Built around 1757, the Peter Burnham House was originally on the opposite side of Marsh Street in Wethersfield. It was moved in the 1960s. The doorway is a unique pedimented example to survive in Wethersfield.
Peter Burnham House (1757)
John Chester Tavern (North Half) (1735)
Originally attached to the southern half of the John Chester Tavern, the northern half was moved by his grandchildren to its present location on Garden Street in Wethersfield.
John Chester Tavern (South Half) (1735)
The Tavern of John Chester on Broad Street in Wethersfield was built in the 1730s. In 1765, the Connecticut Sons of Liberty, reacting to the Stamp Act, intercepted the Stamp Master Jared Ingersoll below Wethersfield to prevent his reaching Hartford. This may have been the tavern in which Ingersoll took refuge before eventually being forced to resign his office. John Chester was an officer in the militia that went to fight at Lexington. He became a colonel in 1776 and served throughout the Revolutionary War. His house stood further south on Broad Street, on the other side of the Broad Street Green. It survived to 1869. Chester’s grandchildren split the tavern building, moving the north half to nearby Garden Street in Wethersfield.
Capt. Gershom Nott House (1760)
Built around 1760 for the Wethersfield sea captain, Gershom Nott, this Georgian-style house on Marsh Street, across from the Ancient Burying Ground, has a gambrel roof, similar to that of the Webb House.
Armsmear (1857)
Built in 1857 on Wethersfield Avenue in Hartford for Samuel Colt, Armsmear has been called “the grandest residence in the Hartford of its day.” Often attributed to the architect Octavius Jordan, it is an elaborate Italian Villa. It has been much altered from its original opulence, having lost such features as an ornate dome with an ogee shape, similar to that on the Colt Armory in Hartford. Also lost are the glass-domed conservatories, added in 1861-2 and inspired by London’s Crystal Palace. The mansion still features three towers, and Bill Hosley describes, in the Hog River Journal, convincing the director of the Wadsworth Atheneum to approve an exhibition on Colt’s Empire by showing him the view of Coltsville from the Armsmear’s main tower. Hosley describes the tower as “one of the most alluring historic spaces in Connecticut.”
After the death of Elizabeth Colt, the house was altered, according to her will, by Benjamin Wistar Morris to became a residence for the widows of Episcopalian ministers. 140 acres of the Colt estate were also given to the city of Hartford to create Colt Park. Today Armsmear is described as a “51 unit apartment complex for retired single women.”
Robert Robbins House (1792)
Built in the 1790s on Broad Street in Wethersfield, the Robert Robbins House is one of a number of brick Federal style homes in the town designed by James Francis.
Benjamin Bissell House (1694)
While it today features a Greek Revival appearance, originating in changes made in the nineteenth century, and it was also moved at some point to be above a new cellar, the Benjamin Bissell House actually dates to 1694, making it the oldest house in the East Windsor Hill Historic District. It sits on the original house lot owned by Eltweed Pomeroy and later by John Bissell, who gave it to his son, Thomas Bissell. This lot still stretches between the Connecticut River and Main Street.