Windsor

The Benjamin Moore House (1770)

This house is unrelated to the paints. The Benjamin Moore House was originally built around 1770 in Poquonock, a northern area of Windsor. It was constructed by Simeon and Hannah Barber Moore but, after they moved to Torrington in the 1780s, it was passed on to their son Benjamin and his siblings, Eldad and Hannah. In 1801 they applied for a mortgage which was held by Oliver Ellsworth. But even with an additional loan, the Moores had sold off their property by 1806. In 1986, the house was saved from demolition by Edward Sunderland, of Sunderland Period Homes, who dismantled it and moved it five miles away to its present location, where it is now part of Ellsworth Settlement in Windsor, a modern development consisting of relocated period homes. The house’s current Connecticut River Valley doorway is an appropriate reproduction. The house was featured in an article in the February, 2008 issue of the magazine, Early American Life. The house is currently for sale.

The Joseph Rainey House (1830)

The date the Joseph Rainey House, on Palisado Avenue in Windsor, was built is unknown, but the Greek Revival style was popular in the 1820s and 1830s. It is also possible that the Greek Revival section was added to an earlier building owned by Jonathan Ellsworth. Joseph Rainey was the first African American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing South Carolina from 1870 to 1879. He bought the house as a summer home in 1874. The house is on the Connecticut Freedom trail.

The Dr. Elisha N. Sill House (1800)

Dr. Elisha Noyes Sill served in the Revolutionary War and was a town clerk of Windsor and a member of the Connecticut General Assembly. His house, built in 1800, is located in Windsor on Palisado Ave. Dr. Sill was the grandfather of Edward Rowland Sill, a nineteenth-century poet and educator. The Sill property also has a historic barn.

The Return Strong House (1700)

The c. 1699 house of Return Strong, Sr. is the oldest on North Meadow Road in Windsor. Return Strong was a tanner, like his father, John Strong. He also served as a Lieutenant in the Hartford County Cavalry Troop, a deputy to the General Court and a Justice of the Peace for the county. Return Strong was the great-grandfather of John Strong of the John and Sarah Strong House.

Taylor Chapman House (1764)

Located on Palisado Avenue in Windsor, the Taylor Chapman House was constructed in 1764 in the Georgian style.

Bell School (1871)

Windsor’s 5th District schoolhouse, built in 1827 on Palisado Avenue (and replacing an earlier school, built in 1707 on Palisado Green) burned in 1870. The following year, the new Italianate-style Bell School, with its distinctive bell tower, was constructed to replace it. Civil War physician and neighbor, Gen. William Pierson, donated a bell to the school. The building is now a private residence.

The Bissell Tavern (1796)

The 1796 Bissell Tavern, also known as Bissell’s Stage House or the Ebeneezer Fitch Bissell House, is located on Palisado Avenue in Windsor. The Bissell family also ran the ferry nearby across the Connecticut River to East Windsor Hill. The Bissell Tavern Sign is owned by the Windsor Historical Society.