The Congregational Society in Riverton was formed in 1842. Its members first sought to purchase the Episcopal Church building, constructed in 1829, whose trustees were in financial difficulties at the time. When the negotiations proved unsuccessful, the congregation constructed its own church edifice in 1843 on Robertsville Road, a wood-framed Greek Revival-style structure. Built by Willard S. Wetmore of Winsted, it was an exact copy of the Baptist Church in Canton, built in 1807.
After crossing the Housatonic River from Derby to Shelton, there are factories on either side of Bridge Street. The factory on the north side displays the date 1892. On the 1919 “Aero View of Shelton, Connecticut” published by Hughes & Bailey, the factory (located at 9 Bridge Street) is labeled the Robert N. Bassett Co., Inc., “Brass, Steel and Wire Specialties.” The company had begun across the river in Birmingham (now Derby) producing wire corsets. The upper two stories of the mill were added in 1912. The structure was later called the Birmingham Building.
At 519 Orange Street in New Haven is a Greek Revival-style house built in 1851. The house is called the Susan Sheridan House. This may be Susan Smith Sheridan, the first educator in the New Haven Public Schools to earn a doctorate degree. A school on Fountain Street in New Haven was also named in her honor.
The house at 256 Palisado Avenue in Windsor was built in 1767 for Elijah Mather, Sr. (1743-1796). The house has a hipped roof and an impressive classical entry with entablature that is probably original.
The Thomas Ryley House, at 44 Pearl Street in Mystic, was built in 1859. It is a Gothic Revival-style house that also has Italianate overhanging roofs with brackets.
At 193 High Street in Mystic stands a house that began as a Greek Revival-style three-bay gable-front home, but was much expanded in later years with large Queen Anne-style addition with a tower. The early section of the house was built in 1838 by Captain William Clift (1805-1882), a Mystic ship captain. The house stayed in the Clift family until 1918 and in 1939 it was deeded to the Mystic Home. Since 1976, it has been owned by Noank Baptist Group Homes. Called High Street House, it provides therapeutic services for six young women, ages 14-18, who are transitioning back to their families from more secure facilities.
At 24 Linwood Avenue in Colchester, next to the Cragin Memorial Library, is a historic house which is now home to the Colchester Historical Society. Built around 1840 by Reverend John Bates Ballard, a Baptist minister, it is transitional between the Greek Revival and Italianate styles. The house remained in the Ballard family until 1908, when it was bequeathed to the Colchester Borough Baptist Church for use as a parsonage. After the Baptist congregation merged with the Colchester Federated Church in 1949, the house passed through various owners. By the 1990s, it was in a dilapidated state, but was saved with grant money and funds from the Colchester Historical Society (founded in 1963). It is now a museum of the town’s history.
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