The house at 35 Moss Street in the Pawcatuck section of Stonington is listed in the Mechanic Street Historic District as the Henry S. Gavitt House. There was a Henry S. Gavitt (1861-1928), who was an iron molder in Stonington and is buried in Maine. Another Henry S. Gavitt lived in New London. The house was built in 1905.
The West Broad Street School, located at 131 West Beoad Street in Pawcatuck, was built c. 1900. It was one of the last district schools to be built in the Town of Stonington. It cost about $40,000 at the time. In 2015, it housed 133 students in grades three and four.
The Blessing of the Fleet each summer is a yearly tradition in the Borough of Stonington. The event honors local fisherman who died at sea and blesses the fishing fleet for the safety and success of current fishermen. It begins with the Fishermen’s Mass at St. Mary Catholic Church, followed by a parade and the blessing at the dock by the Catholic Bishop of Norwich. By 1950 more than half of Stonington’s fishermen were of Portuguese descent and the first Blessing of the Fleet, which took place on July 1, 1956, was inspired by similar events held in other Portuguese fishing communities. Two institutions that are central to Stonington’s Portuguese community are St. Mary’s Church and the Portuguese Holy Ghost Society. As described in the History of the Town of Stonington (1900), by Richard Anson Wheeler:
St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church at Stonington Borough.— This church was formed in 1851, and the edifice was erected the same year by subscriptions from the Catholics of Stonington, Westerly and the Mystics, under the supervision of Rev. P. Duffy, who was the first pastor. At present it is joined to Mystic as an out-mission and attended by the priests at Mystic, the Rev. Father Murphy being its present pastor.
The 1851 church was eventually expanded/replaced by a new structure. According to the Town of Stonington’s Property Listing Report, the current church building at 22 Broad Street was built in 1901.
The Billings Burtch House, located at 19 Nothwest Street in Stonington, was built circa 1780. The house may be named for Sgt. Billing Burtch (1746-1836). Grace Denison Wheeler describes the house in her 1903 book, The Homes of Our Ancestors in Stonington, Conn.:
The Billings Burtch house formerly stood where Mr. Peleg Hancox built his fine new house on Water Street, but about 1850 it was moved from there to the corner of Water and High Streets by Mr. Ezra Chesebrough, who purchased it and placed it where it now stands. It was some three feet or more above the road bed, with its yellow front door facing south, the approach to which was by some rambling stone flags, or slabs, about four or five inches thick, and placed as they were broken out with neither form nor comeliness. At one time the house was tenanted by George Howe, who was sexton and tithing-man at the old Baptist Church, and at another time Mrs. Elias Gallup, sister of Mrs. Ezra Chesebrough, lived there and had a millinery store. According to an old letter found, Mr. Billings Burtch died in this house aged ninety-two years.
The house must have been moved again to its current address.
Charles Mallory (1796-1882) was born in Waterford and learned sail making in New London as an apprentice to his brother-in-law, Nathan Beebe. In 1816 Mallory came to Mystic, where he soon set up his own sail loft. In 1836 he retired from sail making to focus on his fishing, whaling and shipping interests. His descendants would continue as an important shipping and shipbuilding family. Mallory had a sail making loft on the third floor of a building on Holmes Street in Mystic that he constructed circa 1830. All three floors were used for a variety of purposes over the years. In 1951 the building was brought upriver by barge to its current location at Mystic Seaport. The top floor has a sail loft exhibit, the middle floor has a ship rigging loft exhibit and the bottom floor has a ship chandlery exhibit. (more…)
The A. G. Martin House, built c. 1902 and now a multi-family home, is located at 27 Moss Street in Pawcatuck. According to the Legislative History and Souvenir of Connecticut, vol. VII (1909-1910):
Albert G. Martin, of Stonington (Pawcatuck), was born in Warwick, R. I., March 6, 1859. He is the son of John and Elizabeth Barnes Martin. His early days were spent at Carolina. R. I., receiving such education as the village school afforded. On September 30, 1882, he married M. Nettie, daughter of George F. and Mary E. Davis, to whom one son was born June 23, 1895. Albert G., Jr., and who deceased December 15. 1899. Mr. Martin removed to Philadelphia, Pa., in 1886, and engaged in mercantile life; assisted in organizing the Frankford Grocers’ Association, serving as president and director for years; being also identified with public matters and charitable enterprises; a most successful merchant and ardent Republican in politics Returning east in May, 1903. Mr. Martin located in Pawcatuck, town of Stonington, and has shown a deep interest in all public matters both civic and moral for town improvement. For several years Mr. Martin has served as financial secretary of the First Baptist Church, of Westerly. R. I., and is an active member and official of the Westerly and Pawcatuck Business Men’s Association and the Board of Trade. He is a member of the school committee of the Eighteenth School District and moderator of the Pawcatuck Fire District. Mr. Martin is closely associated with fraternal organizations, being a member of Pawcatuck Lodge No. 90. F. & A. M.. Palmer Chapter No. 26, Westerly Lodge of Elks No. 678, and Misquamicut Tribe of Red Men No. 19. Mr. Martin served on the Committee on Finance.
At 47 Mechanic Street in Pawcatuck is a Greek Revival House, built c. 1840-1845.
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