David Kinne House (1780)

On Old Black Hill Road in Plainfield is the David Kinne House, built in 1780 and enlarged in 1815. It is considered to be an example of the “Caterbury Style,” a regional variety of the Federal style, other examples of which include the Capt. John Clark House and the Prudence Crandall House, both in Canterbury. Another house in Plainfield, which is also clearly in the same style to the above mentioned houses was covered in the Historic American Buildings Survey. It’s listed as “Cleveland House, Bradford Hill, Plainfield, Windham, CT,” but I don’t know its exact location or if it is still standing.

Judge Joseph Eaton House (1725)

At 20 Academy Hill Road in Plainfield is a colonial house, built in 1725, which now for sale for use as a bed & breakfast. The house served as both residence and probate court of Judge Joseph Eaton. A market listing for the house claims that it was also the Eaton Tavern (later known as the the Plainfield Hotel and the Lafayette Inn), where George Washington (1776 and 1781) and Lafayette (1824) once stayed. Other sources clearly state that Eaton’s Tavern (1768), which is no longer standing, was actually located at the intersection of Gallup Street and Norwich Road.

The John E. Cook House (1818)

When Nathaniel Cook purchased land at the intersection of Walkley Hill and Hayden Hill Roads in Haddam in 1818, a Federal-style house already existed on the property. In this home, Nathaniel’s son John Edwin Cook was born in 1830. An ardent abolitionist, John E. Cook participated in John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859. Cook arrived in Harpers Ferry in 1858, with the mission of scouting the area for John Brown. While there, he worked as a schoolteacher, book agent, and lock tender for the C&O Canal. He also married Mary Virginia Kennedy, a local woman. When the Raid ended with the capture of Brown and most of his followers, Cook was one of the party who escaped. He was later captured in Pennsylvania and tried in Virginia. Cook was hanged on December 16, 1859.

The Rev. Elizur Goodrich House (1763)

The Reverend Elizur Goodrich was the second minister of Durham’s Congregational Church, from 1756 until his death in 1797. He was born in Rocky Hill in 1734 and was prepared for Yale by Rev. James Lockwood of Wethersfield. Rev. Goodrich would later prepare students for Yale himself, including Eli Whitney. Rev. Goodrich was a contemporary and supporter of Ezra Stiles, minister, theologian and educator, who was president of Yale from 1778 to 1795. Both men were among Connecticut’s intellectual leaders of the time. Elizur Goodrich the minister was the father of Elizur Goodrich the lawyer and politician. The minister’s house, on Main Street in Durham, was built in 1763. Around 1840, Goodrich’s heirs sold the house to Zebulon Hale and Enos Rogers, who ran a nearby store. Zebulon’s daughter, Olive, married Watson Davis, who replaced Rogers as his father-in-law’s partner in the store. The house remained in the Davis family well into the twentieth century.

Celanese House (1959)

The Celanese House, on Oenoeke Ridge Road in New Canaan, was commissioned by the the Celanese Corporation, a chemical manufacturer, as a showplace for their products. Built in 1959, the house was designed by Edward Durell Stone (corporation executives would only consider Stone or Frank Lloyd Wright for the commission). The house, screened by its distinctive latticework, is lit by twelve prominent pyramidal skylights. The building received national press attention when it was completed. After Celanease’s 1959 promotional campaign ended, this model house was sold as a private residence. In 1960, the house was purchased by Frederick Wilcox, an inventor. He died in 1996 and his wife, Velma Willcox, continued in residence until her death in 2005. Between 2006 and 2007, new owner Bruce Capra undertook an extensive restoration of the house, which was then put on the market.

James Wadsworth House (1708)

James Wadsworth (1675-1756) was a lawyer from Farmington, who moved to Durham in 1707 with his wife, Ruth Noyes. Wadsworth, who became colonel of the Tenth Regiment of militia, also served as Town Clerk, Justice of the Peace, Speaker of House of the Colonial Assembly and Judge of the Superior Court. Wadsworth’s grandson later held the same offices: the Wadsworth family dominated local politics for eighty years. Col. Wadsworth’s house in Durham began as a single-story center-chimney house, built in 1708, and was expanded to two stories between 1720 and 1750.