Roswell B. Fitch House (1850)

The house at 20 Pearl Street in Noank was erected c. 1850. About 1890 it was remodeled with Queen Anne-style elements, including the addition of a tower. The house was the residence of Roswell B. Fitch (1833-1908), who is described in Picturesque New London and Its Environs (1901):

Roswell Burrows Fitch ,of Noank, was born in Groton, Connecticut, April 19th, 1833. His parents were Elisha and Mary P. Fitch. At twelve years of age he commenced to be self-supporting, and from then until he was fourteen, occupied a clerkship in a general store. Later his summers were spent in fishing for a livelihood, and his winters in attending school. Subsequently he again became clerk in a store, and was afterwards engaged to assume the management of a union store which was erected for the special purpose of being placed under his charge. In 1851 he became an active partner in the business, and bought out, one-by-one, the twelve other owners, until he possessed absolute control. In May, 1890, he sold his business, and closed an active commercial career of thirty-five years duration. In October, 1854, Mr. Fitch married Ellen Elizabeth Wilbur, who died February 13th, 1874, leaving a son, Walter Wilbur Fitch, who was born in 1859, and died December 26th, 1888. Mr. Fitch married again, in 1875, Olive Elizabeth Wilmot. Mr. and Mrs. Fitch have a daughter, Elizabeth Wilbur Fitch, born April 10th, 1884.

P. T. Barnum Birthplace (1768)

The great showman P. T. Barnum was born in 1810 in a house, built in 1768, at 55 Greenwood Avenue in Bethel. He lived in town until 1834-35. Starting in 1819, his father, Philo Barnum (1780-1825), ran a tavern in Bethel. The current Greek Revival style of the house is an alteration of the original saltbox home, as repaired after a fire in 1835 (or in the 1840s). The front portion of the house was destroyed, leaving only the kitchen and woodhouse. P. T. Barnum’s mother, Irena Taylor Barnum (1764-1868), who continued to operate the tavern after her husband’s death until 1835, lived in the house until her own death in 1868. [another source says that the original birthplace house was replaced by the current house on the site in 1843 and that Irena Barnum, who had moved away before that time, later repurchased the family’s old property).

John Prentice House (1853)

Two houses on Park Place in Mystic (1 Park Place and 5 Park Place) have historic markers indicating that they were the home of John Prentice, a carpenter. I don’t know if it was the same man or, perhaps, a father and son. According to The History and Genealogy of the Prentice, Or Prentiss Family, in New England, Etc., from 1631 to 1883 (1883), by C. J. F. Binney, there was a John Prentice, born “January 16, 1823; house-carpenter, and for last fifteen years cotton-gin builder.” The house pictured above, at 5 Park Place, was erected in 1853. According to the sign on the door, a later owner was Capt. Henry Ashby.