Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Houses

Denison Homestead (1717)

The Denison Homestead is the third successive house to be built on the land granted to Captain George Denison in 1654 in the Town of Stonington‘s half of Mystic (which is a census-designated place). Its immediate predecessor burned in a fire in 1717, the night before George Denison‘s grandson, known as “George the Builder,” was married. This grandson then built the current house just west of the original home, using charred timbers from the old house. The house, which became known as Pequotsepos Manor, continued to be the home of generations of the Denison family. In 1930, Ann Borodell Denison Gates created the Denison Society and after her death, in 1941, the house became the Denison Homestead Museum. Located on Pequotsepos Road in Mystic, the museum presents a different period of time the history of the Denison family in each of its rooms.

This is Historic Buildings of Connecticut’s 500th Post
(not including the April Fools Day post)

The Horace Niles Trumbull House (1860)

On Main Street in Stonington Borough, off Wadawanuck Square, is an Italianate and French Second Empire style mansion built in 1860 by John F. Trumbull, a merchant and factory-owner, for his son, Horace Niles Trumbull. Since 1899, the house has been owned by Josiah Culbert Palmer and his descendants.

Peck Tavern (1680)

The Peck Tavern, where George Washington once danced, is located where Sill Lane branches off from US 1 in Old Lyme. It may have been built as early as 1680, although the main block achieved its present form by about 1769, when John Peck acquired the tavern. The building served as an inn and tavern from the mid-eighteenth century into the nineteenth and remained in the Peck family until 1904. In the 1930s, the building was used by the Old Lyme Guild, a non-profit arts and crafts organization. In recent years, the house served as a bed & breakfast.

The Samuel Webster House (1787)

The house of Samuel Webster and Lucy Bissell Webster, daughter of David Bissell, is on Main Street in the East Windsor Hill section of South Windsor. This early example of a colonial brick house was probably built in 1787, although the sign on the house claims an earlier date of 1760.

The William Pendleton House (1831)

The William Pendleton House, on Main Street in Stonington Borough, is a Greek Revival style house, which retains elements of the Federal style. It was built after 1831 (perhaps as late as 1840) for Pendleton, who was a merchant. The gable may have been added later. During Prohibition, the house’s basement was used as an illegal bar, or speakeasy, and the period decor and original bar have been preserved by later owners.

The Ephraim Williams House (1840)

The 1840 house, built by Henry Smith for Ephraim Williams, Jr., on Water Street in Stonington Borough, combines features of the Federal and Greek Revival styles. Ephraim Williams, Jr.’s father and uncle, Charles P. Williams, were both successful and wealthy businessmen.

Avon Old Farms Inn (1757)

The oldest section of what is now the Avon Old Farms Inn, at the intersection of Routes 10 and 44 in Avon, is a house built by Nathaniel North in 1757, on land which had been granted to his father, Thomas North, after his service in King Phillip’s War. Thomas’ father, John North, had arrived in the vicinity of Northington (the north part of Farmington, now Avon) in the 1630s. The house was later owned by Nathaniel North‘s great-grandson, John North, a blacksmith who added the 1832 stone blacksmith shop, which is now connected to the house. Across Route 44, once stood Marshall Tavern, a former stagecoach stop, which was demolished in 1933 to improve traffic safety at the intersection. The North House was also used to accommodate travelers, becoming the Old Farms Inn in 1923.