Francis Gillette House (1834)

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Francis Gillette was a politician, lecturer and abolitionist. He pursued agriculture in Bloomfield and lived in an unusual 1834 Greek Revival style stone house on Bloomfield Avenue. In 1852, Gillette moved to Hartford, founding the Nook Farm neighborhood with his brother-in-law, John Hooker. Francis Gillette served as a senator and was the father of actor William Gillette. The house, which was used as an overnight stop for fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad during the Civil War, was moved to a new location on Bloomfield Avenue in 1990, after being vacant for 17 years.

Albert J. Briggs House (1891)

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D. Luther Briggs and Albert J. Briggs were brothers from Sackville, New Brunswick, who came to Cromwell in 1871 and set up D. L. Briggs & Company, a wholesale meat-packing firm which imported western beef by railroad. The company is described, in The Leading Business Men of Middeltown, Portland, Durham and Middlefield (1890), as “dealers in Chicago Dressed Beef, Lamb, Mutton, Pork, Lard. Hams, etc.” D. L. Briggs moved to Middletown (to a house on Washington Street), eventually becoming the mayor (1890-94). Albert Briggs remained in Cromwell, living on Main Street in an 1891 Queen Anne style house, with Stick elements, until his death in 1901. His widow, Eugenia C. Briggs, was in Europe when the First World War started in 1914. 400 American “refugees,” who had gathered in Genoa, found passage home on the steamship Principe Di Udine.

Timothy Skinner House (1787)

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The Timothy Skinner House, built around 1785-87, is located next to the First Congregational Church in Litchfield. Skinner was a Brigadier General of the militia and served as constable, treasurer and selectman in Litchfield. The house was later owned for many years by Seth Beers. In 1948-49, the house was restored to a Colonial appearance and was moved back from the street to line up better with the church, which has owned the house and used it as a parsonage since 1943.