• Stamford Connecticut Holiday Ornament, The LBD Harbor Witch, View 1
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Stamford Connecticut Holiday Ornament - The LBD Harbor Witch

Stamford Connecticut Holiday Ornament - The LBD Harbor Witch

$28.00 USD
$28.00 USD
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Stamford has a witch. She's ours, and we've had her since 1692. She sits sidesaddle on her broom above a wet dock on Stamford Harbor, bare feet pointed, hat tipped, a wreath on the piling behind her — engraved in the fine black line of an 1880s book illustration and printed on clear crystal. The only color is the wreath.

In April 1692, the same spring Salem began hanging people, a seventeen-year-old servant named Katherine Branch fell into fits in the Wescot house by the cove and began naming women. Two were charged: Elizabeth Clawson of Stamford, who had feuded with the Wescots for years, and Mercy Disborough of Compo. In June both were bound and lowered into the water at Fairfield; both floated, which by the rules of the day was proof. Then Stamford answered on paper. On June 4, seventy-six of Clawson's neighbors signed a petition on her behalf. The trial opened at the Fairfield meetinghouse on September 14, the jury could not agree, the court sent the case to Hartford and back, and the colony's ministers, asked for a written opinion, called the water test unlawful and the girl no witness to hang a woman on. On October 28 Clawson was acquitted. Disborough was convicted, sentenced to death, reprieved, and in the end released. Salem hanged nineteen that year. Stamford hanged no one, and Elizabeth Clawson walked home and lived another twenty-two years, dying in 1714 at eighty-three.

For Stamford natives, for the neighbors on Shippan and the Cove who know the Wescot name as a cove, for the friend who likes a witch with good posture, and for anyone who thinks the better 1692 story is the one where the town said no.

She is not Elizabeth Clawson. Nobody in 1692 looked like this, and that is the point: the women this town nearly hanged were neighbors, not witches.

A three-inch clear crystal ornament with a faceted edge, the engraving printed to the glass so the hatching reads like an old plate held to the light. She hangs on a Halloween tree in October and on the Christmas tree in December, and she looks right on a hook in a window with the harbor fog behind her. Spruce-green wreath, cranberry bow, nothing else.

3-inch (76 mm) round crystal glass ornament, faceted gem-cut edge, white-backed print for crisp contrast, red ribbon hanger, white or gold gift box chosen at checkout, free U.S. shipping.


QUICK FACTS — STAMFORD CT CRYSTAL ORNAMENT — THE LBD HARBOR WITCH

Town: Stamford, Connecticut

Founded: 1641 (deed 1640; renamed 1642)

Known for: Rippowam, a harbor town since 1641; the 1882 Stamford Harbor Light; the Fish Church; Connecticut’s second-largest city

Art: The LBD Harbor Witch, original Merlin Classics engraving

Blank: 3-inch (76 mm) round clear crystal glass ornament, faceted gem-cut edge

Print: white-backed for contrast; red ribbon hanger

Packaging: white or gold gift box, chosen at checkout

Made to order in the USA



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Wear Local. Feed Local. Stay Classic.

Product FAQs

How does your sizing work?

Every item is made to order, so please check the size chart on this page before you buy. Women's fitted tees run small; size up for a looser fit. Caps are one size with an adjustable strap.

How are items made and when will they arrive?

We make each item to order using premium blanks, embroidery and soft-hand prints. Production takes 2-5 business days (weekends and holidays excluded), then 4-10 days in transit via USPS, UPS or FedEx to U.S. addresses; most orders arrive within 6-15 business days. You'll get a tracking link the moment it ships. Any current shipping offer is shown in the bar at the top of every page and applies automatically at checkout, no code needed.

How do I send a gift?

Enter the recipient's address as the shipping address and your own as the billing address at checkout. Nothing ships with a price; the package includes a plain packing slip. Tracking goes to your email, not theirs. For birthdays and holidays, order two weeks ahead to be safe.

What's the return policy?

Made-to-order items can't be returned or exchanged for size or color, so please use the size chart and photos before ordering. If anything arrives defective, misprinted or damaged, send a photo and your order number within 30 days and we'll replace it or refund you.

How do I care for my item?

Apparel: wash cold, inside out, with like colors; no bleach; tumble dry low or hang dry. Embroidered pieces: iron inside out to protect the stitching. Caps: spot clean. Printed glasses and water bottles: hand wash only, no dishwasher, so the artwork lasts. Mugs and engraved glasses are dishwasher safe. Any item-specific care notes are in the description above.

Who makes this?

Merlin Classics is a small Connecticut brand making original retro designs for the towns people love. Every piece is printed, embroidered or engraved to order in the USA, and the business supports hunger relief in the communities our collections celebrate.

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Two landmarks from either end of that story still stand on the water and on the skyline. Out past the breakwater, on Chatham Rock, the Stamford Harbor Ledge Light is a sixty-foot cast-iron sparkplug tower set on a caisson in 1882, the kind of lighthouse that looks like it was screwed into the Sound. It was automated in 1953, sold to a private owner in 1955, and has been privately held ever since, which is why you can see it from Cummings Beach and Shippan Point but not climb it. In town, the First Presbyterian Church on Bedford Street is Wallace K. Harrison’s Fish Church: a sanctuary shaped like a fish in plan and profile, its concrete walls set with more than 20,000 pieces of faceted glass, dedicated in 1958, with a 260-foot carillon tower beside it. It was named a National Historic Landmark on January 13, 2021.

Who were the Stamford witches? Elizabeth Clawson and Mercy Disborough, two neighbors accused in 1692 after a servant girl’s fits; Stamford tried them, and hanged no one. That spring, while Salem was filling its jail, a seventeen-year-old servant named Katherine Branch began to convulse in the house of Daniel Wescot and to name the women who tormented her. One was Goodwife Clawson of Stamford, a woman who had quarreled with the Wescots for years. The other was Mercy Disborough from Compo, down the Sound. Both were jailed, searched for witch-marks and bound and lowered into the water to see whether they floated. Then Stamford did something Salem never managed: seventy-six of Clawson’s neighbors signed a petition swearing she was no witch. The court at Fairfield heard the case in September and acquitted her in October. Disborough was convicted, and reprieved. The witches went away. The need didn’t.

Why People Visit Stamford, CT

Stamford balances harbor and city — sailboats on the Sound, a downtown skyline, and four centuries of history from Rippowam to the rail line. It is a Gold Coast harbor town an hour from Manhattan, with the water, the parks, and that one-of-a-kind church on the hill. Increasingly it is also a town with a story to tell: the one that was asked to hang its witches in 1692 and signed a petition instead.

Stamford, Connecticut Merlin Classics retro vintage logo featuring an oyster shell over Connecticut Est. 1636