The house at 20 State Street in the Pines Bridge Historic District in North Haven was built c. 1790. Around the 1830s the house was willed to David Bassett by his grandfather. The current front entry porch was added in 1936 when the house was remodeled.
UPDATE: The 1829 Church building was destroyed by a fire on April 22, 2023.
The Congregational Church in Eastford was organized September 23, 1778. A meeting house was soon erected on Lieutenant John Russel’s land. The present church, located at 8 Church Road, was dedicated on December 23, 1829. The old church was removed, as described in Richard M. Bayles’ History of Windham County, Connecticut (1889):
Esquire Bosworth purchased the old meeting house, removed it from the common and made it into a dwelling house. The day for the removal was fixed, men were invited with their teams, and all was ready for the start, when a delegation came to Esquire Bosworth, saying the oxen would not draw unless the teamsters were treated. Esquire Bosworth had recently identified himself with the temperance cause, and the “rummies” hoped to bring him to terms, but they mistook their man. The words of his pastor at his funeral, “He was one of the firmest oaks that ever grew upon Mt. Zion,” were well spoken. Instantly the reply came, “It will rot down where it is, first.” Enough teams were unhitched to prevent the moving that day, but immediately an offer came from neighboring towns to furnish teams that would draw though the teamsters were not treated. Esquire Bosworth left a legacy of a thousand dollars, the interest to be applied to help support a settled orthodox minister, and for the support of no other.
Today the Congregational Church of Eastford is a nondenominational church.
The house at 65 Woodland Street in Bristol was built by house builder Isaac Stewart. It was the home of Frank Curtis, who worked at New Departure Manufaturing Company.
The Shelley House, at 248 Boston Post Road in Madison, dates to the late seventeenth/early eighteenth Century, with specific dates variously given that include 1709/1710 and 1730. This exceptionally well-preserved structure is a rare surviving example of a house that was clearly built in several stages, following a pattern believed to have been common at the time: starting with a one-room, two-story dwelling with a stone wall at one end (the east half), a second section added later (the west half) and finally a lean-to at the rear. Traditionally known as the William Shelley House and also known as the Stone-Shelley House, it underwent a controversial restoration c. 2008.
Although built circa 1734, the house at 700-712 Main Street in Branford has been much altered with Queen Anne-style elements. It was built by Ephraim Parish, Jr. and was known as the Old Parish Tavern. In 1811 the building was renovated by Rev. Timothy Gillett, who resided there until his death in 1866. Rev. Gillett was pastor of the First Church of Branford for 59 years and founded Branford Academy in 1820. Today the building contains offices and one residential unit.
The house at 76 Jewett Street in Ansonia has been called the Prindle-Goldstein House by John Poole of the website/blog, A Preservationist’s Technical Notebook. The house was built c. 1795-1796 on land purchased in 1795 by brothers Joseph and Mordecai Prindle, the latter residing in the house. The brothers were sea captains and partners in a ship chandlery in Stratford. According to A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City of Bridgeport, Part I (1886) by Samuel Orcutt:
In the year 1805, Josiah, Mordecai and Joseph H. Prindle, brothers, came from Derby and established in this store the West India business. They had three vessels employed in carrying out corn meal, horses and cattle, and bringing back rum, sugar and molasses. They lost two schooners in the fall of 1808, in a hurricane, with full cargoes of stock and corn meal, and all persons on board perished. As the result of these losses they failed, and gave up the business
Capt. Mordecai Prindle and a crew of seven were on one of those vessels caught in a September gale off Cape Hatteras. As related in The History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642-1880 (1880), by Samuel Orcutt and Ambrose Beardsley,
it is mentioned that a kildeer out of season perched upon the window sill of Mrs. Prindle’s house, which stood near Dr. Mansfield’s, and was heard to sing distinctly several times, in plaintive notes, and then disappear. [This was taken as a sign portending death.] Mrs. Prindle was deeply affected, and declared that her husband was that moment sinking beneath the merciless waves. From that day to this Captain Prindle, his seven men and vessel have not been heard from.
The house was next owned by William Mansfield, a son of Rev. Richard Mansfield. It then passed to Rev. Stephen Jewett (1783-1861), who assisted the ailing Rev. Mansfield and then succeeded him as Rector of Derby’s Episcopal Church. Jewett Street is named for him. Rev. Jewett ran a preparatory school in the house for young men intending to study at college to enter the ministry. In 1834 he moved to New Haven. The house passed through a number of owners until 1864, when it was acquired by Frederick C. Goldstein and his wife, Sophia Elizabeth, who had arrived from Germany six years earlier. Their son, Dr. Frederick C. Goldstein (1869-1928), later served as health officer and school physician for the City of Ansonia.
In 1714, John Twitchell (c. 1699-1739) built a small one-story with attic dwelling at what is now 90 Oxford Road in Oxford. Around 1741 the Washband (or Washburn) family purchased the property and enlarged the house to serve as a tavern. In 1784, coinciding with the opening of the Oxford Turnpike, the family enlarged the building again, adding what amounted to a new house attached to the old one. The Washband family operated the tavern for several generations. Before the Civil War, the tavern was a stop on the Underground Railroad. Hiding places are said to exist in the cellar. The former tavern is now home to Daoud & Associates.
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