George Baldwin House (1832)

At 530 Foxon Road in North Branford is a one-story hip-roofed house with a grand Greek Revival entryway. The house’s distinctive design has been attributed to the famed architect Ithiel Town. In 1827, Deacon Israel Baldwin deeded forty-two acres of land to his son, Micah Baldwin, a New York merchant, who may have known the architect. In 1834, Micah gave the house, erected c. 1832, and the land to his nephew, George Baldwin, a farmer of modest means. The house has many secret hiding places and the basement may once have had a connecting tunnel, leading to the conclusion it may have been built specifically to serve as a station on the Underground Railroad. Micah and his brother Josiah Baldwin were abolitionists and Town may have been sympathetic to the anti-slavery cause. The house was owned by the Doody family from 1919 to 1948.

Alson Barber House (1839)

The house at 150 Barbertown Road in Canton was built in 1839 by Alson Barber (1792-1880) to replace an earlier house built for him at the time of his marriage in 1814 to Hannah Humphrey by his father, Reuben Barber. As described by lawyer Sylvester Barbour in his Reminiscences (1908):

The family of Alson Barber is the most remarkable I have known, and seems to me worthy of special mention. He was born May 6, 1792, and died April 5, 1880. He was brother to Sadosa (their father, Reuben, being the first person buried in the Center cemetery), and first cousin to my father, Henry Barbour. His wife, Hannah Humphrey (born December 4, 1796, died April 19, 1877), was a sister to the Rev. Heman Humphrey, D.D., [. . .] and sister to my mother, thus producing double relationship between the children of the two families. John Brown, the martyr, was first cousin to these sisters and brother. Alson and Hannah were married November 16, 1814, and the following named twelve children were born to them: Luther Humphrey, Maria, Nelson, Harriet, Sarah, Gaylord, John, Jennette, Lemuel, Mary, Hannah and Martha. All of these children lived to adult years, all were married, and excepting the first named, had children of their own. [. . .] All because members of the church in their youth and lived exemplarily. The parents lived together most happily more than 62 years, and celebrated their golden wedding and the sixtieth anniversary of their marriage. At the former celebration eleven of their twelve children were present, and at the latter nine were present. Thirty-five grandchildren were living at the time of the former celebration, and all the children were living at the sixty-second anniversary of the parents’ marriage.


Alson’s son, Gaylord, later ran the farm and erected barns on the property.

Jacob J. & Charlotte Ritz House (1875)

Construction of the house at 25 Vine Street in New Britain, which displays Victorian Gothic and Eastlake elements, has been dated to 1867, c. 1875, or, in A Walk Around Walnut Hill (1975), between 1885 and 1890. That same book indicates the house was built by Jacob J. and Charlotte Ritz (Jacob Ritz was a city councilman in 1882) and was purchased by George Tyler, an engineer, about 1900. The property includes an original carriage house.

Dan Case Tavern (1786)

A rare example in Connecticut of an eighteenth century stone house is located at 30 Lawton Road in Canton. The gambrel-roofed house, initially used as a tavern, was erected in 1786 by Dan Case (1761-1815). He was the son of Lt. Dudley Case, who the first proprietor of what would become known as the Hosford Tavern. Dan Case later moved to Ohio. The house has an arched third-floor hall. From 1797 to 1799, Masonic meetings were held there by Village Lodge No. 29.

Nathan Bosworth House (1878)

On Sherman Street in Hartford are a pair of French Second Empire-style houses with mansard roofs and corner towers. They were erected by John R. Hills, a stonemason and builder (who also worked with contractor John B. Garvie to build the Mark Twain House), and William Blevins, a stone dealer. One of the houses, built in 1877, is at 21 Sherman Street. The other, pictured above, is at 25 Sherman Street. It was built in 1878 and its first resident was Nathan A. Bosworth, a plumber and steamfitter who was a partner in the company Embler and Bosworth and had served in the Civil War.