Grace & St. Peters Episcopal Church, Hamden (1821)

The oldest church building in Hamden is Grace Episcopal Church, built in 1821 and attributed to the architect builder David Hoadley. The church’s first meeting house was built in 1790, in Mount Carmel, on what is today Whitney Avenue. The current church once had a large steeple, built in 1847 and designed by Henry Austin, which blew down in 1915. The present steeple was built in 1921. The church was moved in 1966 from one side of Dixwell Avenue to the opposite side. In the 1990s, Grace Church merged with St. Peter’s on the Hill, founded in 1958. The united church is now known as Grace & St. Peters Episcopal Church.

The John E. Cook House (1818)

When Nathaniel Cook purchased land at the intersection of Walkley Hill and Hayden Hill Roads in Haddam in 1818, a Federal-style house already existed on the property. In this home, Nathaniel’s son John Edwin Cook was born in 1830. An ardent abolitionist, John E. Cook participated in John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859. Cook arrived in Harpers Ferry in 1858, with the mission of scouting the area for John Brown. While there, he worked as a schoolteacher, book agent, and lock tender for the C&O Canal. He also married Mary Virginia Kennedy, a local woman. When the Raid ended with the capture of Brown and most of his followers, Cook was one of the party who escaped. He was later captured in Pennsylvania and tried in Virginia. Cook was hanged on December 16, 1859.

Jones-Camp House (1780)

Between 1771 and 1783, John Jones built a house overlooking the town green of Durham. In 1783, he sold it to Samuel Camp, Jr. (Col. Samuel Camp), who left it to his son Ebenezer upon his death in 1810. Ebenezer later leased rooms of the house from his son Charles, who died in 1828. Upon Ebenezer’s death in 1830, he left the house to another son, Samuel C. Camp. The house’s gable addition with the current main entrance was built sometime in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. In 1847, the house was sold to Horace Newton, a cloth-maker and farmer.

The Charles Butler House (1792)

In Historic Litchfield, 1721-1907 (1907), Alice T. Bulkeley writes:

The house now occupied by Mr. Elbert P. Roberts, one of Litchfield‘s real estate dealers, on the corner of North and East streets, was built in 1792 by Charles Butler, cashier of the Litchfield Bank. It was originally a story and a half gable-roofed house. In the early part of the nineteenth century [1813] it was bought by Frederick Deming, father of the present Mr. Frederick Deming of North street, who enlarged it and built on the east wing. When Mr. Deming moved to New York he sold the place to Oliver S. Weller, and the latter built the small building where the school now is, for a small store, where he sold dry and wet goods, chiefly the latter. After his death Mrs. Weller continued the business as long as she lived, when the house went to two nieces in Woodbury who are its present owners. On the death of these ladies the house will be the property of St. Michael’s Parish Church.

Ezra Bassett House (1800)

In 1799, Ezra Bassett, son of Capt. Hezekiah Bassett, purchased land in Hamden and within a few years had built a house along what is now Whitney Avenue. Probably a merchant, Ezra Bassett’s business suffered during the War of 1812, leading to the loss of the house in 1815. It was next owned by Jared Atwater and remained in his family for the rest of the nineteenth century. Although later significantly altered for commercial purposes with original decoration removed and display windows added, the house was more recently restored to its original appearance, with a Federal-style entry and tripartite window. The house now serves as a lawyer’s office.

First United Church of Christ Congregational, Milford (1824)

The First Church of Christ in Milford was established in New Haven in 1639 by a group of settlers led by Rev. Peter Prudden. They had already acquired land in Wepawaug, where they would shortly settle and establish the new parish and colony of Milford. The first meeting house was built in 1641 and was replaced by a second structure in 1727-1728. The current church, was built in 1824. Designed by David Hoadley, it has similarities to two earlier churches he designed: United Church on the Green in New Haven and Avon Congregational Church. A division in church membership during the Great Awakening in 1741 led to the errection of the Second Church (Plymouth Church). The two churches reunited in 1961 as the First United Church of Christ (Congregational).

Shailer-Banning House (1810)

Shailer-Banning House

Built around 1810, on Bridge Road in Haddam, the Shailer-Banning House originally had a gable roof, which was altered to the current hip roof around 1840. At that time, the house was also probably stuccoed. The house was built by David Shailer and later was home to his daughter, Ursula, and her husband, Benjamin Banning, who were married in 1835. Their daughter, Anna U. Minor, then lived in the house until 1874. Update: See comment below about the demolition of this house.