Built in 1880, the house at 28 Pearl Street in Mystic was originally the home of Parmenas Avery (1842-1886), a veteran of the Civil War who was a plumber/tinsmith and served as Mystic River postmaster and in the state General Assembly in 1882. In the collections of the Mystic River Historical Society is an invitation to a reception held at the new house the evening of Thursday, December 22, 1880.
Two houses on Park Place in Mystic (1 Park Place and 5 Park Place) have historic markers indicating that they were the home of John Prentice, a carpenter. I don’t know if it was the same man or, perhaps, a father and son. According to The History and Genealogy of the Prentice, Or Prentiss Family, in New England, Etc., from 1631 to 1883 (1883), by C. J. F. Binney, there was a John Prentice, born “January 16, 1823; house-carpenter, and for last fifteen years cotton-gin builder.” The house pictured above, at 5 Park Place, was erected in 1853. According to the sign on the door, a later owner was Capt. Henry Ashby.
Very similar to the neighboring Greek Revival house at 1 Park Place in Mystic is another house built in the same year, 1860. Located at 3 Park Place, its first resident was William Cann (1831-1906), a ship’s carpenter. He was born in Sidney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and in 1855 married Mary Ann Pendleton (born 1837) in Mystic.
Built in 1860, the house at 1 Park Place in Mystic was originally the home of John Prentice, a carpenter.
The house at 29 Church Street in Mystic was built in 1855 by Benjamin F. Holmes (1822-1892), a son of Jeremiah Holmes, hero of the Battle of Stonington. Benjamin F. Holmes was a ship captain and part owner of the screw steamer Idaho, built by George Greenman & Co. His brother, Capt. Joseph W. Holmes, lived a few doors away at 35 Church Street. It appears that Benjamin F. Holmes later lived at another house in Mystic. He was killed by a train near Poquonock Bridge in 1892.
The Cape Cod-type house at 9 Gravel Street in Mystic was built in 1818 by Capt. George Wolfe for his bride. The house has an addition, formerly a school house, on the west side.
Andrew C. Colegrove, who operated an electrical appliance business in Mystic, was killed in a plane crash in California on August 24, 1951. The Colegrove Building at Mystic Seaport was built in 1952 as a memorial in his memory. Since 1962, the half of the building that faces the Mystic River has housed a printing exhibit, called the Mystic Press Printing Office. The original Mystic Press newspaper, started in 1873, had an office at West Main and Pearl Streets. The other half of the Colegrove Building contains a Ship Carver exhibit.
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