Church’s Tavern (1738)

Church’s Tavern, also known as the Old Post Tavern and the Risley House, is a colonial house at 11 Main Street South in Bethlehem. While Aaron Burr was a student at Dr. Joseph Bellamy‘s theological school in Bethlehem, he mentioned the house in a letter to his sister dated January 17, 1774. The letter is quoted in volume 1 of James Parton’s The Life and Times of Aaron Burr (1893):

P. M., 2 o’clock.—I have just been over to the Tavern to buy candles; there I saw six slay-loads of Bucks & Bells, from Woodberry, and a happier company I believe there never was; it really did me good to look at them. They were drinking Cherry Rum when I entered the room, and I easily perceived that both Males and Females had enough to keep them in Spirits. The Females especially looked too immensely goodnatured to say no to anything. And I doubt not the Effects of this Frolic will be very visible a few Months hence.

Captain William E. Wheeler House (1853)

Built in 1853, the Captain William E. Wheeler House is an Italianate residence at 159 High Street in Mystic. According to A Modern History of New London County, Connecticut, Volume 3 (1922):

William E. Wheeler, born at Stonington, went to sea on a sailing vessel, later on whaling vessels, and still later on coasting vessels, sailing from New York to southern United States ports. In 1854, he went into the East India trade, sailing from New York to China for A. A. Lowe & Brothers on the barque “Penguin.” In 1865 he ran a steamer from New York to southern ports. He was a member of the State Legislature, and very prominent as a Democrat. He married, in Groton, August 24, 1831, Pedee Heath, of Groton, and they became the parents of four children

As related in Groton, Conn. 1705-1905, by Charles R. Stark:

William E. Wheeler, [State representative in] 1873 and 1875, was a sea captain sailing in the employ of A. A. Low & Co. in the China tea trade and was afterwards in the general store business in Mystic. He died in 1889.

Salem H. Wales House (1848)

The house at 528 Clinton Avenue in Bridgeport is an Italiante villa, built in 1848 and remodeled and enlarged in 1864. Originally the residence of Salem H. Wales, the house is now used as the offices of a law firm. In 1849, Salem Howe Wales (1825-1902) bought an interest in the Scientific American magazine and became one of its editors. In 1871, he retired from the magazine to focus on politics in New York City. He was appointed a Commissioner of Public Parks and was chosen as its president. In 1874, he ran for Mayor of New York on the Republican ticket, but was defeated. Wales was also the father-in-law of Elihu Root, a lawyer and statesman who in 1905 replaced John Hay as Secretary of State in the administration of Theodore Roosevelt. The poet Joel Benton, in his 1905 memoir Persons and Places, relates an anecdote of P.T. Barnum:

On a certain Fourth of July celebration, held in the Court House Park, in Bridgeport, the late Salem H. Wales presided, and Mr. Barnum and others made speeches for the occasion. When Mr. Wales introduced Barnum, he, of course, was studiously facetious, as the situation would naturally compel him to be, so little was an introduction necessary in this case. But Barnum was not confused nor. upset by the happy badinage. His repartee was ready when the moment for speaking arrived; and something like this was the way he prefaced his remarks: “I don’t know, fellow citizens and neighbors, why I am asked to speak here to-day. I have really nothing important to offer; and my business should have kept me in New York. While Wales is here showing me up, I ought to be at the Museum showing up whales.” And much more he added, with that genial twinkle of the eye which was an unvarying accompaniment to his playful words.

Samuel Breese House (1836)

The house at 271 Court Street (formerly 273 Court Street) in Middletown was built between 1830 and 1836 by Barzillai D. Sage, a master mason who also constructed the First President’s House of Wesleyan University. In 1836, the property was sold to Samuel Breese. From 1852 to 1861, it was owned by Erastus Brainerd, of the Brainerd Quarry Company, and by his heirs until 1878. Since 1973, the house has been owned by Wesleyan University, which renovated it for use as offices.

Wilcox-Meech House (1872)

An Italianate double house at 55 Crescent Street in Middletown, the Wilcox-Meech House was built between 1867 and 1872 (or between 1880 and 1890) by John Wilcox, Middletown’s Chief of Police. George Thomas Meech purchased the property in 1881 and lived there into the 1930s. George T. Meech had served in the Civil War and later was a partner with Orrin E. Stoddard in the Meech & Stoddard grain and feed store. The house was owned by the Hubbard family (and became known as the Hubbard Estate) from 1937 to 1973, when it was acquired by Middlesex Memorial Hospital. It is now used by the hospital as offices.

Parker Homestead (1777)

At 640 Wormwood Hill Road in Mansfield is a house originally built by Capt. Richard Fletcher (1736-1812) and sold, in 1777, to Zachariah Parker, Jr., who farmed on the property. The house would remain in the Parker family until 1901. Zachariah passed it to his eldest son, Thomas Parker, who had five sons and one daughter with his wife, Hannah Atwood Parker. The elder brothers, Miner and Pliny, married, but the three younger brothers did not. Their sister, Hannah Parker (1804-1895), kept house for her brothers at the Parker Homestead, where she lived until her death. Hannah Parker also taught school at Wormwood Hill and professed to be the first female teacher in Mansfield. Her nieces and nephews inherited the house and sold it in 1901 to Gertrude Cantor of New York. She and her sister, Alice Cantor, ran the property as a summer boarding house. To make more room for their many guests, the sisters raised the house from its original one-and-a-half stories to a full two stories. (more…)