The house of Dr. Ezra Mather, on Main Street in Essex, was built soon after 1815. Dr. Mather‘s father, Elisha Mather, was a physician in Centerbrook and Ezra’s brother, Dr. Ulysses Mather, continued to live there. The house remained in the Mather family into the 1950s.
The Thomas Millard House is on Main Street in Essex. Millard carved ship’s figureheads and built several houses, including his own in 1803. In 1814, the house was sold to George Jewett, a lawyer and town clerk, who commanded the Potapoug Militia during the 1814 British raid on Essex.
The John Pratt House, on West Avenue in Essex, evolved to its present form over many years. John Pratt, Jr. was the grandson of Lt. William Pratt, one of the first settlers of Essex. At the time, the Pratt’s were a family of blacksmiths. In 1701, John Jr. built the gambrel-roofed section, which is now at the rear of the Pratt House. In 1732, he began to construct the front part of the house, which grew over time. The house passed through several generations of the family and became a rental property in the early twentieth century. In 1953, it was given to the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities. The house has been owned and operated as a house museum by the Essex Historical Society since 1985.
