Skinner-Hammond House (1790)

At 765 Hartford Turnpike in Vernon Center is the impressive Federal-style Skinner-Hammond House, built around 1786-1790 by Reuben Skinner. It may have been the work of master builder Elisha Scott or one of his apprentices. Scott was born in Tolland and later lived in Poultney, Vermont. At one time, the house served as a tavern and public meeting place called Skinner’s Inn. The house was later owned by the Hammond family, who were pioneers establishing nearby Rockville‘s woolen industry in the mid-nineteenth century. Alterations were made to the house c.1830 and c.1890.

John Warburton House (1803)

The first house to built in what would become the manufacturing village of Talcottville in Vernon was the brick Federal-style house of John Warburton, constructed in 1803. Warburton was a skilled mechanic who emigrated from England in 1792. He introduced mechanized cotton spinning to Connecticut in 1795, creating a water-powered cotton mill while he was working for the Pitkin family of East Hartford. In 1802, he left the Pitkins and, with his partner Daniel Fuller, built the first cotton-spinning mill on the Tankerhoosen River in Vernon (then called North Bolton). The Warburton House still stands at 19 Main Street in Talcottville, next to the old dam and mill pond. The house has notable brick fringe work found only on its north-facing corner. A second and grander Warburton House, known as the “Four Chimney House,” once stood nearby, but no longer survives.

Chauncey Winchell Homestead (1830)

Born in Berlin in 1796, Chauncey Winchell later came to Talcottville in Vernon and began working as a millwright. In 1829, he moved to Rockville (also in Vernon). In 1833, he was one of the organizers of the Springville Mill, one of Rockville‘s earliest woolen mills. A skilled builder, Winchell constructed his Greek Revival homestead in 1830 at 174 West Main Street, where the Springville Mill was located. He then constructed several other homes on the same street for his colleagues at the mill, including one for his his partner, Alonzo Bailey (at 162-164 West Main Street, built in 1836). Chauncey Winchell married Mary Vibberts in 1816 and one of their children was Cyrus Winchell, built two houses on Ellington Avenue in Rockville in 1885. Chauncey Winchell served as president of the Springville Manufacturing Company for 52 years.

St. Bernard Catholic Church, Rockville (1904)

The first Catholic Mass in Rockville (Vernon) was celebrated by fifteen Catholics in a house owned by the Paper Mill Company. St. Bernard’s Parish was established in Rockville in 1854 and the first church was completed in 1856. The church was destroyed by fire in 1904 and the cornerstone for the present church was laid five months later. The new church was dedicated on September 20, 1908. Built on a prominent site on Saint Bernard Terrace, the church was designed by Joseph A. Jackson, who had earlier designed the parish school in 1895.

Charles Phelps House (1905)

Charles Phelps (1852-1940) of Rockville was a lawyer who served as Tolland County coroner (1883-1904) and state’s attorney for Tolland County (1904-1915). He was also corporation counsel and prosecuting attorney for the city of Rockville. In politics, he served as a state representative and state senator and then as Connecticut’s Secretary of State (1897-1899), resigning to became the state’s first attorney-general. Charles Phelps‘ 1905 Georgian Revival house at 1 Ellington Avenue in Rockville was designed by Hartwell, Richardson & Driver of Boston. While the house has recently been in need of rehabilitation, the carriage barn in the rear has been used for housing.