It is not known who built the house at 125 East Main Street in Clinton. Dating to around 1787, the house was in the Burnham family from the 1860s. Perhaps it was around that time that it acquired its later Gothic Revival decorative features.
Captain W. H. Williams, said to have been related to a signer of the Declaration of Independence, built a house in Clinton around 1710. Located at 110 East Main Street, the house was used as an antiques store at the time it was photographed for a WPA survey in the late 1930s. It now houses a bridal beauty salon, part of what is known as Clinton’s “Wedding Row.”
The town of Clinton, originally known as Killingworth, established a congregational church society in 1667. The first meeting house, located in what would develop into Clinton Village, was built of logs and was succeeded by two others, built in 1700 and 1731. In 1735, a second church society was formed in the north part of Killingworth. This later society became a separate town in 1868 and retained the name Killingworth, while the south part became the town of Clinton. The current First Church in Clinton was built in 1837 in a different location than its predecessors: the top of Meeting House Hill, where it faces south and can be seen from Clinton harbor. Also on the hill, near the church, (to the left in the image above) is the Yale College Monument. From 1701 to 1707, Rev. Abraham Pierson, pastor of the church, taught classes of the Collegiate School in the part of Killingworth that would become Clinton. In 1716, the School moved to New Haven and was renamed Yale in 1718.
The Old Merrill House, at 130 East Main Street in Clinton, was home to many generations of the Merrill family. It was built in 1735 by Ben Merrill (there is a Ben Merrill Road in Clinton). The house had a second floor ballroom where dances were held; guests’ coats were kept under hinged seats. Today the house is used as offices.
The house at 3 Liberty Street, facing Liberty Green in Clinton, was built in 1734 by John Rossetter and passed into the Buell family around 1800. Today, the house is a bed and breakfast called 3 Liberty Green.
At 170 East Main Street in Clinton is a brick Greek Revival house, built around 1848. The earliest surviving deed to the house dates to October 1850, when it was transferred from Samuel R. Dibbell to Charles Dibbell. The plot where the Dibbell House sits, at the corner of Boston Post Road and Old Clinton Road (Route 145), is known as Dibbell’s Corner and the house is still in the Dibbell family. The house has a full, two-story Greek portico with freestanding Ionic columns, which were originally made by hand in a barn then on the property. The house’s corner location makes it vulnerable to damage from vehicle crashes. Twenty years ago, a motorcycle crash which killed the driver destroyed the two left columns. Preservationist Jeffrey Bradley crafted exact replacements. Last year, another crash just missed the right column and damaged brickwork on the house. The column survived, but rot was discovered. Bradley’s services were again called upon to repair the damaged column.
At 15 Liberty Street in Clinton is a Federal/Greek Revival house. The National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form for the Clinton Village Historic District estimates its date as c.1830. The historic marker, currently on the house, bears the date 1799 and describes it as the homestead of John Rossetter 3rd and Elizabeth Buell. Interestingly, just down the street, at 3 Liberty Street, is the 1734 home of John Rossetter, which passed into the Buell family around 1800.
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