Built circa 1895, the Victorian house at 973 Worthington Ridge in Berlin was originally the home of Mary Brandegee. She lived there until her death in 1909. Before the house was built, the property had once been owned by John Brandegee (died 1858) who ran the family store.
The house at 31 Broadway in North Haven was built in 1870 by builder Solomon Linsley for Frank L. Stiles (1854-1922), a prominent brick manufacturer. Stiles is described in the Legislative History and Souvenir of Connecticut (Vol. VII, 1909-1910):
Hon. Frank L. Stiles, of North Haven, Republican Senator from the Twelfth District, is the son of Isaac L. and Sophronia M. (Blakeslee) Stiles, and was born at North Haven July 12, 1854. He is a direct descendant of the Rev. Ezra Stiles, who was president of Yale College. He received his education at the famous Cheshire Academy and when eighteen years of age began to learn the brickmakers’ business in his father’s plant. Senator Stiles is now president and treasurer of the Stiles & Hart Brick Company, Taunton, Mass., president and treasurer of The Stiles & Reynolds Brick Company, Berlin, Conn., and also of the I. L. Stiles & Son Brick Company. North Haven, Conn., one of the largest establishments of its kind in the country. He is also deeply interested in agricultural pursuits, having half a dozen farms at North Haven and Taunton. On December 22, 1886. Senator Stiles married Mary Amelia Dickerman. a descendant of some of the old families of New England. He is a warden of St. John’s Episcopal Church, a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the Union League of New Haven and of organizations in Meriden, Providence and other cities. He represented his town in the General Assembly of 1903. As chairman, this session, of the Committee on Agriculture, he promoted the enactment of legislation salutary to the entire state. Senator Stiles was also chairman of the Committee on Forfeited Rights and a member of the Committee on Incorporations. He is treasurer of the Connecticut Legislative Club of 1909. Senator Stiles has a wide circle of strong friends who greatly admire him for his sterling qualities and upright character.
The house is now called the Criscuolo Building and houses medical offices.
The house at 974 Southford Road in Southbury was probably built around 1830-1840, but it was adapted to its current Greek Revival form by owner Harvey Bronson. The original front facade was on the south side, but Bronson made the street-facing gable end the new Greek Revival facade, c.1850. A number of Bronsons lived in the vicinity, as described in the History of New Haven County, Vol. II (1892), edited by J. L. Rockey:
Samuel Bronson, who married Elizabeth Tanner in 1735, was the father of the Bronsons of this locality, one of whom, Harvey, had a rope walk. Noah Bronson was a cooper and also a rope maker. His son, Aaron, was a cordwainer and button maker. His son, Harvey, manufactured clock cord extensively for the clock makers of Bristol and Waterbury, and was the last Bronson thus here engaged. Abel W. Bronson, the second son of Aaron, became a well known blacksmith and gimlet maker. A grandson of Aaron, C. W. Bradley, became a well known railroad man in New York.
As mentioned above, Havery Bronson (1795-1876), son of Aaron Bronson, made clock cord. The house was inherited by his son, David Bronson, whose estate sold the house in 1894 to Aaron Thompson.
The oldest surviving house in the village of North Stonington is the William Sisson House, built in 1776. Located at 69 Main Street, it is unusual in being a hip-roofed Georgian style house, a form more commonly found in the southern states. William Sisson was a joiner (and possibly a farmer as well). The house is in the Historic American Buildings Survey, where it is referred to as House, Post Office Vicinity, North Stonington, New London County, CT.
The house at 186 Damascus Road in Branford was built by Timothy Baldwin on an eighteen acre farm deeded to him by his father, Zacheus Baldwin. It was probably constructed around 1819, the year he married Jerusha Tyler. They had four children. The house was in the Baldwin family until 1913.
The brick house at 237 Naubuc Avenue in East Hartford was built around 1797 by Jehiel “Hiel” Risley (1767-1844), a sea captain from Glastonbury. The house was raised around 1840 from a one-story gambrel roof to a two-story gable roof. In an otherwise symmetrical arrangement, the house’s front doorway and the window above are noticeably left of center.
The house at 52 Main Street in Southport, known as the E. Thorp House, was built in 1792. The historic residence suffered damage from Hurricane Irene in 2011 when a beech tree in the front yard split and crashed through the roof on the left side, damaging three floors. The house was restored by Sterling Building & Restoration using antique lumber materials and carefully recreating historically accurate trim, windows and doors.
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