Historic Buildings of Connecticut - Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Rev. Samuel Lockwood House (1749)

The house at 349 Jonathan Trumbull Highway (Route 6) in Andover was built in 1749 to be the residence (Parsonage) of Rev. Samuel Lockwood (1721-1791), the first minister of Andover’s First Congregational Church. The house originally stood just to the east of its current location. It was moved in 1927 to make way for the construction of the Andover Public Library. At that time the house was most likely turned as well, so that its gable-end now faces the road.

Rev. Samuel Lockwood is described in Vol. I of William B. Sprague’s Annals of the American Pulpit, reprinted in Descendants of Robert Lockwood: Colonial and Revolutionary History of the Lockwood Family in America, from A.D. 1630 (1889):

Samuel Lockwood was descended from a highly respectable family, and was born at Norwalk, Conn., November 30th, 1721. He was the son of James and Lydia (Smith) Lockwood. He was graduated at Yale College in 1745. He pursued his theological studies under the direction of his brother, the Rev. James Lockwood, who had at that time been settled for several years as pastor of the church in Wethersfield.

An ecclesiastical society in Andover, Conn., having been formed in 1747 from the three towns of Coventry, Lebanon and Hebron, Mr. Lockwood, shortly after he was licensed to preach, was employed by that society as a candidate for settlement. He commenced his labors there about the beginning of 1748, when the parish voted “to hire him to preach as a probationer,” they passed this additional, and, as it would seem at this day, superfluous vote, that ” Mr. Lockwood may change with any orthodox minister to preach to us when he shall see cause.” Having after the manner of those days undergone a long probation among them as a candidate, he was ordained as pastor February 25th, 1749, O. S., the church having been constituted on the preceding day. The ordination sermon was preached by his brother the minister of Wethersfield. He continued in the faithful discharge of the duties of his office upwards of forty years.

[. . .] In 1774 he was appointed to preach the annual sermon before the Legislature of the State, and though there is nothing in it to indicate remarkable powers of mind, it is, nevertheless, a judicious, patriotic and well-adapted discourse. It is the only acknowledged production of his that was ever printed.

In 1791 an enfeebled state of health obliged him to desist from his labors, and by medical advice he visited the mineral springs at New Lebanon in the hope that the waters might prove beneficial to him. But in this both himself and his friends were disappointed; for after he had been there a short time his disease assumed an aggravated form, and very soon the afflicting tidings came back to his people that he was no longer among the living. He died on Saturday the 18th of June, in the 70th year of his age, and the 43d of his ministry.

SS Cyril & Methodius Orthodox Church, Terryville (1979)

Saints Cyril & Methodius Russian Orthodox Church in Terryville in the town of Plymouth was established in 1908. The parish was formed after a split among the Rusyn/Lemko membership of the St. Michael Brotherhood of Terryville between Greek Catholic and Russian Orthodox factions. The Greek Catholics built St. Michael’s Church in 1910, while the Russian Orthodox built Saints Cyril & Methodius Church on the corner of Fairview and Ames Avenues in 1912. This original church, later enlarged, was replaced by by the current building circa 1979.

Walter Goodell House (1835)

The house at 44 Chaplin Street in Chaplin was built between 1828, when Isaac Goodell purchased the land, and 1835, when he sold the property, now including a house and store, to his brother Walter Goodell. The house is a good example of the transition of the Federal to the Greek Revival style of architecture. The residence is now the home and studio of art quilter Catherine Whall Smith.

William Ross Public Library (1911)

The William Ross Public Library, built in 1911 at 57 Chaplin Street, is the original library building in the town of Chaplin. The library has since moved to the building at 130 Chaplin Street, a former elementary school built in 1948 and renovated for the library in 2000. The history of the library is described by librarian Ruth Eveline Snow in “The William Ross Public Library, Chaplin” in A Modern History of Windham County, Vol. I (1920):

About two years before the regular organization, a circulating library was kept first in the old Davenport House by Nettie E. Snow. At a town meeting October 7, 1901, the town gave a vote of thanks to Mr. Seth Moseley of New Haven for his gift of $100 toward the establishment of a free library. At the same meeting it was voted that the town should give $200, and “should spend annually for maintenance and increase $25.”

[. . .] The library has at present $50 a year from the town, $25 for heating, lighting, magazines, etc., and $25 for the librarian’s salary; $50 a year, interest on the William Ross Trust Fund. The library is under the state law and the state gives $100 worth of books each year.

The library was kept in different places. It had no regular library building. At the death of Mr. William Ross, a public-spirited citizen, it was found that his will provided money for a suitable library building. His widow added more money to the fund, so that a $6,500 brick building was erected. The dedication of the building was Saturday, November 18, 1911.

[. . .] The new building was built by George Eastman Snow. A guest book is kept on one of the tables and now shows the names of many visitors from many different states.

The library now numbers about two thousand volumes. Collections of books are sent each term, to each of the three schools in the town. The children use the library to a great extent, and it is very popular with the adults also.

Sumner-Carpenter House (1806)

The Sumner-Carpenter House, located at 333 Old Colony Road in Eastford, is a well-preserved example of a large rural Federal period house. It was built c. 1806 for John Newton Sumner (1776-1831), a farmer and land-owner who was active in local civic affairs. In 1815 he was one of the incorporators of the Sprague Manufacturing Company. The builder of the house was Vini Goodell, who also built the Benjamin Bosworth House in Eastford. The year before his death, Sumner sold the house and associated farm to Asa Bosworth. David P. Carpenter purchased the house and farm in 1882 and it remained in his family for three generations, until 1969. The Carpenters maintained a large herd of Devon cattle for their dairy farm. The house has a side ell, built along with or not long after the main block, and a rear wing built c. 1900.

General Lyon Inn (1835)

At the corner of Old Colony Road and Westford Road in Eastford (one of the buildings at 245 Old Colony Road near Eastford Green) is a former inn. The earliest part of the building is the rear ell, erected c. 1790-1800. The front section was built c. 1820–1835–1843. The building served as an inn, originally called the Eastford House. For a time, starting in the 1840s, the inn was called the Temperance House. In 1918 the property was acquired by Waldo and Beatrice Kennedy, who renamed it the General Lyon Inn in honor of Gen. Nathaniel Lyon, an Eastford native who was the first Union general killed during the Civil War. He died at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek in Missouri on August 10, 1861. Many of those who attended Gen. Lyon’s funeral in Eastford stayed at the inn. Beatrice E. Kennedy continued to operate the inn and restaurant until 1975. The Inn finally closed in 1979 and is now the Gen. Lyon Apartments.

Ashford Academy (1825)

In the first half of the nineteenth century, Ashford Green was the active center of the Town of Ashford. Today, only one building survives from that time: the Ashford Academy, built in 1825. The first floor served as one of the town’s district schoolhouses (the Fifth School District). This schoolhouse was already being planned when a group of local citizens raised money by private subscription to add a second floor for use as a private academy for more advanced students. Academy sessions were held until 1875, after which the building served exclusively as a public school until 1949. Today the Ashford Historical Society uses the building for educational activities and to display some of their artifacts.