Yeoman-Taylor House (1732)

Yeoman-Taylor House

The oldest section of the building at 22 Knowles Road at Knowles Landing in Middle Haddam is possibly a house built on the site c. 1732-1735 by Jonathan Yeoman. For ten years (1735-1745), Yeoman ran a ferry across the Connecticut River. In 1747 the ferry licence was granted to Capt. Cornelius Knowles, for whom Knowles Landing is named. Jeremiah Taylor bought the Yeoman property in 1804, remodeling and expanding it in 1805 to serve as a tavern with a second-floor ballroom spanning the length of the building. The original one-and-a-half story, gambrel-roofed house became a two-and-a-half gable roofed structure. Taylor owned the building until 1826. The Italianate side veranda is a later addition. Jeremiah Taylor’s son, James Brainerd Taylor, was a minister during the Second Great Awakening whose life was a frequently used example of evangelical Protestant spirituality.

Asahel Bacon House (1784)

Asahel Bacon House

At 3 South Street, corner of Weller Bridge Road, in Roxbury is a house built c. 1784 for Asahel Bacon. The son of Woodbury merchant Jabez Bacon, Asahel Bacon was also a merchant and an investor in the Roxbury iron mine. He left the house to his daughter, Mary Bacon Whittlesey. In 1850 George Whittlesey sold the house to Col. George Hurlburt (1809-1904), who manufactured hats in the 1840s and 1850s. He is described in vol. III of New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial (1913):

George, son of Major Hurlburt, was born in Roxbury. October 14. 1809. He learned the hatter’s trade under Colonel William Odell, of Washington. Connecticut, and worked at it until 1860, when he became a general merchant; later in life he engaged in farming. He was appointed postmaster by President Lincoln, and was a member of the state legislature. He married, January 7, 1833, Thalia A. Merwin, of Brookfield, Connecticut

Col. Hurlburt was succeeded as postmaster by his son, George W. Hurlburt. The town store and post office once stood on the property. A total of four generations of Hurlburts lived in the house.

Mansfield Christian Fellowship (1909)

Mansfield Christian Fellowship

The first house of worship to be constructed in the Mansfield Depot section of Mansfield was a small meeting room built in the late nineteenth century by the Union Chapel Society. In 1907 the Second Baptist Church of Mansfield was established. As described in the Hartford Courant on December 18, 1908:

At last the hopes of the small settlement of Baptists at Mansfield Depot are to be realized. Rev. Leonard Smith of Mansfield, pastor of the Spring Hill Baptist Church acting as trustee of the Eber Dunham fund, has bought the chapel and land at Mansfield Depot of the Union Chapel Society. The chapel will be remodeled and converted into a meeting house to be known as the Eber Dunham Memorial Church. The purchase has been made possible by a fund left by the late Eber Dunham, who was a religious man living at Mansfield Depot several miles from any church from the pulpit of which were expounded the doctrines that conformed with his religious belief. All during his life he had to drive to church and was regular in attendance, both winter and summer. When he died he made provision whereby a certain number of citizens of his religious belief could band themselves together and form a church and society and this fund could be secured for a meeting house. If not after a certain period the money would be turned over to the state Baptist society. Several times during the past few years has it looked as though the state society would get the fund, but a short time ago the number of Baptists at Mansfield Depot became sufficient to organize a society of their own and now will be effected the complete realization of their cherished hopes in having a place of worship of their own.

At the end of 1908 (as reported by the Courant on January 1, 1909), Rev. Smith called for bids to build an addition to the Union Chapel. The addition would become the main part of the new Eber Dunham Memorial Church, with the older section being used as a conference room. The church would also have a belfrey. Work on the church was scheduled to begin that spring.

In 1973 the church, located at 105 Depot Road, became the Mansfield Christian Fellowship.

Dr. Harry E. Stewart House (1915)

Dr. Harry E. Stewart House

The house at 84 Green Hill Road in Washington was built in 1915 for Dr. Harry E. Stewart, a Yale graduate who came to town from New Haven as an assistant to Dr. Frederick Wersebe, whose residence and office was at 13 Wykeham Road. Dr. Stewart’s house had a gymnasium on the upper floor because of his passion for physical education. He served as the Physical Director of the New Haven Normal School of Gymnastics, Physical Director of the Wykeham Rise School for Girls and as Yale University athletic coach. The house was later owned by Henry S. Mowbray, an architect [I think he was the son of the artist Henry Siddons Mowbray], who converted it to contain three apartments.