Built around 1711-1720, on Broad Street in Wethersfield, the Buttolph-Williams House was at one time thought to date to the 1690s, when David Buttolph owned the part of the Buttolph family lot on which the house was built. More recent research of land tax records now indicates that house was most likely built during the period the land was owned by Benjamin Belden, who bought the lot in 1711 and sold it to Daniel Williams in 1721, by which time the presence of a “Dwelling House” is clearly indicated in the records. Although not constructed as early as was once assumed, it is still an excellent example of a seventeenth century-style post-medieval English house and shows that a more traditional style continued to be built in the Connecticut River Valley into the eighteenth century.
What was later known as the “Older Williams House” (which can be seen as it appeared before its restoration in a 1930s photograph) was restored in the 1950s and is considered the most faithful restoration of a house of its type in the CT River Valley. The house also helped to inspire the local author, Elizabeth George Speare, to write her historical novel for young adults, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, which won the Newbery Medal in 1959. The Buttolph-Williams House was used as a model for the house depicted in the book, which takes place in Wethersfield in the 1680s.
Today, the Buttolph-Williams House is open to the public as a house museum, owned by the Antiquarian and Landmarks Society. Tours are conducted by the staff of the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum.
