55 Old Post Road, Tolland (1760)

The house at 55 Old Post Road in Tolland was built c. 1760-1790. A fire later destroyed the roof and part of the second floor, but the house was rebuilt. This seems to be the house described as follows in the History of Tolland County, Connecticut (1888), by J.R. Cole:

Next south was the old Ashbel Steel place, which was used for a school house. Mr. Lucius S. Fuller taught there both before and after the building was moved. Doctor Potwine lived in this house. Joshua Griggs now owns it.

The Masons established Uriel Lodge No. 24 in Tolland in 1793. Now located in Merrow (in Mansfield), the lodge once occupied the front of the house’s second story.

Capt. Waterman Clift House (1837)

Clift Street in Mystic was developed by Col. Amos Clift III (1805-1878), a local builder, and his mother Thankful Denison Clift (1780-1861). The house at 2 Clift Street, at the corner of Gravel Street, was built by Amos in 1837 for his brother, Capt. Waterman Clift (1809-1890). A shipmaster, Waterman Clift commanded the vessels Atlantic, Phume and Coasting Trader, as well as the U.S. transport Haze, which made regular trips between New York City and New Bern, North Carolina during the Civil War. He was later a harbor pilot in Apalachicola, Florida. The house has an east wing added in the 1920s. The front and side porch, which replaced an earlier entry portico, were added in the last few years.

St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Hartford (1845)

St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, at 30 Prospect Street in New Hartford, was originally built as a Baptist Church in Barkhamsted. As related in the History of Litchfield County, Connecticut (1881):

In 1845—46 a Baptist Church and ecclesiastical society was organized in Pleasant Valley [in Barkhamsted], and a neat house of worship was erected. Rev. George B. Atwell became settled pastor in December, 1846, and Hart Doolittle was elected deacon. The church at this time numbered twenty-six. In 1847 the church gained accessions, and for several years continued to grow and prosper, although its membership never exceeded seventy-five. In 1858, Rev. J. J. Bronson succeeded Elder Atwell as pastor. In 1859 the members who resided in New Hartford formed a separate organization, known as a “Branch of the Pleasant Valley Baptist Church.” The original church, although reduced in numbers and strength, still retained its vitality, and Rev. T. Wrinkle succeeded to the pastorate, and was ordained in June, 1861. He remained but a few months, and the church was left without a pastor until 1865-66, when the remaining members united with the New Hartford branch, the house of worship was removed to that place, and the Baptist Church of Pleasant Valley became merged in that of New Hartford.

The church was moved from Pleasant Valley to New Hartford by being floated down the Farmington River. Its new location was on Holcomb Hill, on the east of the river. The commercial center of town would develop on the west side of the river. It was thought at the time that the East River Road, which ran by the church, would be extended, but instead the current Route 44, on the west side of the river, became the major thoroughfare through town. The Baptist church was acquired by the Lutheran church circa 1907.

636 Old Post Road, Fairfield (1954)

The Georgian Revival-style building at 636 Old Post Road in Fairfield was built in 1954 and housed the Fairfield Historical Society for half a century. In 2007 the Society erected a new building, the Fairfield Museum and History Center, at 370 Beach Road. Their former building is now owned by the neighboring First Congregational Church and houses the administrative offices of Operation Hope.