Judge Albert E. Purple House (1850)

The house at 34 Plains Road, across from Moodus Green in East Haddam, was built c. 1850. It was the home of Judge Albert E. Purple (1823-1924), an owner of three successful twine mills in Moodus. In 1878 he formed the Undine Twine Mills. He was also a partner in the Purple & Stillman dry goods store, a bank president, a judge of probate, a state legislator and a primary benefactor of the East Haddam Public Library, donating funds and land for a building. At the time of his death, he was the wealthiest man in town.

Frank C. Fowler House (1890)

The house at 30 Plains Road, on the east side of the Moodus Green in East Haddam, was built c. 1890. It was the home of Frank C. Fowler. Born in 1859, Fowler served in the state General Assembly in 1897. According to his biography in Taylor’s Legislative History and Souvenir of Connecticut for 1897-1898, “Since 1882 he has been prosperously engaged in the manufacture of proprietary remedies, and is also proprietor of the well known Oak Grove Stock Farm.” He is further described as, “an ardent sportsman owning one of the largest game preserves in the country, and has given attention to the propagation and protection of our native game.” He also built a harness race track on the flats above the Green. Fowler’s 110′ yacht the Huntress was commissioned by the navy in 1898 for duty in the Spanish-American War.

Hadlyme North School (1794)

Hadlyme North School

Adjacent to the Hadlyme Congregational Church in East Haddam is the Hadlyme North School. A one-room schoolhouse, it was built in 1794 and was initially run by the Ecclesiastical Society, later by a School Society and then by the town starting in 1865. The school closed in 1929 and by 1967 the building was in danger of demolition. The North School Society was formed to preserve the building, which is maintained by the Society and the Congregational Church.

Hadlyme Congregational Church (1840)

Hadlyme Congregational Church

As related in A Statistical Account of the County of Middlesex, in Connecticut (1819) by David Dudley Field:

The [Ecclesiastical] Society of Hadlyme was incorporated in Oct. 1742, and was thus called, because it was made partly from East-Haddam and partly from Lyme. The church was organized, with ten male members, on the 26th of June 1745, and on the 18th of the succeeding September, the Rev. Grindall Rawson, who had been minister several years at South-Hadley, Mass. was installed their pastor.

The current church, built in 1840 and located on Town Street (Route 82) in East Haddam, is the second building to be constructed on the site.

Palmer-Warner House (1738)

Palmer-Warner House

Construction of the house at 307 Town Street in East Haddam is traditionally attributed to John Warner (1677-1750) of Hatfield, Massachusetts, c. 1738. He had married Mahitable Chapman Richardson, widow of Lemuel Richardson and daughter of John Chapman, a wealthy East Haddam landowner. The house’s current exterior features date to c. 1790, around the time John‘s grandson, Oliver Warner, was married. Both John and Oliver were skilled blacksmiths who produced hardware such as hinges and latches, some of which are still within the house. There is also a barn on the property that may date to the same period as the house. Adjacent to the property is the Warner family burying ground, now owned by the Town of East Haddam. The house remained in the Warner family until after the Civil War.

In 1936 Frederic C. Palmer (1901-1971), a pioneer restoration architect, acquired the house and restored it the following year, filling it with antiques. Palmer was commissioned to rehabilitate two East Haddam landmarks, the Goodspeed Opera House and the First Church of Christ Congregational. For the Antiquarian and Landmarks Society (now Connecticut Landmarks) he restored the Buttolph-Williams House in Wethersfield and the Joshua Hempsted House in New London. After Palmer’s death his partner, Howard A Metzger (1921-2005), continued to live in the house, leaving it with an endowment to become a museum of Connecticut Landmarks. Although currently maintained by CT Landmarks, the house has yet to be opened as a museum due to financial and other issues.

Boardman House (1875)

Boardman House

In 1842, Luther Boardman invented and patented an improved mold for creating britannia silverware. He established a factory in East Haddam where he produced britannia spoons. In 1864, Luther Boardman entered a partnership with his son Norman S. Boardman, under the name L. Boardman & Son. This successful business peaked in the 1860s and 1870s. Norman Boardman had already built the Italianate house at 8 Norwich Road when another grand residence was constructed next door circa 1875. A more eclectic house than its neighbor, it features an Italianate design and an octagonal rear tower on west side with a mansard roof and Eastlake-style iron cresting. There is some confusion over who built the house. The National Register of Historic Places nomination for the East Haddam Historic District lists the house as the Norman S. Boardman House, while an 1880 bird’s-eye-view of East Haddam lists it as the residence of his father, Luther Boardman. An online collection of images from the Boardman Collection at the East Haddam Historical Society has a photo of the house with the description “The Lawton House owned by the Boardman Family.”