From Matthies's book: "Mrs. Eldred, an original proprietor, had not come to this country so her lot had never been used. The church took the lot for a house for Rev. James Pierpont and people were asked to make a freewill offering toward building the house. William Cooper brought two elms which he planted in front of this house at the corner of Temple and Elm Streets. The intellectual Jonathan Edwards courted the charming Sarah Pierpont under these trees and here the 'silver tonged' Whitfield preached from a platform built under their branches. The last of the Pierpont Elms was cut down in 1840 when it had grown to eighteen feet in circumference."