Dr. Orrin Hunt House (1840)

163 Hebron Rd., Bolton CT

At 163 Hebron Road in Bolton is a Greek Revival house built c. 1840. On the property is also a building that served as Bolton’s South School House until 1949. The house was built for Dr. Orrin Hunt, who is described in Genealogy of the Name and Family of Hunt (1863):

Dr. Orrin Hunt was a native of Lebanon, Conn. He was born in that part which is now the town of Columbia. He read medicine with Dr. Fuller of that place, who sustained a high reputation in his profession; and was subsequently connected with the State Institution, the Retreat for the Insane, at Hartford. Dr. Hunt enjoyed the full confidence of his distinguished teacher. Dr. Hunt located in Bolton, and was successful in medical practice, and esteemed as a citizen. He afterwards removed to Glastenbury, and there also enjoyed the reputation of a skilful [sic] and faithful doctor. He continued to be much employed in Bolton; and, after a few years, returned to that place. Dr. Hunt was taught, by affliction in his family and by protracted suffering in his own person, to mingle sympathy with his prescriptions for others; an his visits were thus rendered peculiarly welcome and soothing. An acquaintance of nearly forty years enables the writer to speak of the estimation in which he was held by his patients. They looked upon him as a friend; and the medicines administered were the more effective and beneficial from the confidence he inspired, and the fellow-feeling and kindness manifested. His Christian influence was much valued, and his death deplored as a great loss

Daniel Darte Homestead (1722)

Daniel Darte Homestead

The house at 22 Hebron Road in Bolton was built sometime between 1740 and 1770, although it may date to as early as 1722. It has been added to over the years. It was built by Daniel Darte (1691-1771), an original settler of Bolton. Daniel Darte supported the town’s separation from Hartford in 1720. There is another house in Bolton, at 219 Bolton Center Road, that is traditionally associated with Daniel Darte.

Jared Cone House (1800)

Jared Cone House

Jared Cone Sr. (1733-1807) of Bolton married Christiana Loomis on September 19, 1754. He purchased the Loomis farm in Bolton by 1768. Jared Cone and his son, Jared Cone, Jr., both served in the Revolutionary War. The father marched with the militia from Bolton to the Lexington Alarm in 1775 and the son was at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1781. Jared Cone, Jr. married Elisabeth Wells of Wethersfield in 1784. He acquired his father’s farm in 1790 and ten years later built a Federal-style house at what is now 25 Hebron Road. The house‘s rear ell appears to be much earlier, dating perhaps to c. 1755. Cone could only afford to live in the grand house for four years, eventually selling it and moving away (he died in New Hampshire). For about eight years the house was a bed and breakfast until it closed in 2003.

Bolton United Methodist Church (1852)

Bolton United Methodist Church

The Bolton United Methodist Church is located at 1041 Boston Turnpike in the Quarryville section of Bolton. The church’s history is described in A Historical Sketch of Bolton, Connecticut (1920), by Samuel Morgan Alvord:

The Methodist Church began its work at an early date in Bolton with the first camp meeting ever held in a New England town. The noted itinerant preacher Lorenzo Dow was the leader and great crowds were attracted to his meetings which were held May 30 to June 3, 1805, near the Andover town line directly east of the South District School house. Rev. Mr. [George] Colton [of the Bolton Congregational Church] was deeply offended at this encroachment upon his rights. Camp meetings were held later near camp meeting spring on the South Manchester road.

The first Methodist Church was built at Ouarryville in 1834 near the present edifice. This building was sold to the Universalists in 1851 and moved some distance west and a new church was built the following year. Joseph Ireson was the first pastor in 1823.

A brief history of the “M.E. Church, Quarryville, Connecticut,” by Edgar A. Brownell appears in the Souvenir History of the New England Southern Conference in Three Volumes (1897). As Brownell describes:

Methodist meetings were first held in 1823, at the house of Isaac Keeney, and in pleasant weather were held under the shade of trees in the vicinity of what is known as Quarryville, sometimes under a large elm tree, near the late Isaac Keeney’s residence.

The first meeting-house was built in 1834, and stood near the site of the present one. and was sold to the Universalist Societv in 1851-2, and removed about eighty rods west. The present meeting-house was built in 1852, and cost between $3,000 and $4,000, and has never been without a minister and a fair congregation.

Some years since the Rev. James S. Thomas, then stationed here, thought the society needed a church bell and a barn. He procured the same, and then set at work to pay for them. During his pastorate here special services were held and a great revival took place, “and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved,” many of whom are at present members in the church.