Elm Tree Inn (1655)

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The earliest section of what later on became the Elm Tree Inn in Farmington was the 1655 house of William Lewis, an original settler of the town. His son built a new and larger structure, around the old house, and the enlarged building became a tavern and inn. By the mid-eighteenth century, it was operated by Phineas Lewis. Washington dined at the tavern, while on his way to Hartford, in 1780 and again, while on his way to Wethersfield, in 1781. The French general Rochambeau may have also stayed there with his officers when he was passing through Connecticut with his army in 1781. The facade of the building was later updated in the Georgian style and the tavern came to be known as the Elm Tree Inn, after the elm trees on the property, planted in the 1760s. The Inn continued to be popular into the twentieth century as it was a stop on the trolley line to Hartford. Mark Twain frequently dined there while he lived in Hartford, as did the cast and crew filming Way Down East with Lillian Gish in 1919. The exterior of the Inn was once surrounded by a long verandah, which has since been removed. The building is now subdivided into condominiums.

Haddam Neck Congregational Church (1874)

Haddam Neck Congregational Church

Haddam Neck, on the east bank of the Connecticut River, was originally settled around 1710. For thirty years, the residents made the trip each Sunday across the River to attend church services in Haddam. In 1740, residents of Haddam Neck joined with those of Middle Haddam (in East Hampton) to form a seperate ecclesiastical society, the First Congregational Church of Middle Haddam. The first meetinghouse was constructed in 1744 on Hog Hill, between the two communities, and this was replaced by a new building in 1813, located near Hurd Park. Middle Haddam residents withdrew to form their own church in 1855. The current Haddam Neck Congregational Church, a wooden Gothic Revival church in a woodland setting, was built at the foot of School House Hill in 1873-1874. In 1916, Haddam’s old 1822 schoolhouse was moved adjacent to the church to serve as a parish house.

Asa Brainerd House (1790)

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The Asa Brainerd House sits on land in Haddam which was owned, from 1788 to 1795, by Leveus Eddy, and was built sometime during that period. It was then purchased by Simon and Asa Brainerd, the latter of whom lived there until his death in 1815. The Brainerd family, who operated nearby granite quarries, sold the house out of the Brainerd family for a time, but later in the nineteenth century, the elegant house, which had fallen into disrepair, was acquired and restored by Asa Brainerd’s grandson, William E. Brainerd. It has remained in the Brainerd family ever since. The Greek Revival entryway was added in the 1830s.

John Brainerd House (1825)

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On Quarry Hill Road in Haddam Neck is the home of John Brainerd, built in 1825. According to The Genealogy of the Brainerd Family in the United States (1857), by David Dudley Field:

John Brainerd married first Eliza Day, daughter of Daniel Day, of Westchester, in Colchester, November 1, 1826, who died January 5, 1844, in her fortieth year; and after her death, Delina Dickinson, daughter of Abner Dickinson, of Eastbury, in Glastenbury (sic), February 14, 1845.

Delina Brainerd lived in the house until her death in 1900.