman and Roxana Foote Beecher‘s famous children included Rev. Henry Ward Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe. After the death of her mother, the five-year-old Harriet Beecher was brought to stay at the Nut Plains farm by her aunt, Harriet Foote–the first of many happy visits there over the years.