Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Stonington

Clark Greenman House (1841)

Three brothers, George, Clark and Thomas Greenman, founded the the George Greenman & Co. shipyard in Mystic. The brothers soon built three adjacent Greek Revival homes along Greenmanville Avenue. The first was constructed by George in 1839 and this was followed by the houses of Clark and Thomas in 1841 and 1842. The Clark Greenman House has a porch and ornate Victorian decoration, which were added in the 1870s. The house was acquired by Mystic Seaport in 1949, initially serving as the museum’s library and now housing its administrative offices.

The Zebulon Stanton House (1786)

The Zebulon Stanton House, 83 Main Street in Stonington Borough, was built around 1786. Zebulon Stanton was a silversmith and used the south ell on the right of his house, built in the 1790s, as his silver shop. Zebulon had earlier been in partnership with his brothers, Daniel and Enoch, both of whom had been killed in the defense of Fort Griswold in 1781.

Edmund Fanning Birthplace (1761)

At 44 Main Street in the Borough of Stonington is a house, built in 1761 by the merchant Gilbert Fanning. Fanning was soon forced, due to his economic circumstances, to deed the house to his father-in-law, Dr. Nathan Palmer. Gilbert’s son, Edmund Fanning, was born in the house in 1769 and would go on to become the first American captain to circumnavigate the globe, in 1797-1798, aboard the Betsey, with a crew from Stonington. His elder brother, Nathaniel Fanning, served with John Paul Jones in the Revolutionary War during the 1779 battle of USS Bonhomme Richard and the HMS Serapis.

Whitehall Mansion (1771)

The earliest structure built on the original site of Whitehall Mansion, located in the section of Mystic which is in the town of Stonington, was constructed around 1680 by Lt. William Gallup. A tavern and stagecoach stop stood on the site in the 1750s. Whitehall Mansion, named after an ancestor’s home, Whight House, in Essex, England, was built in 1771-1775 by Dr. Dudley Woodbridge (who, in his youth, had made an interesting sketch of buildings in Deerfield, Massachusetts). A secret room in the attic may have housed runaway slaves. Dr, Woodbridge died in 1790 and the house was later owned by the Rodman and Wheeler families. The Mansion‘s last resident, Florence Grace Keach, donated the house to the Stonington Historical Society in 1962 in order to save it from demolition when Interstate-95 was being constructed. The house was moved approximately one hundred yards north and restored. For a time, it was open for tours, but was purchased by the Waterford Hotel Group in 1996 and is now the Whitehall Mansion Inn.

Langworthy-Allyn House (1820)

Adjacent to the George Greenman House, on Greenmanville Avenue in Mystic, is an earlier house, possibly built around 1820, which was acquired by the Greenman brothers in 1837. The brothers resided in the house as they set up the George Greenman & Co. shipyard, eventually moving to the Greenman House, when it was built in 1839. Around 1849, the older house was raised an additional floor and a new two-story ell was added. For a half-century, it became a boarding house for workers at the shipyard and was run by the ship joiner David Langworthy and his wife, Fanny. From 1931 to 1974, the house was owned by the Allyn family. It is now owned by Mystic Seaport.

George Greenman House (1839)

George Greenman was the eldest of three brothers who founded the shipyard in Mystic known as George Greenman & Co. His house on Greenmanville Avenue was built in 1839 and was enlarged and further ornamented later in the nineteenth century. Greenman’s brothers initially resided in the house with him, until they built their own homes nearby on Greenmanville Avenue. The Greenman home is reported to have been a stop on the Underground Railroad. The Mystic Seaport living history museum acquired the house from George Greenman‘s great-granddaughter in 1970. The house has a Historic Structures Report.

Mystic Seaport Lighthouse (1966)

Mystic Seaport is a living history maritime museum, which recreates a nineteenth century seaport. One of the museum buildings is an exact replica of the current lighthouse at Brant Point on Nantucket. The first lighthouse at Brant Point was built in 1746 and has been followed by many successive structures over the years. The present light, which is the lowest above sea level in New England, was built in 1901. The Mystic Seaport replica lighthouse was built in 1966. Inside, it currently displays a multimedia exhibition about lighthouses, called Sentinels of the Sea (video). (more…)