Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Architectural Style

Daniel Buck House (1775)

Built on Hartford Avenue in Wethersfield in 1775 by Josiah Buck, Sr. for his son and daughter-in-law, Daniel Buck and Sarah Saltonstall, the sister of Silas Deane‘s second wife, Elizabeth Saltonstall Evards. The Daniel Buck House is across the street from the home of Daniel’s brother, Josiah Buck, Jr., who married Deane’s sister, Hannah. The Daniel Buck House is still in the same family. The Buck property contains many original eighteenth century outbuildings and is known as the Old Buck Farm. Now a center for art, the historic barns are home to the Wethersfield Academy for the Arts. Additional land that was once part of the Buck family farm along the Wethersfield Cove are now preserved by the Great Meadows Conservation Trust.

Capt. Josiah Buck, Jr. House (1774)

The house built for Capt. Josiah Buck, Jr. in 1774 is in Wethersfield , where Jordan Lane intersects with Hartford Avenue. Josiah Buck was a ship master who was involved in trade with Silas Deane. In 1775, he married Deane’s sister, Hannah. He lived across Hartford Ave. from his brother, Daniel Buck, who married Silas Deane’s sister-in-law, Sarah Saltonstall.

Joseph Booth House (1800)

Joseph Booth built the house at 826 Worthington Ridge, c. 1800. It was remodeled in the 1830s or 1840s, when a Greek Revival doorway was added. As related in Catharine Melinda North’s History of Berlin (1916):

The property next south of the hotel was owned by Joseph Booth, who built the front part of the house in 1800. The large ell was added later. In the corner of the lot, on the north side of the house, Mr. Booth had a shop for making hats. These hats were made of wool or skins. The boys of the neighborhood earned many an honest dollar by catching mink and muskrats and selling the skins to Mr. Booth, to be worked up into hats. The old gentleman was very deaf and always carried an ear trumpet . He was a good trader and invariably understood the price at about half that mentioned by the boys, and then would never settle on any basis except according to hearing.

Whitman House (1764)

Built from 1764 to around 1807, the Whitman House, designed by John Whitman, Jr., is on North Main Street in West Hartford.

Daniel Dunbar House (1804)

The house at 825 Worthington Ridge in Berlin was built sometime before 1804 for Daniel Dunbar (1774-1841), who practiced law in town from 1804 until his death in 1841. His law office stood in the north front corner of his yard.

Wethersfield Grange Hall (1898)

Built in 1898, on Main Street in Wethersfield, the town’s Grange Hall served as a meeting place and social center for farmers and their families. The Grange Movement, which began after the Civil War, focused on encouraging farm families to bond together for their own economic and political benefit. The town’s grange was founded in 1890 and received support from the State Grange. The organization hosted numerous programs that provided an active social life for Wethersfield families. Members met at the Old Academy building until 1898, when the Grange Hall was completed. (more…)

Berlin Free Library (1831)

At 834 Worthington Ridge in Berlin is a building erected around 1831 as the second Berlin, or Worthington, Academy Building. The first floor was used as the school, while the second served first as space for the Presbyterian Church, and later as a courthouse. With declining enrollments, the school closed in 1873 and the building served various purposes until in 1900 it was sold to the Brandegee family. In 1949, it was donated in honor of the family to the Berlin Free Library Association and still serves as a library today.