Dr. Charles L. Smith House (1829)

Dr. Charles L. Smith House

Dr. Charles L. Smith built the house at 9 Long Hill Road in Middle Haddam (in East Hampton) in 1829, replacing a smaller house that stood on the site. In 1854 the house was purchased by Sophie Gardner, whose husband Edward C. Gardner was the first captain of the clipper ship Comet. Built in 1851 by William H. Webb in New York, the Comet was an extreme clipper, a very fast sailing ship that under Captain Gardner’s command gained a high reputation for speed. In February to May 1853, she raced the Flying Dutchman, another clipper built by Webb, from San Francisco to New York, beating her by 30 hours in a time of 83 days and 18 hours. She made a record time in December 1853 to March 1854, sailing from San Francisco to New York in 76 days 7 hours anchor to anchor (76 days pilot to pilot). She later sailed from Liverpool to Hong Kong, arriving there in 4 days 16 hours anchor to anchor (83 days 21 hours pilot to pilot) on September 9, 1854, another record time. Her best days run on that voyage was 350 miles. E. C. Gardner was captain of the Comet until August 1855. Gardner descendants owned the house in Middle Haddam until 1928, using it as a summer home called “Lawn View.” The Federal-style brick house was altered in the mid-nineteenth century, when an ell was constructed.

Turner-Brundage House (1816)

Turner-Brundage House

The house at 661 Middle Turnpike in Mansfield was built sometime before 1816, when the property was first noted in town records. In 1853 the house was acquired by Anson Turner. From 1915 to 1940 the house and farm were owned by the John and Mary Tomaskovic, immigrants from Slovakia. In 1940 it was acquired by Augustus and Ruth Brundage and was owned by the family until 1988. A 1910 graduate of the Connecticut Agricultural College at Storrs (today’s UCONN), Augustus Brundage (born 1890) was appointed State Club Leader for the Extension Service of the Connecticut Agricultural College and the United States Department of Agriculture in 1917. The agricultural clubs became the 4-H and Brundage remained active in the organization after his retirement in 1948. Two of Augustus and Ruth’s sons, Granville and Roger, were killed in action during World War II. Brundage pool in Greer Field House at UCONN was named in their honor. For more information on the house, see Mansfield Four Corners (2003) by Rudy J. Favretti, pp. 89-92.

Norwalk Town House (1835)

Old Norwalk Town House Museum

Located in Mill Hill Historic Park in Norwalk is the former Town House (or Town Hall), a Federal-style brick structure erected in 1835. Norwalk’s first Town House was erected by 1736 at the site of the old Trolley Barn at Wall and Knight Streets. A newer Town House was later built at Mill Hill, but it was destoyed when the British burned Norwalk on July 11, 1779 during the Revolutionary War. It took fifteen years before a new structure was erected in 1794. As described by John Warner Barber in his Connecticut Historical Collections (1836):

The old town house was pulled down in July, 1835. It had been long in a ruinous state, and much disfigured the appearance of the place. Some persons in the town who took upon themselves the responsibility of regulating things of this nature about the town, being impatient of the “law’s delay,” took advantage of the darkness of night, pulled down the obnoxious building, and piled up the rubbish by the side of the road.

The current building was built by by Captain Lewis Raymond, who used brick brought to Norwalk as ship’s ballast. The building was used as the seat of government until the Town of Norwalk and the City of South Norwalk were consolidated in 1913. Starting in 1924, the Norwalk Daughters of the American Revolution leased the building from the city, eventually adding a rear kitchen wing. The building was restored in 1965 for meeting and educational purposes. Still owned by the city, it is maintained, along with the rest of Mill Hill Historic Park, by the Norwalk Historical Society and the Norwalk-Village Green Chapter of the DAR.

First Congregational Church of Washington (1801)

First Congregational Church of Washington, CT

The third meeting house of the First Congregational Church of Washington is located at 6 Kirby Road on Washington Green. It was built in 1801 and has a later (1910) Colonial Revival front porch. The original spire and belfry were replaced in 1845. The Ecclesiastical Society in Washington was formed in 1741. Washington was called Judea until the town was incorporated in 1779. The first meeting house was built in 1742 a little to the north of the present building. A second meeting house replaced it in 1754. It was destroyed by fire in 1800 and the current building was then erected.

First Congregational Church of Woodbury (1817)

First Congregational Church of Woodbury

The founding members of First Congregational Church and Ecclesiastical Society of Woodbury journeyed from Statford to Woodbury in 1673. Their first meeting house was a simple structure built in 1681. A second replacement meeting house was built on the same site in 1747 followed by the third and current building, erected in 1817-1818. The new building was dedicated on January 13th, 1819.

North Guilford Congregational Church (1814)

North Guilford Congregational Church

Guilford farmers began clearing land in the north part of town in 1705. As related in A History of the Plantation of Menunkatuck and of the Original Town of Guilford, Connecticut, Comprising the Present Towns of Guilford and Madison (1897) by Bernard Christian Steiner:

on December 6, 1716, the town voted to grant the petition of the “North Farmers in Guilford,” that they may have “the liberty to hire a minister for 4 months for their ease in attending the worship of God, the Town being at no charge in contributing to the same.”

In 1720 the town

granted 50 acres on Hooker’s Hill “to be disposed for the ministry forever,” and permitted the meetinghouse to be set” on the hill called the ledge, in the highway against Sam’l Bishop’s lot.”

The first meeting house on Mettinghouse Hill was built in 1723 and a separate religious society was granted by the General Assembly in 1725. The current North Guilford Congregational Church building was erected in 1812-1814. Workmen erecting the steeple during the War of 1812 observed British ships on Long Island Sound during the Battle of Stonington. Abraham Coan of Guilford was the architect/builder of the Federal-style church, which stands in a dramatic location on Meetinghouse Hill. The interior was remodeled and the Chancel was added in 1855, possibly to a design by Henry Austin. A rear addition to the church was constructed in 1957.