History of this Place

This Place, where Mercy Center sits, is beautiful with its
rolling lawn, gardens tucked in many corners, trees that bloom and blossom through many seasons and of course, Long Island Sound.  It is no wonder that people have been coming to the shoreline area for hundreds of years.  This Place has a feeling of its own; helping travelers and visitors unwind from their daily lives and begin to slow the pace to dig deep into personal reflection.

In 1973, Mercy Center was officially ‘rededicated’ as a conference and ecumenical center for spiritual renewal.  Before then, this was the site for the Our Lady of Mercy Novitiate and Diocesan Sisters College (1949-1969) where young women began their education and entered the Sisters of Mercy community.  The rededication happened in response to a need recognized by the Sisters of Mercy; people need a place to go for spiritual growth and development. 

The Sisters of Mercy have been here since 1949.  In many ways they have been here for only a small amount of time.  For the history of Madison and the Neck River or East River region is rich with stories and the families that lived here.  The story of how the Mercies came to be here is an interesting one. 

In the 1880’s Mary A. F. Hotchkiss, wife of Henry O. Hotchkiss, the shipping merchant from New Haven, purchased a parcel, about 1/3 of what we have now, which included a main house and additional buildings.  The estate, named “Stonycroft” was eventually inherited by her daughter, Miss Marie O. Hotchkiss.  In 1938, the estate was donated to the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale University to raise the salaries of professors and graduate students when she died.  Yale in turn, sold the property to a group of “ten men” who were planning to develop the property.  But for some reason or another, the deal or deals never came through and eventually they sold the estate to W. T. Grant, the magnate of Grant department stores.

W. T. Grant razed most of Hotchkiss’ Stonycroft estate.  In 1941 the Grant’s completed their new 18 room mansion, designed by Edward Durell Stone, an architect known for his post modern designs.  Although very little is written about him, we know W. T. Grant painted, loved the water, collected trees and loved his gardens.  Our Solitude Space, is a tower three stories high and provides impressive views from all four directions.  This was W.T. Grant’s art studio – and we believe we have one of his paintings in our possession.  

By 1948, W.T. Grant offered his Madison estate to the Archdiocese of Hartford.  Archbishop Henry J. O’Brien accepted the gift but did not have use of the property on the shore.  Instead, he had his eye on a piece of property the Sisters of Mercy owned.  So an exchange was made.  The Sisters of Mercy took the Grant estate and approximately 16 acres of land in exchange for property where a new parish center would be built for St. Mark’s Parish in West Hartford.  In the ‘60’s the Sisters would purchase additional land, which included the peat bog wetland and athletic field providing a buffer between the outside world and the young women entering the sisterhood.

Changes to the land, the buildings and its people continue today.  In 1991 Chester Truax, a friend and neighbor from Buffalo Bay renovated our greenhouse.  Originally part of a pair, we assume built by the Hotchkiss family, had not been used for decades. 

In 1995 an entire house was moved from Westport to our site.  Seascape, originally a three story home of Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue, opened as a private retreat house in 1996.