48 Pompey Hollow Road, Ashford (1815)

As described in yesterday’s post, St Philip the Apostle Church in Ashford is a Catholic parish established in 1921. Rev. John Joseph Nilan of Hartford sent Father William J. Dunn to a 135-acre farm he had acquired, land where the church would eventually be built in the 1930s. Until then, Father Dunn resided in an old farmhouse, 48 Pompey Hollow Road, in which he partitioned off a section to serve as a chapel. He had to endure local prejudice against Catholics, but eventually succeeded, with the help of the local Catholic community, in erecting the church. I don’t know who built the Federal-style farmhouse, but it appears to have been erected in 1815. Today the house is home to Antiques at Pompey Hollow.