Jesup House (1810)

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Ebenezer Jesup (1767-1851) was a resident of the Green’s Farms section of what is now the Town of Westport. Jesup was a grain dealer whose ships traded with Boston and other ports. Because his wharf and warehouses were along the Saugatuck River, he decided to build a home closer to his place of business. About 1807-1810, he erected a house that was considered to be the finest mansion in Fairfield County at the time. The community of Saugatuck would continue to develop, becoming the commercial center of Westport, which was incorporated as a town in 1835. In 1884, Ebenezer’s grandson, Morris K. Jesup (1830-1908), gave the house and eight acres of land to the Saugatuck Congregational Church, which was then located across the Post Road. He stipulated that the property was to be used as a parsonage and site of a future meeting house. In 1950, the Saugatuck Congregational Church’s meeting house, originally built in 1832, was moved onto the donated Jesup property. The Jesup (or Jessup) House, still used by the congregation today, is considered a great example of Federal style architecture. The house was photographed in the 1930s for the Historic American Buildings Survey. Photographs and measured drawings can also be found in The Architectural Forum, Vol. 33, No. 6 (December, 1920).