Grover L’Hommedieu (1741-1841) was one of the patriot militiamen who became refugees from Long Island to Connecticut after the Battle of Long Island in 1776 during the Revolutionary War. He settled in Norwich and in 1797 leased land from Samuel Lay in Essex. There he erected the town’s first ropewalk. Around that time he also erected the house at 32 Main Street in Essex. It was later occupied by his son Ezra L’Hommedieu (1772-1860), a ship-carver who invented the double-podded center screw auger, which he patented in 1809. Grover’s daughter Sarah (Sally) married Ebenezer Hayden II, the town’s leading merchant. In 1802, Grover L’Hommedieu sold the ropewalk to his partner, Ebenezer’s son, Jared. In 1815, the L’Hommedieu House was purchased by another member of the Hayden family, John G. Hayden.
The Grover L’Hommedieu house has just received a major “to the frame gut renovation” plus the addition of a new carriage house at the back of the property off of Parker Lane. You can see photos of it on my sites
Scot Samuelson Architect, LLC
https://www.instagram.com/scot.p.samuelson.architect/
https://www.houzz.com/projects/2487173/main-street-essex-ct