Temple Beth David (1834)

On April 22, 1834, Methodists in Cheshire formed a building committee to undertake the construction of a meeting house. Called the Wesley Chapel, it is one of the last examples in the country of a chapel designed by John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. As related in Joseph Perkins Beach’s History of Cheshire, Connecticut (1912):

A lot of land centrally located was purchased of Jairus Bunnell, on which was built a brick structure at a cost of $3,000. This was dedicated Nov. 22, 1834, by Rev. Schuyler Seager. During the working of the bartyes mines, the congregation greatly increased and the church and finances were in a flourishing condition; the decrease in numbers caused by the removal of so many families has made the work of the (comparatively) few left much harder; but no diminution of ardor or enthusiasm has ever been noted.

A wooden belfry was added to the building in 1870, but it blew down during a storm in 1897. Church membership began to increase with the growth of Cheshire’s population after World War II. In 1959, the church acquired land at 205 Academy Road for future expansion and eventually decided to erect a new building at that location. The new Cheshire United Methodist Church was completed by February, 1970. The church had already sold its 1834 building to Temple Beth David, the town’s first Jewish synagogue, in 1968. The two congregations shared the old building until the new church was ready. In 1984, Temple Beth David completed phase one of an expansion. The building has a Colonial Revival style front entrance vestibule that was expanded southward to link with the new addition.

Plymouth Library (1932)

The Plymouth Library is a small private library, operated by the Plymouth Library Association and located at 692 Main Street, not far from Plymouth Green. The library was founded in 1871, largely through the efforts of Rev. E. B. Hillard (1825-1895), pastor of the Plymouth Congregational Church from 1869 to 1889. The original library building was destroyed by fire in 1929. The current building, designed by architect Raymond Percival, was dedicated in April 1932.

Oxfordshire (1925)

Stephen Betts Church (1866-1951) was a businessman and land-owner in Oxford who founded the Stephen B. Church Company, which specializes in drilling high capacity artesian wells. In 1925, he expanded his original family homestead at 53 Great Hill Road. The old house, built in 1736, was split in half and the two parts were moved to be on either side of a new section in the center. Church named his thirty-room mansion Oxfordshire. A highlight of the house is the music room, which features an Aeolian Pipe Organ. (more…)

Acton Library (1873)

The original Acton Library building in Old Saybrook was erected in 1873 on land donated by Thomas Acton at the corner of Old Boston Post Road and Pennywise Lane. The Library was dedicated on July 4, 1874. Thomas C. Acton (1823-1898) was a New York City politician and Police Commissioner whose summer home in Old Saybrook was across the street from the library. Begun as a subscription library, it became a public library in 1904. A new Acton Library was constructed in 1967 at 60 Old Boston Post Road. The former library, at 40 Old Boston Post Road, was bought from the town by architect Robert Wendler in 1970. He converted it into a single-family residence.