The Monument to Isaiah Leach

On a cold January day in 1816, tragedy struck the quiet community of South Wilbraham. Isaiah Leach, a 30-year-old farmer, was hauling logs to a sawmill along the Scantic River. Like so many men of his time, he relied on the strength of his team, a wooden sled, and his own endurance to move the heavy timber. But as he made his way along the rough path, one of the massive logs slipped free. In an instant, it rolled from the sled and crushed him beneath its weight.

For nearly an hour, Isaiah lay helpless and alone, pinned in the cold. When he was finally discovered, it was too late. His sudden and heartrending death sent ripples of grief through the small farming town, where every life was intertwined with the next.

In the wake of the accident, the townspeople sought to honor his memory and mark the place where his life had ended so abruptly. They raised a large brownstone monument at the very site of the tragedy. Carefully inscribed with the details of his passing, the marker stood not only as a memorial to Isaiah but also as a solemn reminder of the dangers of early New England life. Today, more than two centuries later, that stone still stands in Hampden, off Main Street, directly across from number 204, halfway up the hill where his final journey came to an end.

Isaiah himself was laid to rest in the “Old Cemetery” on Chapin Road. His gravestone, still weathered but legible, bears an inscription as stark as the moment it describes:

"Aged 30, whose lamentable death was occasioned by rolling a large log from his sled which went directly over him; he lay alone in this most distressing situation about an hour before he was discovered. This dreadful catastrophe happened on Jan ye 8th, 1816."

Through these enduring stones—the monument by the roadside and the marker at his grave, Isaiah Leach’s story remains an integral part of Wilbraham and Hampden's history. His life, though tragically cut short, continues to speak across the generations.

The large brownstone monument is at the very site of the tragic death of Isaiah Leach