Lemuel Camp Tavern (1806)

Lemuel Camp built his house on Main Street in Durham in 1806 and it was soon opened as a tavern. Lemuel Camp died in 1843 and his widow, Martha Pickett Camp, in 1860. The house was then divided between their surviving children, Edward Pickett Camp of New Haven and his unmarried sister, Sophronia Camp, but neither lived in the house. Sallie B. Strong bought the property near the turn of the century and rented rooms to tenants. Edward P. Camp’s daughter, Hattie Camp, married the watercolor painter Wedworth Wadsworth (1846-1927) and they rented rented the house as a summer residence. The house has passed through other owners over the years and was restored in 1978.

Levi B. Frost House (1836)

According to tradition, Asa Barnes established a tavern in his home in the Marion area of Southington in 1765, the same year he married Phebe Adkins. In 1781, when French troops under the comte de Rochambeau were marching through Connecticut on their way south, the eighth campsite of their march was established nearby on French Hill. During the four nights of the encampment, Rochambeau and his officers were entertained by Barnes in the tavern. They would stop there again during their return march, on October 27, 1782. Barnes continued to live in his tavern/house until his death in 1819. His son, Philo Barnes, leased the home to Micah Rugg and Levi B. Frost, pioneers in Southington’s bolt manufacturing industry. Frost, a blacksmith, purchased the property in 1820. The original building burned in a fire in 1836 and Frost rebuilt his house in the Greek Revival style. While the Frost House, which is located at 1089 Marion Avenue, features the classic hallmarks of that style of architecture, it is unusually long at 50 feet. This may be due to the house being constructed on the foundations (and perhaps even incorporating the original framework) of the original eighteenth-century tavern.

Church’s Tavern (1738)

Church’s Tavern, also known as the Old Post Tavern and the Risley House, is a colonial house at 11 Main Street South in Bethlehem. While Aaron Burr was a student at Dr. Joseph Bellamy‘s theological school in Bethlehem, he mentioned the house in a letter to his sister dated January 17, 1774. The letter is quoted in volume 1 of James Parton’s The Life and Times of Aaron Burr (1893):

P. M., 2 o’clock.—I have just been over to the Tavern to buy candles; there I saw six slay-loads of Bucks & Bells, from Woodberry, and a happier company I believe there never was; it really did me good to look at them. They were drinking Cherry Rum when I entered the room, and I easily perceived that both Males and Females had enough to keep them in Spirits. The Females especially looked too immensely goodnatured to say no to anything. And I doubt not the Effects of this Frolic will be very visible a few Months hence.

Cooke’s Tavern (1789)

In 1795, John Cooke purchased property (current address: 143 New Britain Avenue in Plainville) from Luther Shepard of Farmington and constructed a house/tavern (or was it already built in 1789?) for travelers along the Old College Highway. Originally it contained six rooms and a ballroom, but the building was much added to over its years as a tavern. The basement kitchen was later used as a blacksmith’s shop until 1880 and the old forge remains. In 1934, a great-great-grandson of John Cooke reopened the old tavern as a restaurant called Cooke’s Tavern. Today, the tavern is home to a restaurant called J. Timothy’s Taverne.

Old Riverton Inn (1796)

The Old Riverton Inn, Barkhamsted, traditionally goes back to 1796, although the building probably dates to around 1804. It was originally opened by Jesse Ives as a tavern and inn, which he operated until 1856. Industry soon developed in Riverton and much traffic crossed the neighboring bridge across the Farmington River. The Old Riverton Inn (pdf) has remained open under various owners over the years and continues in business today. The building has undergone a number of changes and additions, including an Italianate-style porch. It retains original Federal-style features as well as Colonial Revival alterations. (more…)

Squire’s Tavern (1796)

In 1796, Daniel Bennett of Weston built the house in Barkhamsted that would later be called Squire’s Tavern. From 1801 to 1821, it was operated as a tavern by Saul Upson, who then sold it to Bela Squire. The property had a farm, tavern, and blacksmith’s shop. The house had other owners after 1871, including Johann Ullmann, a German immigrant farmer. In 1929, the former Tavern was donated to the state and housed park rangers as part of People’s State Forest. By the 1990s, the building was unoccupied. It has since been restored and opened as a museum by the Barkhamsted Historical Society.

Captain William Bull Tavern (1745)

Happy Thanksgiving!! The Captain William Bull Tavern in Litchfield was built around 1745 on a farm on the East Litchfield Road, part of the Hartford to Albany highway. It is not known who built the house, but Capt. Bull was the owner of the farm by the 1790s. He had served at the capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775. The house passed through various owners until Frederick Fuessenich of Torrington purchased it in 1923. By that time it had fallen into disrepair and was in danger of being dismantled. Fuessenich saved it and moved the building to a new site about two miles away, placing it across from where the old tollhouse on the Torrington Turnpike had once stood. Fuessenich, an avid collector of antiques, restored and furnished the house, which he renamed the Tollgate Hill Tavern. (The house was featured in an article in the September 1925 issue of Country Life magazine). He also brought other colonial buildings to his property to create a period ambiance, including a house believed to have been the first school house used in the town of Berlin. The antiques collection was dispersed during the Depression. In the 1930s, Fuessenich and his wife established an inn at the Tavern. The Inn has since continued under various owners and the kitchen was completely renovated in 2003.