The Dr. Ashbel Woodward House is located at 387 Route 32 in Franklin. It is a Greek Revival house, built in 1835 (or, by some accounts, 1824). It was once the home of Dr. Ashbel Woodward. Born in Willington in 1804 and educated at Bowdoin College, Dr. Woodward served the medical needs of Franklin residents from 1829 until his death in 1885. He also served as a surgeon with the 26th Connecticut Regiment in the Civil War. Dr. Woodward kept a farm and the property has a number of agricultural outbuildings. A local historian and genealogist, Dr. Woodward wrote a number of historical and biographical papers and delivered an address on the history of Franklin on October 14, 1868. His descendants gave the house and land to the state in 1947 and it was later used by the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection as part of a wildlife study site. The state sold the house to the town of Franklin in 2000 and in 2004 it opened as a historical museum displaying artifacts from the town’s history.
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