James M. Clark built the house at 26 Liberty Street in Chester within a few years of acquiring the land from Richard Ely in 1851. In the late 1850s, Clark ran a nearby cork screw and gimlet factory. In 1882 he left the house to the Congregational Society of Chester, whose trustees sold it in 1894.
Known as the Carriage House, the building at 486 Quaker Farms Road in Oxford was built c. 1800 as a carriage manufactory. The building has been a residence since 1869.
The house at 508 Amity Road in Bethany was built in 1855 to serve as the parsonage for the Bethany Congregational Church. It was erected by designer-builder Col. Alvan Sperry (1786-1861). The Congregational Society had originally acquired the property in 1850. At that time the old Hezekiah Thomas Hotel still stood on the property. Parts of that building may have been incorporated into the new parsonage. Part of the hotel had been a 1750 structure, originally located at Rocky Corner, that had served as a school and early parish meeting-place. C. 1775 the building was moved to Bethany Green. It is described as follows in W. C. Sharpe’s Bethany Sketches and Records (1908):
More than a century ago a schoolhouse was standing on “Meeting House Hill,” near Bethany Green. It was in the Middle District. The building was two stories in height, the upper part being the Masonic Hall. It was near the meeting house, and was heated each Sunday, in order that the congregation might repair hither between the services.
In 1802 the South, West, and Middle Districts were consolidated into the Union District, which was eventually called the Center. When a new schoolhouse was built the old one was bought by Hezekiah Thomas. [In 1834] It was drawn across the valley to a site near the churches and served as a hall to a hotel built by Mr. Thomas. The hall was demolished about twentyfive years ago [1875] by the owner, Mr. [S]Perry.
The same book states that Hezekiah Thomas,
brother of David Thomas, was the first town clerk. He was proprietor of the Hezekiah Thomas hotel, which later became the Congregational parsonage. He married Chloe Beecher. Their daughter, Tabitha, married Isaac Jones.
William Shelton (1805-1860) was a hat maker in Windsor who filled orders for customers as far away as Philadelphia. In 1830 he built the transitional Federal/Greek Revival house at 40 Pleasant Street. It was constructed of bricks from William Mack’s brickyard, which opened that year at the foot (east end) of Pleasant Street. Behind Shelton’s house was an industrial area along Mill Brook where he made his hats. The house currently contains antique furniture that was brought back from the attic and barn and restored.
The house at 28 Marsh Road in East Plymouth was built c. 1830 by clockmaker Wyllys Hinman. The son of Philemon Hinman, Wyllys Hinman (1798-1888) later settled in Illinois. Hinman sold the house 1833 to Luther Driscoll (1791-1858), who had married his sister Eunice that same year. Driscoll also later moved to Illinois. Note: the house has been repainted a darker color since the above photograph was taken.
The grand Greek Revival house at 750 Harbor Road in Southport was built c. 1843-1844 by Oliver H. Perry [Not to be confused with the famous Oliver Hazard Perry]. Oliver Henry Perry was the son of Walter Perry, a ship owner and merchant, and the brother of Austin Perry and Gurdon Perry, who built their own houses in Southport in 1830. Although he graduated from Yale Law School and was admitted to the bar in 1841, Oliver Perry did not practice law but instead was a shipping merchant and financier. He was elected Connecticut Secretary of State in 1854 and in the same year had a vital role in securing a charter for the Southport Savings Bank. He was was also a member of Connecticut General Assembly, serving as Speaker of the House in 1859-1860. The house, originally called “The Harborage,” has four Doric columns supporting a Greek Revival pediment. In 2007 its current owners were engaged in a legal conflict with the Historic District Commission over a large concrete sculpture on the property. The state Supreme Court sided with the Commission and the sculpture was removed.
The Greek Revival house at 118 Broad Street, across from Broad Street Green in Wethersfield, was built by Frederick Bulkeley in 1825. The Greek Revival house has later nineteenth-century stylistic alterations. Frederick’s son Stephen Bulkeley later built an Italianate house next door.
You must be logged in to post a comment.