James Gallery & Soda Fountain (1790)

In 1824, the Marquis de Lafayette stopped at a store in Old Saybrook to make a purchase (according to tradition he bought either a pair of socks or a bar of saddle soap). Built in 1790 as a general store for the Humphrey Pratt Tavern, the building was moved in 1877 to the corner of Pennywise Lane where it became a pharmacy. A new section with a soda fountain was added in 1896 by owner Peter C. Lane, who had received his license in 1895 becoming one of the first two black pharmacists in Connecticut. From 1917 to 1967, the James Pharmacy was run by his sister-in-law and partner, Anna Louise James, the first African American woman to graduate from the Brooklyn College of Pharmacy and Connecticut’s first female African American pharmacist. Miss James, as she was called, retired in 1967 and continued to live in the building’s back apartment until her death in 1977. Miss James’s niece, Ann Lane Petry, was also a pharmacist and worked for a time at the pharmacy. Petry became known as a writer, most notably for her novel The Street (1946), which became the first book by a black woman writer with sales topping a million copies. Closed after Miss James’s retirement, the building was restored and reopened by new owners in 1984 and then had other owners. Today, it is owned by the neighboring Deacon Timothy Pratt House B&B and is known as the James Gallery & Soda Fountain.

Daniel Tuttle House (1792)

The Daniel Tuttle House is a Federal-style saltbox house built in Wolcott in 1792. The house is located at 4 Kenea Avenue and faces Wolcott Green. Daniel Tuttle worked as a carpenter. Seth Thomas, who would later become a famous clock manufacturer, began his career in Wolcott as an apprentice to Daniel Tuttle. Thomas would eventually build his factory in Plymouth Hollow, which was later renamed Thomaston in his honor. In 1797, Tuttle sold his house to Asoph Hotchkiss and moved to Plymouth. Hotchkiss was one of three men who donated land for what would become the town Green. The house passed through other owners, who oversaw the construction of a stone wall around the property and the landscaping of the grounds with shrubs and flower gardens. In 1964, All Saints’ Episcopal Church was built on the property to the rear of the house, which was serving as the parish rectory. Today, the house is again under private ownership.

Nathaniel Backus House (1750)

The Nathaniel Backus House, at 44 Rockwell Street in Norwich, was built as a Colonial era house in 1750, but is notable for its later Federal-style detailing. The house is named for Nathaniel Backus, Jr., who married Hannah Baldwin in 1726. Backus was one of only six men in Norwich who owned their own carriages in the years before the Revolutionary War. The house originally stood on lower Broadway. In 1951, it was saved from demolition and moved to Rockwell Street by the Faith Trumbull Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Together with the neighboring Perkins-Rockwell House, the Backus House is operated as a museum by the DAR.

Hanford Davenport House (1820)

In 1817, Hanford Davenport married Hannah, daughter of Col. Enoch St. John of New Canaan. Between 1819 and 1821, Davenport built a house in New Canaan on land owned by his father-in-law. The Federal-style house, perhaps built on the site of an earlier colonial-era house, is particularly notable for the high quality of its Adamesque interior carving, made by Deacon Hiram Crissey. The house, located at the corner of Oenoke Ridge and Lambert Road, was added to over the years up until the 1920s. It was later owned by Dr. N. W. Green and is sometimes called the Davenport-Green House.

Old Riverton Inn (1796)

The Old Riverton Inn, Barkhamsted, traditionally goes back to 1796, although the building probably dates to around 1804. It was originally opened by Jesse Ives as a tavern and inn, which he operated until 1856. Industry soon developed in Riverton and much traffic crossed the neighboring bridge across the Farmington River. The Old Riverton Inn (pdf) has remained open under various owners over the years and continues in business today. The building has undergone a number of changes and additions, including an Italianate-style porch. It retains original Federal-style features as well as Colonial Revival alterations. (more…)