Sarah Potter Denison Palmer House (1833)

The house at 170 Water Street, on the west side of Wadawanuck Square in Stonington, was built in 1833 for Sarah Potter Denison Palmer (1785-1862), a decade after the death of her husband, Luke Palmer (1775-1822). Known as the Widow Luke Palmer House, it was described as follows in Grace Denison Wheeler’s The Homes of Our Ancestors in Stonington, Conn. (1903):

The Widow Luke Palmer’s house is one of the old landmarks although none of the older residents seem to know when this house was built; still it is known that Mr. Palmer married Sally P. Denison in 1804, and they lived there. She used to board the men connected with building the Stonington Railroad, Mr. Almy, Mr. Matthews and others, about 1835. The house has been so added to and improved that but little of the original can now be seen. It was owned by Mrs. William L. Palmer, and her heirs sold it to Mr. Henry Davis, whose heirs sold it to Miss Emma A. Smith, and in 1901, the Roman Catholic Society purchased it of her. At various times three clergymen have lived here: Rev. M. Willey, first Pastor of Calvary Church; Rev. R. S. Wilson, Pastor of the Baptist Church, and Rev. A. G. Palmer, who was so long the good minister of the Baptist Church.

John Wiard House (1754)

Off Route 4 in Burlington is a house built on a tract of land soon after its purchase by John Wiard, Jr. (1720-1788) in 1754. It was later passed to his son, Seth Wiard and then to Seth Wiard, Jr. The house is notable for having many well preserved eighteenth-century exterior and interior details, as well as Federal-style interior alterations made about 1810. Now set back from the road, the house’s front driveway, parallel to Route 4, marks the road’s original location, before it was moved to the south.

Daniel Tuttle House (1792)

The Daniel Tuttle House is a Federal-style saltbox house built in Wolcott in 1792. The house is located at 4 Kenea Avenue and faces Wolcott Green. Daniel Tuttle worked as a carpenter. Seth Thomas, who would later become a famous clock manufacturer, began his career in Wolcott as an apprentice to Daniel Tuttle. Thomas would eventually build his factory in Plymouth Hollow, which was later renamed Thomaston in his honor. In 1797, Tuttle sold his house to Asoph Hotchkiss and moved to Plymouth. Hotchkiss was one of three men who donated land for what would become the town Green. The house passed through other owners, who oversaw the construction of a stone wall around the property and the landscaping of the grounds with shrubs and flower gardens. In 1964, All Saints’ Episcopal Church was built on the property to the rear of the house, which was serving as the parish rectory. Today, the house is again under private ownership.

Capt. Charles Allen House (1854)

The house at 213 Ellsworth Street in the Black Rock neighborhood of Bridgeport was built in 1854 by Capt. Charles Allen. As described in Volume II of the History of Bridgeport and Vicinity (1917), Capt. Allen

came to Bridgeport in an early day and ran a packet between this city and New York. He was commander of the packet Emily and of the schooner Ella Jane for a number of years, owning both boats. He was afterward with the Bridgeport Steamboat Company as pilot of the Crystal Wave and he became a prominent representative of navigation interests in this city. He was a native of Westport, Connecticut, and arrived in Bridgeport in the late ’60s. He married Amanda J. Fairchild, a native of this city […] Throughout his entire life Charles H. Allen was identified with marine interests and became recognized as the most competent pilot on the Sound. He was owner and captain of his own boats, and for a number of years, with his brother, Sereno G., ran a packet line from Westport to New York. He was, moreover, a public-spirited citizen, active in support of measures and movements for the general good, thus displaying the same spirit of loyalty and patriotism which characterized his ancestors who served in the Revolutionay war.

The Isaac Jones House, at 227 Ellsworth Street, next door to the Allen House, was built the same year and was originally an identical Italianate structure, but was much altered in 1910.