Levi Ward Tavern (1799)

The house at 389 Saybrook Road in Haddam, across from the road leading to Higganum Landing, was operated as a tavern during the area’s heyday as a river port and shipbuilding center. The house was built between 1799 and 1802, the year the Middlesex Turnpike opened. It was erected by Dr. Levi Ward (1771-1861), who soon left Connecticut, as related in Fifty Puritan Ancestors (1902), by Elizabeth Todd Nash:

Levi Ward, Jr., son of Levi and Mary Meigs Ward, born July 29, 1771, graduated at Yale College, studied medicine under Dr. Jonathan Todd, and took his M.D.; married Mehitable Hand, youngest daughter of Capt. Daniel Hand.

. . . .

In 1807 Levi Ward, Sr., John Ward and Levi Ward, M.D., went to the “Genesee Country” [in New York State] to settle. Bergen was then in the wilderness and Indians, bears, wolves, deer, were the neighbors of the little company from Haddam. Dr. Ward was the only physician in that locality, and he was sent for from distant settlements, entailing long wearisome journeys through the forests.

In 1817, from his new home in Bergen, Dr. Ward sold the tavern in Connecticut to George Smith. It was acquired by Cornelius Brainerd (1811-1884) in 1849. As described in The genealogy of the Brainerd-Brainard family in America, 1649-1908, Vol. II (1908), by Lucy Abigail Brainard:

In his earlier years he was a manufacturer of clocks. He was commissioner on roads and ferries in 1868, and commissioner to the Superior Court about 22 years. He was collector in the Second Congressional District in 1864 and the four years following. He was several years justice of the peace and selectman. He was nominated to the Whig State Convention Dec. 23, 1848. He was a committee to procure recruits in the late Civil War. He was county commissioner in 1855 and ’56. He represented the Nineteenth District in 1867 and ’68 in the Connecticut Senate, and was chairman of the committee on agriculture, on contested elections and on education. He introduced the bill for free schools and through his influence it was passed. He has been called “The father of free schools.” He held many offices in the gift of the people, both local and state wise, and was for a number of years United States deputy collector of internal revenue.

He was a power in politics in the Nineteenth District,clear headed and far seeing, doing good service for the Republican Party. His judgment was good and when followed, success in almost every case resulted. Firm and unyielding as a rock, he was nevertheless a true, tried and trustworthy friend. He never dissembled and never betrayed the trust and confidence placed in him. He was treasurer and director in the Higganum Savings Bank from its establishment, and director in “The Bank of New England,” East Haddam, from 1857 to ’74, inclusive.

Curtis-Vail House (1820)

The house at 286 Naubuc Avenue in Glastonbury is thought to date back to c. 1820, or perhaps even earlier. Its current architectural style is Greek Revival. In the 1850s, the house was the residence of Frederick Curtis, an industrialist. With his brother, Joseph S. Curtis, Frederick built a factory that was the first in the country to manufacture German Silver (also known as Nickel silver, it is made from an alloy of copper, zinc and nickel). It was first called F. Curtis & Company and, later, the Curtisville Manufacturing Company. In the 1860s, the house was the residence of Thomas J. Vail, who took control of the Curtis factory. He added the manufacture of firearms to the operations of the company, which was renamed the Connecticut Arms and Manufacturing Company. It eventually became the Williams Brothers Manufacturing Company.

Stanton-Davis Homestead (1670)

Thomas Stanton (1616-1677), an original English settler of Hartford, was a trader who fought in the Pequot War and was appointed Indian Interpreter by the United Colonies of New England. Stanton also became one of the founders of Stonington, beginning construction of his house near Osbrook Point by the Pawcatuck River in 1670. The house was enlarged in 1700. Robert Stanton, Thomas’s great-grandson, put up the house and farm as collateral on a debt in 1764. The note was held by Thomas Fanning of Groton and Ezra L’Hommedieu of Long Island, who ended up taking possession of the property the following year. They rented the farm to John Davis of Long Island, who had married into the Stanton family. Davis bought the farm outright in 1772. The land, recently preserved by conservation easements, has remained in the Davis family and is recognized as the oldest continuously operating farm in Connecticut. The last resident of the house was farmer John “Whit” Davis, who passed away in 2016 at the age of 91. Determined to preserve the historic house, about fifteen years ago Davis had begun working to preserve it and its contents as the Stanton-Davis Homestead Museum. The house, located at the intersection of Osbrook Point Road and Greenhaven Road (address: 576A Greenhaven Road), is currently boarded up to protect it and a committee of volunteers is working to raise funds for its renovation.

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John Randall House (1685)

Off Route 2 in North Stonington is a colonial house that is hidden from the highway down a long driveway (address: 41 Norwich-Westerly Road). Its earliest section dates back to c. 1685, with the main block reaching its present configuration c. 1720. Named for John Randall, it was the homestead of the Randall family. John Randall I (1629-1684), who had settled in Westerly, Rhode Island, purchased the land in 1680 and his son, John Randall II (1666-1720) built the house. His son, Capt. John Randall III (1701-1761) added to the family holdings. Later descendant Darius H. Randall (born 1823) was an abolitionist and his home was a stop on the Underground Railroad. The house, acquired by Harvey Perry in 1926, was restored about 1930 by Norman Isham, an early preservationist and co-author, with Albert Brown, of Early Connecticut Houses (1900).

William and Lucinda Clark bought the property in 1986 and the following year opened called Randall’s Ordinary Landmark Inn and Restaurant, where eighteenth-century style open hearth meals were prepared and served by staff dressed in period clothing. The property was acquired by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe in 1995 and the restaurant continued in operation until 2006. In 2015, the property was purchased by Carla and Rodolfo Bartolucci, owners of Euro-USA Trading Co. Inc., makers of organic foods under the name Jovial. Last year they opened a new company headquarters facility on the property and they plan to rehabilitate the house and other buildings on the grounds as a restored inn and restaurant.

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Ebenezer Morgan House (1853)

The house at 61 Denison Avenue (formerly 14 Denison Avenue) in Mystic was built in 1853 for Ebenezer Morgan. This may be the Ebenezer Morgan (1831-1903) whose career is described in the Genealogical and Biographical Record of New London County, Connecticut (1905):

In early life he worked in the old Irons & Grinnell yard as a ship carpenter, later in the Greenman and Mallory yards, in the latter serving as a superintendent, but during the last forty years of his life he was employed in the Light House Department on the Atlantic coast, and for several years was superintendent of construction in the Third Light House District. By his uniform courtesy and characteristic integrity Mr. Morgan commanded the respect of all who knew him. He was well known in Masonic circles throughout the State, being a member of Charity and Relief Lodge of Mystic: Palestine Commandery, of New London; and Pyramid Temple, Mystic Shrine, of Bridgeport. He had taken the thirty-second degree. He was a trustee in the Methodist Church. Like other members of his family, he was a man gifted in many ways, and he developed talents in ship construction which brought him many important contracts. He designed and built the famous yacht “Dauntless,” the property of Mrs. Colt, of Hartford, and was also the builder of the steam yacht “Britanique,” a vessel 240 feet in length, owned in Baltimore. He was the superintendent of the great work of dredging in the Potomac river and filling in land around the Washington Monument, and under his superintendence the Erie Basin Dry Dock was constructed.