Benjamin F. Holmes House (1855)

The house at 29 Church Street in Mystic was built in 1855 by Benjamin F. Holmes (1822-1892), a son of Jeremiah Holmes, hero of the Battle of Stonington. Benjamin F. Holmes was a ship captain and part owner of the screw steamer Idaho, built by George Greenman & Co. His brother, Capt. Joseph W. Holmes, lived a few doors away at 35 Church Street. It appears that Benjamin F. Holmes later lived at another house in Mystic. He was killed by a train near Poquonock Bridge in 1892.

Jones-Brooks House (1836)

As related in Sketches Of The People And Places Of New Hartford In The Past And Present (1883), by Henry R. Jones, the house at 598 Main Street in New Hartford was

erected about 1836, by Miss Lucy A. Jones for her parents, Mr and Mrs Sylvester Jones. The builder was Henry Lee of Pleasant Valley. The owner of this property afterwards became the wife of Edward A. Brooks, who in former years was a blacksmith in this village. Mr Brooks’ first wife was a daughter of Pitman Stow, who also was an old time blacksmith in the village. Mr Brooks, who, with his family, lived in this house for many years, died in 1875, leaving a daughter, Mary Jane, by his first wife, and a widow who also had one daughter, Julia, who married for her second husband Austin Lee, the son of the contractor who built the house. Mrs Brooks was an accomplished lady, for many years a teacher, having for a considerable period, with her sister Almira (Mrs J. C. Baker), successfully conducted a select school in Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Her brother, Herman Leroy Jones, is now living in this village. Her sister, Juliana (Mrs Thomas H. Gault), died in Strausburg, Pa., about thirty years ago. Mrs Brooks died Sept. 5, 1876, and her only child, Mrs Lee, in 1875. Her father died in 1854 and her mother a few years later. The property is now owned by Charles Dickinson of New Britain, a brother of Mrs Lee’s first husband.

Judson Bushnell House (1872)

In 1860, Judson Bushnell (1836-1906) of Ivoryton married Harriet Griswold (1839-1925). In 1872, he erected the house at 32 Main Street in Ivoryton, on land he had purchased from his father-in-law, Edwin Griswold, the partner of Samuel M. Comstock in the ivory comb-making business of Comstock & Griswold. The house was then occupied by Judson and Harriet’s son, Clarence (died 1940), who had previously lived in the former home of his grandfather, Edwin Griswold, across the street. Clarence Bushnell sold automobiles as a partner in the dealership of Behrens and Bushnell.

Medad Holcomb House (1805)

Medad Holcomb (died 1858) was a farmer in North Guilford who built the house at 2814 Long Hill Road in 1805. (His son, Medad Holcomb, Jr., would later build the house at 95 Fair Street in Guilford in 1848). In 1809, Rev. William F. Vaill acquired the house while he was pastor of the North Guilford Congregational Church. Later alterations to the house include the switch to smaller chimneys and shingle siding. The Holcomb farm, later owned by John Dudley, was operated as a dairy farm for many years and has many surviving barns and outbuildings.