Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Colonial

Silas Deane House (1766)

Built next door to the Webb House, on Wethersfield’s Main Street, in the late 1760s for Silas Deane, a Yale educated lawyer from Goton who settled in town in 1762. Deane married Mehitable Nott Webb, the widow of the merchant Joseph Webb, in 1763 and their son, Jesse Deane, was born in 1764. Because Mehitable died in 1767, it is probable she never lived in the Deane House. After her death, Deane married a second wealthy widow, Elizabeth Saltonstall Evards, in 1769. Deane became involved in the American Revolution, serving as a delegate to the Continental Congress. In 1776, he was sent to France on a mission to secure French aid. Later joined by Benjamin Franklin and Arthur Lee, Deane worked well with the former in negotiating an alliance with the French, but clashed with the latter. Lee’s charges that his colleague had mismanaged funds eventually led to Deane’s recall.

After a dispute with Congress, Deane returned to Europe in 1781, where he lived in poverty for many years. He later died in mysterious circumstances in 1789 before he could complete his return journey to America. By then his reputation had been severely damaged by Lee’s accusations and by the publication of private letters in which Deane had questioned the Revolution and considered rapprochment with Britain. He had never been found guilty of Lee’s charges and in 1842 was exhonorated by Congress.

His house was acquired by the Colonial Dames in 1959. After undergoing a historic restoration, it opened to the public in 1974, as part of the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum. The museum has created a website, Silas Deane Online, which features images, a timeline, exerpts from primary sources relating to Deane, and a virtual tour of the house. He was also discussed last year in the Hartford Courant.

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Michael Griswold House (1730)

Preserved by the Griswold Family Association on Garden Street in Wethersfield, this classic saltbox house was built in 1730. The earlier rear section dates back to 1680.

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Oliver Wolcott, Sr. House (1754)

Built for Oliver Wolcott, Sr. in 1754 on South Street in Litchfield, this is the town’s oldest surviving Georgian-style house. During the Revolutionary War, Wolcott was a member of the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He later served as Governor of Connecticut (1796-1797). The Colonial Revival wing was added in the 1890s.

Noah Webster House (1748)

Noah Webster, the famous lexicographer, was born here in 1758. The house stands on South Main Street in West Hartford (then known as the West Division of Hartford), where Noah Webster grew up on his family’s farm. He would later produce the influential Blue-Backed speller in 1783 and his first dictionary in 1806. The house is a museum open to the public and also houses the West Hartford Historical Society.

Ebenezer Grant House (1757)

Built in 1757 for Ebenezer Grant, successful merchant and leading citizen of East Windsor. It stands on Main Street in East Windsor Hill (now part of South Windsor) and is known for its Connecticut River Valley doorway and rich high style detailing, much favored by the wealthy river valley elite in the mid eighteenth century. Ebenezer’s brother Noah was the great-great-grandfather of Ulysses S. Grant.

Joseph Webb House (1752)

Built on Main Street in Wethersfield in 1752 for the wealthy merchant, Joseph Webb. This gambrel roofed house is typical of the Georgian mansions built for the wealthy in the mid-eighteenth century. During the Revolutionary War, in May 1781, George Washington made this house his headquarters for several days when he met here with the Comte de Rochambeau. The two generals planned the beginning of the campaign that would end five months later with the victory at Yorktown. Originally opened to the public by Wallace Nutting in 1916, it is currently administered by the National Society of the Colonial Dames as part of the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum.

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