South Britain Congregational Church (1825)

South Britain Congregational Church

Having made the trek to the Congregational church in Southbury each Sunday for three decades, residents of the South Britain section of town petitioned the General Assembly to have four months of winter preaching near their own homes. The South Britain Ecclesiastical Society was formed in 1766 and built a meeting house on the Green in 1770. The current South Britain Congregational Church, located at 693 South Britain Road north of the first building, was built in 1825. The interior was renovated in 1869, when the pediments over the three front doors were also changed from semi-circular fanlights to one curvilinear and two triangular pediments (more in keeping with the Greek Revival style).

Dr. Baldwin House (1795)

Dr. Baldwin House

According to the National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination for the South Britain Historic District, the house at 712 South Britain Road in South Britain in Southbury was built c. 1795 and was the home of Dr. Baldwin, South Britain’s first physician. A more recent brochure for the South Britain Historic District, however, lists the Wheeler House at 715 South Britain Road as the home of South Britain’s first physician, Dr. Wheeler. The NRHP Inventory Nomination’s description of No. 715 lists it as the S. Johnson & Miss N. Mitchell House and does not mention Dr. Wheeler. The Nomination further relates that, early in the nineteenth century, No. 712 served as “Miss Pierce’s Academy for Fashionable Young Ladies,” which later moved to Litchfield, although other sources state Sarah Pierce‘s Academy was founded in her Litchfield home in 1792.

Aaron Bronson House (1785)

Aaron Bronson House

The house at 846 Southford Road in Southbury was built circa 1785. The house may have been inherited by Aaron Bronson from his father, Noah Bronson. A cordwainer (shoemaker) and button maker, Aaron Bronson (1768-1834) left the house to his son, Augustus, who sold it in 1847. With the exception of a later Greek Revival doorway, the house’s exterior is typical of a late eighteenth-century Cape. The interior is notable for its early Federal-style features. The house has a later kitchen ell, attached at the left rear around 1820. A modern wing was added to the rear of the ell in 1987.

Dr. Wheeler Homestead (1735)

saltbox

Also known as the “Cassidy Saltbox” (it was once owned by John H. Cassidy), the house at 715 South Britain Road in the South Britain section of Southbury is an excellent example of an integral saltbox house. Probably built before 1735, it was the home, around 1750, of a Dr. Wheeler, South Britain‘s first physician. The house was owned by Rev. Bennett Tyler from 1807 to 1822. During that time, Rev. Tyler was pastor at the South Britain Congregational Church. He then became president of Dartmouth College.

Anson Bray House (1835)

Anson Bray House

South Britain is a village in Southbury. At 636 South Britain Road is a house that once served as the village post office. As related in South Britain Sketches and Records (1898) by W.C. Sharpe:

Anson Bray was a blacksmith by trade but kept a hotel in South Britain for many years, and for forty years was postmaster.

He first married Betsey Plant of Rochester, NY. His second wife was Ellen Pierce, of South Britain.

Among the pillars of those days was Anson Bray, from time immemorial the village postmaster. His house, now occupied by Mr-and Mrs. James Adams, was probably more widely known and more frequently visited than any other in the village.

In addition,

Judson Bray, son of Stephen B. and Hannah Bray, removed to Bridgeport, but later returned to South Britain and with his brother Anson started the saddletree business in the old shop just back of Anson Bray’s house, and continued the business there for some years.

The Anson Bray House was built in 1835. It has a recessed wing that was built earlier.