Author: Daniel

First Church of Christ in Mansfield (1866)

The first Congregational community in Tolland County was organized in Mansfield in 1710. The first minister was Rev. Eleazer Williams, who was succeeded by Richard Salter. The original meetinghouse was replaced by a new church in 1754 (which can be seen in an 1836 sketch of Mansfield by John Warner Barber). When that second meetinghouse was destroyed in a fire, the current church building was constructed in 1866. The First Church of Christ in Mansfield is located on Storrs Road in Mansfield Center. It was designed in the Italianate style, with its facade featuring arched windows influenced by Italian Romanesque churches. The steeple is a replacement of the original, which was destroyed in the 1938 hurricane.

George Tiffany House (1890)

The home of George Tiffany, built around 1890 on Prospect Street in Willimantic (in Windham), is in the Queen Anne style and features a carousel porch (like the Peck House in Bristol). Like the nearby William Grant House, the George Tiffany House will be included in the 2008 Willimantic Victorian House Tour.

The Mason-Knowlton Place (1829)

The Mason-Knowlton Place is a Greek Revival-style house on the Old Turnpike in the Four Corners district of Mansfield, probably built in the late 1820s. In 1864, it was purchased by John Chauncey Mason, who farmed the land and ran a nearby mill with his two sons. In 1879, Mason moved to a farm across the Turnpike and his son, Charles Mason, inherited the house. In the 1880s, Charles Mason added the front porch, using wood he had sawed at his mill. He also added additional rooms. After Mason’s widow’s death, in 1940, the house was owned by his daughter, Eva Belle Mason Knowlton, and her husband, Henry Knowlton, who ran an antiques business in the house. She died in 1983, at the age of 101. A biographical article on Eva Belle Mason can be downloaded.

The John Sheldon House (1810)

Around 1810, John Sheldon built a house in Mansfield Center, on what is now known as Storrs Road, on land he had purchased from Benjamin Storrs. At one time, the house had a Greek-style entry portico, which was replaced by the current porch in the late nineteenth century. Sheldon, a saddle maker, was related to the famous Sheldon family of Deerfield, Mass.

The Altnaveigh Inn (1734)

The Altnaveigh Inn and Restaurant, on Storrs Road in the Spring Hill area of Mansfield, is located in a colonial house built by Isaac Sargeant, on land given to him by his father, John Sargeant, probably in 1734. The house was later owned by Dan Storrs, who purchased it from Sargeant’s widow in 1794. It was later bought by Azariah Freeman and remained in his family for over a century. It may also have, for a time, been occupied by the miniature portraitist, George Freeman. In 1951, it was purchased by Edith McComb, who named it Altnaveigh, Gaelic for “hill top.” For much of the last century it has been an inn and restaurant.

The Crocker-Sherman House (1794)

Daniel Crocker built a house on Storrs Road in Mansfield Center in 1794, which he briefly operated as a tavern. After declaring bankruptcy, he sold the house in 1799 to Rev. John Sherman, minister of Mansfield’s First Congregational Church. In 1805, Sherman published One God in one person only: and Jesus Christ a Being distinct from God, dependent upon Him for his existence, and his various powers; maintained and defended, which has been described as “the first formal and elaborate defense of Unitarianism in New England.” Facing efforts by his Trinitarian congregation to dismiss him for his beliefs, Sherman left Mansfield in 1806, moving to New York state where he would become the founder of the Trenton Falls Resort. His house continued to serve as First Church’s parsonage until 1953.

William Grant House (1895)

The 1895 William Grant House, at the intersection of Prospect and High Streets in Willimantic, was built in the Queen Anne style, featuring elements of the stick style. It is one of the many Victorian houses for which the city of Willimantic (a “census-designated place” in the town of Windham) is known. The house is currently owned by Eastern Connecticut State University and is used as an alumni house. It will be part of Willimantic’s 2008 Home Tour in June.