Author: Daniel

First Congregational Church of Bethel (1866)

The First Congregational Church of Bethel was first organized in 1759. Captain Ebenezer Hickok gave the land for the first meeting house (built in 1760) and burial ground. The original building, located at the intersection of Main, Maple, and Chestnut Streets, burned down in 1842, and a new building (the Second Meeting House) was constructed. In 1865, during a severe thunderstorm and gale force wind, the steeple fell and broke through the building’s roof. The church chose to sell the building (it’s now the home of the Bethel Historical Society) to the town and erect a new meeting house, which still stands today, on the site of the original meeting house, at 46 Main Street.

John Prentice House (1853)

Two houses on Park Place in Mystic (1 Park Place and 5 Park Place) have historic markers indicating that they were the home of John Prentice, a carpenter. I don’t know if it was the same man or, perhaps, a father and son. According to The History and Genealogy of the Prentice, Or Prentiss Family, in New England, Etc., from 1631 to 1883 (1883), by C. J. F. Binney, there was a John Prentice, born “January 16, 1823; house-carpenter, and for last fifteen years cotton-gin builder.” The house pictured above, at 5 Park Place, was erected in 1853. According to the sign on the door, a later owner was Capt. Henry Ashby.

William Cann House (1860)

Very similar to the neighboring Greek Revival house at 1 Park Place in Mystic is another house built in the same year, 1860. Located at 3 Park Place, its first resident was William Cann (1831-1906), a ship’s carpenter. He was born in Sidney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and in 1855 married Mary Ann Pendleton (born 1837) in Mystic.