Southwest Ledge Lighthouse (1877)

southwest-ledge-light.jpg

Southwest Ledge Light (also known as New Haven Ledge Light) was built in 1877. Southwest Ledge, on the east entrance to New Haven Harbor, is a dangerous rock formation blocking the main channel into the Harbor. The construction of a lighthouse on the Ledge was considered in 1845, but was too expensive a project to undertake, due to the site’s isolated location. Instead, a new tower was built at that time at Five Mile Point. By 1873, technology had developed to the point that building a lighthouse on the Ledge was feasible and construction could begin. That year a storm disrupted the preparations to lay the foundation, which had to be restarted the following year. The Lighthouse, designed by Major George H. Elliott, has a cylindrical foundation, made of iron and filled with concrete. It was designed to allow winter ice to float around instead of building up and damaging the structure. The lighthouse was designed with Second Empire style details, including a Mansard roof. The superstructure, built for Southwest Ledge in a Baltimore shipyard, was considered such an impressive feat of engineering that it was put on display at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, with an actual lighthouse keeper residing inside. In the end, this structure was not sent to New Haven but was sent to Delaware Bay and became the Ship John Shoal Light. Instead, an identical superstructure was sent to Southwest Ledge, although, according to some sites, it was Southwest Ledge which received the original superstructure initially intended for Ship John Shoal, while the Delaware Bay lighthouse instead received the second structure, after its stay in Philadelphia.

Put in place in 1876, Southwest Ledge Light was first lit in 1877. A new breakwall was soon built, ending at the new lighthouse. The living conditions for the lighthouse keepers remained bad for many years due leaking, dampness, bad drinking water and numerous cockroaches. In these rough conditions, Assistant Keeper Nils Nilson went into a violent rage and chased Keeper Jorgen Jonnensen around the tower with a fire axe. Jonnensen was able to lock himself in a storage room and Nilson left in a rowboat. Soon after, in January 1908, Nilson committed suicide. Despite this incident, the lives of many people were saved over the years by the keepers of Southwest Ledge Light. The Light was automated in 1953 and continues as an active aid to navigation.

The John C. Anderson House (1882)

john-c-andreson-house.jpg

Although by 1882 the Second Empire was no longer in fashion, the wealthy New Yorker John C. Anderson built an extravagant home in the style that year on Orange Street in New Haven. He only occupied the impressive mansion for a few years, complaining as he left of high taxes. Anderson was the son of the prominent New York tobacconist, John Anderson, who had died the year before his son built his own retirement home in New Haven. The elder John Anderson had an interesting career. In 1841, he was questioned in a sensational murder case, after Mary Rogers, known as the “Beautiful Cigar Girl,” who worked for Anderson in his tobacco shop, was found dead. The murder inspired the Edgar Allen Poe story, “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt.” In later life, Anderson would talk to spirits, including the ghosts of Mary Rogers and of his dead son. He had supported Garibaldi, who liberated Italy, and would speak to the Italian hero’s ghost (although Garibaldi was alive at the time!). Later, the John C. Anderson House became St. Mary’s Academy High School, run by the Dominican Sisters of St. Mary.

Wheeler Block, Colchester (1872)

old-town-hall.jpg

The Wheeler Block (also called the Old Town Hall) in Colchester was built as a commercial building by businessman Joshua B. Wheeler in 1872. Wheeler was a Mason and the third floor meeting room was used as a Masonic Lodge through the 1940s. In 1910, at a time when the town’s schools were overcrowded, the building became the Ransom School and was later used for town offices. At present, the building is vacant.

The Brainerd Store/Russell Inn (1813)

russell-inn.jpg

On the east bank of the Connecticut River at Haddam Neck is an impressive building built in 1813 by Dudley Brainerd as a house and store. It was a good location: facing Haddam Neck’s main dock at Rock Landing and with a shipyard to the south, sailing vessels would often stop. According to the chapter on Haddam Neck by Henry M. Selden, in the 1884 History of Middlesex County,

The pioneer merchant was Robert Clark. The next was Dudley Brainerd, who built the house now occupied by Captain Charles S. Russell, in the basement of which he had his store. This store was next managed by Selden Huntington one year, succeeded by Elias Selden and Colonel Theodore H. Arnold, under the firm name of Selden & Arnold, then by a Mr. L’Hommedieu, and in rotation by Lavater R. Selden, James S. Selden, Lucius E. Goff, Captain Charles S. Russell, Albert S. Russell, George E. Russell & Co, and Joseph Griffin.

Charles S. Russell bought the building in 1846 and by the 1870s he had converted it to become an inn, serving the steamboat passengers traveling between Hartford and New York City. It was at this time the building was updated, with a Second Empire-style mansard roof and an impressive ornamented three-level front porch. A later addition onto the first story has a granite foundation featuring round windows resembling portholes.