Capt. Nathaniel B. Palmer House (1852)

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As a young sea captain in 1820, while searching for new seal rookeries south of Cape Horn, Nathaniel Brown Palmer became the first American to discover Antarctica. Palmer Land, on the Antarctic Peninsula, and the Palmer Archipelago are named in his honor. Later, Palmer helped develop the clipper ship and became a successful ship owner. A biography of “Captain Nat”, titled Captain Nathaniel Brown Palmer, An Old-Time Sailor of the Sea, by John R. Spears, was published in 1922. An icebreaking research ship, named the Nathaniel B. Palmer, was launched in 1992. Palmer’s 1852 Italian Villa style mansion, located on Palmer Street in Stonington, overlooks the upper section of Stonington Harbor and is one of four stately homes built in the area of Lambert’s Cove in the 1850s. The house was acquired by the Stonington Historical Society in 1994 and is now open to visitors as a house museum.

Ocean Bank (1851)

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The Ocean Bank was incorporated in Stonington Borough in 1851 with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars. The bank building was constructed the same year on the Town Square (known as Cannon Square since the 1870s). Antique Ocean Bank banknote proof sheets from the 1850-60s survive today. Ocean Bank later became the First National Bank of Stonington. In 1942, the building was purchased by the Stonington Historical Society, with the intention of making it the Society’s headquarters and a museum. The circumstances of the war prevented this plan from being carried out and it was instead leased to the American Red Cross during the war. The building, still owned by the society, has since continued to house a bank (currently a Bank of America).

Rose Cottage (1886)

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Zebulon Hancox (1809-1899) was a notable eccentric and recluse in Stonington. The descendant of an old Stonington family, local legend claims that the girl he wanted to marry rejected him due to his poverty, so he devoted himself to making enough money to satisfy her. He did this as a fisherman and pioneering real-estate developer, who saved all he could, even to the extent of making all of his own clothes and wood buttons. Although he died at 91 with a significant sum, he ended up having never married. A number of houses he built, between 1868 and 1897, survive on Hancox Street in Stonington Borough. Adjacent to the water, these were originally unadorned two-story structures following the same basic plan and intended as houses for rental. Over the years, they have been greatly altered. One example is Rose Cottage, constructed in 1886, which has had numerous additions and embellishments.

Denison Homestead (1717)

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The Denison Homestead is the third successive house to be built on the land granted to Captain George Denison in 1654 in the Town of Stonington‘s half of Mystic (which is a census-designated place). Its immediate predecessor burned in a fire in 1717, the night before George Denison‘s grandson, known as “George the Builder,” was married. This grandson then built the current house just west of the original home, using charred timbers from the old house. The house, which became known as Pequotsepos Manor, continued to be the home of generations of the Denison family. In 1930, Ann Borodell Denison Gates created the Denison Society and after her death, in 1941, the house became the Denison Homestead Museum. Located on Pequotsepos Road in Mystic, the museum presents a different period of time the history of the Denison family in each of its rooms.


This is Historic Buildings of Connecticut’s 500th Post
(not including the April Fools Day post)

The William Pendleton House (1831)

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The William Pendleton House, on Main Street in Stonington Borough, is a Greek Revival style house, which retains elements of the Federal style. It was built after 1831 (perhaps as late as 1840) for Pendleton, who was a merchant. The gable may have been added later. During Prohibition, the house’s basement was used as an illegal bar, or speakeasy, and the period decor and original bar have been preserved by later owners.