Clark Homestead (1779)

The Colonial Cape at 89 Clark Hill Road in Prospect was built in the late 1770s by Amos Hotchkiss (1751-1820). Merritt and Keturah Clark bought the house early in the nineteenth century. Their children included Gould S. Clark, who settled in Middlebury, and Merritt Clark, Jr., who lived in the family homestead in Prospect. His son, Halsey Steele Clark, would built a new house at 95 Clark Hill Road after his marriage to Fannie Phipps on May 25, 1881. (For more information, see View From the Top (1995) by John R. Gurvin). (more…)

Capt. Samuel Comstock House (1808)

In 1805, Capt. Samuel Comstock II was given land in West Centerbrook (now Ivoryton) by his father. Circa 1808, Capt. Comstock built the house at 123 Main Street (although it may also be an earlier residence, c. 1795, on the site that he enlarged at that time). A sea captain in the West Indies trade, Comstock was the father of Samuel Merritt Comstock, who established his ivory factory across the street in 1847. In 1857, the house was acquired by Marsena Comstock, who started his own ivory business on the property.

Thaddeus Cook House (1758)

The large house at 1640 Tuttle Avenue in Wallingford was built in 1758 by Col. Thaddeus Cook (1728-1800). As related in Charles Henry Stanley Davis’ History of Wallingford, Conn (1870), Thaddeus Cook

was born in that part of the town now embraced in the township of Cheshire. On the breaking out of the war of the Revolution he entered into the service of his country; was made Colonel of his regiment, and was under the command of Gen. Gates during the memorable battle at Saratoga in 1777, and greatly distinguished himself as a brave and skillful officer. He died in Wallingford, Feb. 28, 1800, aged 72 years.

The Colonel’s Orderly Book, which preserves a notable order from Gen. Benedict Arnold, is in the collections of the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Mass. Thaddeus’ grandfather, Samuel Cook, was one of the original settlers of Wallingford and the family owned a large amount of property in town, which extended into what would become the town of Cheshire. Cook Hill Road is named for the family.

Wadsworth-Dorman House (1826)

The house at 165 Main Street in Farmington was possibly built as early as 1826 by Sidney Wadsworth (1786-1846), whose family homestead is across the street. Rumah Dorman (1837-1916), wife of Civil War veteran Edward H. Dorman, bought the house in 1865. Erected as a one-and-a-half story tenement, the house was enlarged in the early twentieth century by Rumah Dorman’s son, Frank E. Dorman. He also added a wraparound front porch that has since been removed. Frank E. Dorman served as sheriff and for a time was a night watchman at the Hillstead estate where he sometimes made the night rounds with Theodate Pope Riddle, who had trouble sleeping. The house was sold out of the family in 1963. (more…)

South Britain Academy (1835)

The house at 698 South Britain Road in South Britain, Southbury was built c. 1835-1840 as a school called the South Britain Academy. The Academy, started around 1820, had a library and an Institute for Elocution and Debating. The school had closed by the 1860s and the building was converted into a residence. In 1922 it was acquired by Henry McCarthy, a merchant, and his wife, Helen McCarthy, who worked as secretary of Southbury’s board of Selectmen from 1943-1965 and then worked for the town’s social services office.

American Legion Hall – Griffith Academy (1874)

The building at 275 Main Street, at the corner of Hartford Avenue, in Wethersfield, was built c. 1874-1876 as a Baptist Church. Declining membership led the church society to vote to disband in 1918 and deed their Main Street property to the Town of Wethersfield for use as a library. The town decided not to proceed with that project and in 1922 the building was sold to Russell K. Bourne D.S.C. Post of the American Legion, which changed it name to the Bourne-Keeney Post 23 in 1949. The name honors Russell K. Bourne, who was killed in action in 1918 during the First World War, and Robert A. Keeney, who lost his life when the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in 1945. The second floor hall of the building maintains the deck of the Minerva, used as training ground for the town’s Sea Scouts. In 2014, the Legion Post sold the building to the Griffith Academy, which teaches Irish dance. The Academy had been renting the Hall for many decades. The veterans continue to use the building as well, now renting the basement.

Jennie and Edward Gilbert House (1871)

The house at 429 Saybrook Road in Higganum was built by Cornelius Brainerd (1811-1884) as a wedding present for his daughter, Jennie (Jane Jerusha), who married Edward Dwight Gilbert, a merchant, on June 1, 1871. When the Higganum Savings Bank was chartered in 1874, E. D. Gilbert was secretary and his father-in-law was treasurer, a position Gilbert would later hold. Gilbert also served as postmaster. The later couple moved to Cornelius’ house and sold the 1871 house, which has since lost its original elaborately carved porch.