Cheshire

First Congregational Church of Cheshire (1826)

Cheshire became a seperate parish from Wallingford in 1724. The first meetinghouse was a log cabin on the corner of what is now Lanyon Drive and South Main Street. This was replaced by the second meetinghouse in 1737, on the east side of Cheshire Green (where a Civil War monument stands today). This church was taken down in 1826-1827 and parts were used in the construction of the current church, designed by David Hoadley. The church has a similar design to those of the Congregational churches in Litchfield (1829) and Southington (1830).

Squire Beach House (1762)

The Squire Beach House, on South Main Street in Cheshire, was built by Samuel Beach, a lawyer and prominent citizen who was a leader in establishing Cheshire as a seperate town from Wallingford. His son, Burrage Beach, was a lawyer and a director of the Farmington Canal. The house, which resembles the Foote House across the street, originally faced South Main. In 1986, the house became a restaurant and was moved and turned so that its gable end now faces the street.

The Russell Cooke House (1801)

The Russell Cooke House, on South Main Street in Cheshire, was built in 1801 and was originally both a residence and shop. When the builder, Russell Cooke, left for Ohio in 1805, others ran the shop, which was converted into a tavern in 1850 by William Horton. Later still, it was a hotel and a school. Today it is used as a law office. The gambrel-roofed building has a traditional colonial form, but with applied Federal-style details.

The Hitchcock-Phillips House (1785)

The Hitchcock-Phillips House, on Church Drive in Cheshire, dates to 1785. The Georgian-style house was built by Rufus Hitchcock, a merchant and leading citizen of Cheshire. A wing was added to the house around 1820 by Hitchcock’s son, William Rufus Hitchcock, who lived there until 1834. The house was next occupied by his sister, Lucretia and her husband, Rev. Peter Clark. Their daughter married A.W. Phillips, a Cheshire Academy instructor and later a Yale professor. They used the house as a summer home until 1907. The three dormer windows were added in 1925. The house was later used by Cheshire Academy as a dorm and was purchased by the town in 1972 to become the museum of the Cheshire Historical Society.

Deacon Stephen Hotchkiss House (1730)

The saltbox house of Deacon Stephen Hotchkiss, on South Main Street in Cheshire, was built in stages, beginning around 1730. Hotchkiss was one of the founders of Cheshire as a separate parish from Wallingford. (more…)

Samuel A. Foot House (1767)

The Foote House, on South Main Street in Cheshire, was built in 1767 for Rev. John Foot (d. 1813), the second minister of the town’s First Congregational Church. John Foot‘s son, Samuel Augustus Foot, was born in the house in 1780. Samuel A. Foot(e), who studied at Yale and with Tapping Reeve in Litchfield, went on to become a US Representative, Senator and Governor of Connecticut. Foot continued to live in the 1767 house, adding a Greek Revival portico to the entryway in the 1830s. Gov. Foote’s son, Andrew Hull Foote, was an admiral in the US Navy during the Civil War.

The Abijah Beach Tavern (1814)

Different sources indicate two different dates for the construction of the Abijah Beach Tavern in Cheshire: 1750 and 1814. The Federal style of the building is consistent with the latter date. The Beach Tavern, located just south of the Cheshire Green, was at the center of town life in the early nineteenth century: in addition to serving as an tavern, inn and store, it was also used for town meetings and court sessions before a town hall was built in 1867. The top floor of the Beach Tavern has a large ballroom. The Tavern is named for its first owner, Abijah Beach, who died in 1821. For a time it was known as the Benjamin Franklin Inn and became a private residence in 1852.