Timothy Hubbard House (1735)

A sign on the house at 136 Middletown Road in Berlin bears the name Timothy Hubbard and the year 1735. The house was long associated with the Bulkley family. About 1825 it was acquired by Colonel William Bulkley (died 1878), who made tinman’s tools (bench shears & snips) and, for a time, spoons in a shop across the street. He had acquired the shop with his brother, Justus, in 1823. As related in Catharine Melinda North’s History of Berlin (1916):

Horse power was used at first and ten men were employed. The tools were forged in this shop, and then were taken to what is known as Risley’s saw mill, to be ground and polished. Justus Bulkeley, who lived in the house east of the shop, died in 1844. His brother William continued the business and, in 1850, put an engine into the factory.

She later records that

After the Bulkeleys sold the Risley mill to Lyman Wilcox, they ground their tinners’ tools and made rotary shears for cutting sheet metal in circles at Blair’s factory.

She also gives the following description:

Mr. Bulkeley was a genial man, full of fun, and a good neighbor—one of the kind who would go out of his way to do a favor. In his day, whenever there was an auction in town, Colonel Bulkeley was called upon to conduct the sale. By his ready wit he made much fun for the people, as he led up to the final “Going, going, gone.”

Isaac W. Jones House (1854)

Various dates can be found for the construction of the house at 227 Ellsworth Street in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport. The City of Bridgeport assessor’s field card gives a date of 1837. The book, History of Black Rock, 1644-1955 (1955), compiled by Dr. Ivan O. Justinius, indicates it was built around 1845. The nomination for the Black Rock Historic District provides a date of 1854, the same year as the Capt. Charles Allen House at 213 Ellsworth Street. The two houses were originally identical, but around 1910 the house at No. 227 was altered by the addition of the gable roof and the octagonal projection between the main block and the side wing on the left.

Whatever the precise date of construction, the house at 227 Ellsworth Street was built by Isaac W. Jones (1806-1863). The house was later owned by Joseph Smith, who married Capt. Allen’s daughter, Sarah Allen. The house passed to their daughter, Viola, wife of James E. Hurlburt, and then to her daughter, Viola Hurlburt Carpenter. She and her husband, Hubert Benton Carpenter, later moved to Fairfield between 1957 and 1964.

Seabright Cottage (1877)

The house at 174-176 Seabright Avenue in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport has a sign that names it “Seabright Cottage.” The Bridgeport assesor’s field card gives it a date of 1877. The building is listed in the Black Rock Historic District as one of two “William Nichols Tenament Houses” built in 1894 (the other being at 181 Brewster Street). They were located next to Nichol’s businesses: the Nichols Hotel and the General Store.

Ambrose Hine House (1760)

Ambrose Hine acquired land at what is now 118 Cook Road in Prospect, c.1755-1757. The property record card for the Ambrose Hind House lists a date of 1760. The house does not appear in land records until 1794. Ambrose Hine (born 1726) served in the Revolutionary War as captain of the 5th battalion in James Wadsworth’s Brigade, which was with Washington at the Battle of Long Island on August 27, 1776. Highland Greens Golf Course in Prospect is located on land that Capt. Hine once farmed and he built many of the stone walls that survive on the property.

Munsill-Bronson House (1857)

A sign next to the Italianate house at 147 Chapel Road in Winchester Center indicates that it was built in 1857 by Miles Samuel Munsill, who later sold it to his cousin, Wilbur Bronson, Winchester Postmaster. Munsill’s aunt Maria married Theron Bronson. Their son was Wilbur Munsill Bronson (1848-1903), who ran the Bronson Supply Company on the village green and a lumber company in Winsted. He was postmaster from 1885 until his death in 1903.

Dr. Jeduthan Eaton House (1790)

The house at 85 Tolland Green in Tolland was built circa 1790. From 1839 to 1878 it was the home of Dr. Jeduthan Eaton, whose medicine shop was located in an attached ell that has since been removed. Between 1850 and 1853, Dr. Eaton was mining for gold in California. His letters home to his family have been published by the Tolland Historical Society. In the early twentieth century, the property was a boarding house known as Squirrel Lodge. In 1964 the house became the rectory of St. Matthew Roman Catholic Church.