The Allyn Smith House, at 168 Broad Street in Wethersfield, was built in 1790 on what had been the homesite of Abraham Finch in 1634. Abraham Finch (d. 1638) was one of the ten adventurers who first settled Wethersfield.
Allyn Smith House (1790)
Brainerd Hall (1795)
The house at 895 Saybrook Road in Haddam was built by the brothers Nehemiah and John Brainerd to serve as a social hall called Brainerd Hall. The brothers owned a granite quarry that they opened in 1792. Brainerd Hall was constructed soon after the brothers’ uncle Hezekiah Brainerd and his wife Elizabeth acquired the land from Elizabeth’s father, John Wells, in 1794. After John Brainerd’s death in 1841, the hall housed students at the nearby Brainerd Academy, a school established by the Brainerd brothers.. After 1857, Erastus G. Dickinson operated the Golden Bull Tavern in the building. It remained in the Dickinson family until 1964.
John Moore House (1675)
John Moore (1645-1718), the eldest son of Deacon John Moore, built the central-chimney saltbox house at 390 Broad Street in Windsor in 1675. He had married Hannah Goffe in 1664. After her death he married Martha Farnsworth in 1701. By 1715 Moore had married his third wife, Mary. A description of the house from 1940 mentions that it had a new front porch and a bay window on the south. These later additions have since been removed and the house restored to a seventeenth-century appearance. (more…)
Chester Spencer House (1765)
The house at 79 Main Street in Somers was built in 1765 by Ebenezer Spencer (died 1787). His grandson, Chester Spencer, who was born in 1783, later lived on the family farm. Chester Spencer ran a dry goods store, called Spencer & Chaffee, in the village of Somersville with his brother-in-law, Elam Chaffee (1783-1855), who had married Elizabeth Spencer (1787-1865). Chester Spencer was also a partner in the construction of the first woolen mill in the town of Somers, purchasing two looms to produce satinet in 1835.
Matthews-Stow House (1753)
The house at 392 Jackson Hill Road in Middlefield was built sometime between January 1753, when John and Anna Wetmore Matthews purchased the land, and January 1755, when they sold it to Amos Miller. After Miller‘s death in 1777, the house had several owners. It was eventually purchased by Obed Stow (1767-1839), a shoemaker, in 1794. The house’s original central chimney has been replaced and the front portico was added later.
Elisha Sage House (1776)
Elisha Sage (1755–1801), of the Upper Houses of Middletown (now Cromwell) served in the Revolutionary War. A mason, he built bridges and worked on the construction of the Old State House in Hartford. Sage married Martha Montague. His house, at 64 West Street in Cromwell, was built circa 1776.
Thomas Lyman House (1778)
The house at 105 Middlefield Road in Durham was built circa 1774-1778 for Thomas Lyman IV (1746-1832). A native of Durham, Thomas Lyman spent time in the south, where his family claimed a grant of land, before returning to Connecticut. He served as quartermaster of the First Connecticut Regiment in the Revolutionary War and as a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention in 1818. Lyman is said to have visited Thomas Jefferson for a week at Monticello and to have have entertained Lafayette at the house in Durham on several occasions. Lyman married Rachel Seward in 1771. The house was built on land that Lyman inherited from his brother Stephen, who died in 1775. It is a hipped-roof structure, which was uncommon for colonial Connecticut. Perhaps Lyman was influenced by his time in the South. The house remained in the Lyman family for many years. It was recently donated to the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, which has put the house up for sale, with the proceeds to be used to launch a new Revolving Fund for preservation projects around the state. (more…)
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