Harry F. Corning is the current owner of the Monkey Farm. Harry purchased what was then called The Saybrook Inn with his partner, Thomas Davies, in 1968 from then owner Lyman Higgins. The Inn was a dark, smoky bar room filled with laughter and sports talk. It was known basically for serving alcohol, but a good, piled up high roast beef sandwich could always be gotten at lunchtime.

The old post and beam building was also home to various tenants, mostly elderly single men who were known to the town as the “Nob Hill Gang”. In the mid-1970s Harry decided to renovate the Monkey Farm and the tenants were forced out. All except ol’ Johnny Bronco had homes to go to. Harry drove ol’ Johnny to his sister’s in Massachusetts, explaining to her that she was responsible for Johnny.

In 1978, after the renovations, Harry renamed the place “The Monkey Farm.” The name is said to have been penned by a customer in the early 1960s. The previous Innkeeper was somewhat of a binger; he would often throw the keys to a customer and say “watch the place till I get back, I’m going to the bank.” He forgot to mention the bank was in Reno and he was stopping off in Vegas for a few days. The customer shouted out to the lively crowd “They’ll let anyone work here, this place is nothing but a Monkey Farm!” So the bar had been known as “The Monkey Farm” for decades, and the term has also been used for sports teams and such.

Harry is proud to have raised four children, David, Laura, Debra and stepson Justin. David, Laura, Debra now run the Farm from day to day. Justin works and lives in Miami, Florida.

Harry’s main interest is playing Golf, and his next is watching almost all sports, not to be confused or reversed. He has been a member of The Black Hall Country Club in Old Lyme, Connecticut, and enjoys retirement in Florida playing golf with many of his Black Hall cronies who have seemed to migrate together again.