Carolyn Stoddard was the daughter of Elizabeth Collins Stoddard and lived at the Collinwood family estate in Collinsport, Maine. She was engaged to marry a local man named Todd Blake. In June of 1970, Carolyn met Barnabas Collins, a relative newcomer to Collinsport. She grew immensely infatuated with Barnabas and was elated to discover that her cousin would be moving in to the original family estate, commonly referred to as the Old House. Barnabas had plans to renovate the Old House to its original condition.