Canal House & Pitkin Basin

From 1828 to 1848, a canal ran through Farmington, between Garden Street and the Farmington River. Boats docked at a canal basin, the site of the present parking lot. The Pitkin Basin is the location where Foone, one of the Mende Africans, drowned while swimming. It was also here, at the Canal House, that the Mende Africans embarked on the Farmington Canal to other towns to give exhibitions and raise money for their return to Africa.