Address
PO Box 104
4 Library Road
Middlebury, CT 06762
Contact
203-267-4717
The Legends
Local lore describes a couple—or a man—who built creepy, doll-sized houses and a “throne” after hearing voices of fairies or “little people.” Tales vary: the builder went mad, his wife died, or the couple met a tragic end. Rumor claims haunting voices linger or that anyone sitting in the throne dies within seven years.
The Real Story
The true origin is far less supernatural: around the 1920s, William Joseph Lannen—a gas station owner—began transforming his struggling site into a nursery after a new route bypassed his station. He crafted small concrete buildings, paths, steps, rainwater pools, and even installed lights. The adjacent stone house served as a gift shop. When the trolley ceased operations and the nursery never materialized, the attraction was abandoned by the 1930s.
Bob Rafford explains it all