Across from the Town Hall and the Congregational Church, next to the Green in Middlebury, is a former Methodist Church, built in 1832. The building was acquired by the neighboring Westover School in 1923. Inside, the pulpit was replaced by a colonial revival fireplace. It was used as a student “tea bureau” until 1932, then as the school library from 1935 to 1984. Now known as Hilliard House, it is used by the school for its alumnae and development departments and to house the school archives.
Among the buildings designed by Theodate Pope Riddle for Avon Old Farms school was an Estate Manager’s House. Located near the Water Tower, Forge and Chapel, the cottage was built c. 1922-1923. With its half-timbering and brick nogging, it resembles the traditional English houses of Sussex and Surrey. It is now known as the Gate House. (more…)
The house at 144 South Main Street in Colchester was built around 1840 by John Kellogg, who sold it in 1842. It was purchased in 1854 by Philo Gillett, who had been renting it for some years. A merchant from Boston, Gillett formed the firm of Wheeler and Gillett in Colchester in partnership with Joshua B. Wheeler. Gillett died in 1858 and his widow in 1862, after which the house was sold to Samuel D. Tilden of Yonkers, New York, who added an ornamental wrought—iron fence, sadly since removed, along the front of the property. In 1878 the house was acquired by Henry C. Morgan, who served as Assistant Quartermaster-General and then Commissary-General of the State of Connecticut and used the house as a country home. The house then had other owners and since 1954 has housed the Belmont Funeral Home.
The James Wright House is located at 1597 Hebron Avenue in Glastonbury. It is a center-chimney house built in 1761. The house is also known as the Treat Tavern. A sign for the Treat Tavern is on display in Glastonbury’s Museum on the Green.
The James Reid House, at 88 Windham Road in Willimantic, was built in 1879-1880 by the Willimantic Linen Company for its chemist and dye master, James M. Reid. It stands next to the home of Eugene S. Boss, the company’s manager. After 1960, the Reid house was home to the Hallahan and Cardinal funeral home (pdf).
Like the neighboring house at 224 Cornwall Avenue, the house at 214 Cornwall Avenue in Cheshire was built in the 1850s by Edward A. Cornwall to rent to rent to one of the many miners from Cornwall, England who were emigrating at the time to Cheshire to work in the barite mines. Barite was discovered in Cheshire around 1840 and mining activity continued until 1878. The house was purchased for $850 by William Moon, a miner from Cornwall, in 1862. He paid $$250 down with a $600 mortgage held by Edward Cornwall. The current owners have expanded the house in recent years. (pdf source)
Austin F. Williams (1805-1885), a leading abolitionist in Farmington, was a member of the defense committee that worked to secure the freedom for the Amistad captives in 1841. Before returning home to Africa, the Mendi captives stayed in Farmington (March through November, 1841) while funds were raised for their return journey. Williams constructed a building on his property where the male members of the group lived. The building was later used by Williams as a carriage house. The picture below shows the west side of the carriage house-the section visible from Main Street-which was not added until after the Mendi departed from Farmington.
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