At 67 Union Street in Thomaston is an elaborate Queen Anne-style house built in 1884. It is named for David Plume, Treasurer of the Plume and Atwood Manufacturing Company, which produced lamps and supplied brass for Seth Thomas clocks. The house served as living space for various mangers of the brass mill. It was owned by the company until 1914, when it was sold to a company stockholder, Leslie E. Blackmer.
At 671 Farmington Avenue in Farmington is a saltbox colonial house built in 1704 by by Timothy North (the date of 1704 is probably a traditional date: it may date to much later, circa 1780; or it may have been built by Timothy’s father, Thomas North, as Timothy North was not even born until 1714). It was later home to Timothy’s son, Seth North (1752-1822), who was known as “Sinner North” because he never attended Sunday services in the meeting house and refused to pay the fines that he was then charged as a punishment. The village boys used to refer to him in a deferential manner as “Mr. Sinner.” As related in Farmington, Connecticut, The Village of Beautiful Homes (1906):
He was otherwise so much in accordance with modern ideas, that as he drew near his end, he ordered his body to be cremated, the place a lonely spot on the mountain between two rocks, and his friend, Adam Stewart, chief cremator, who was to inherit the house for his kindly services. The civil authority, however, interposed and insisted on giving him what they deemed a Christian burial, but Adam Stewart got the house and it remained in the family many years.
In 1898, when Alfred A. Pope was acquiring the various parcels that would make up the Hillstead estate, he purchased the North House. The house was remodeled, an old barn on the property was replaced with a new hay barn and an attached cow barn was also constructed, as well as two other small buildings (a shed and a shop) designed by Pope’s daughter, Theodate. In the resulting farm complex she raised a Guernsey herd.
Portersville Academy in Mystic was built in 1839 by the Town of Groton as its Fifth District School. Mystic was then called Portersville. It was constructed by Amos Clift (1808-1878), a local builder who also built many homes in Mystic Bridge. Originally located north of the Union Baptist Church on High Street, the building was moved in 1887 to its current address at 76 High Street, where it served as Mystic’s First Voting Hall until 1958. Portersville Academy was acquired and restored by the Mystic River Historical Society in 1975-1978. It is now open to the public as a museum.
Methodism in Thomaston goes back to 1818, with the first congregation being formed in 1820. The first Methodist church building was a former Episcopal church, built in 1790. After the Civil War, with the aid of Aaron Thomas, president of the Seth Thomas Clock Company, and of his mother, Mrs. Seth Thomas, the current First United Methodist Church was constructed on land donated by Aaron Thomas. The cornerstone of the church was laid on June 11, 1866.
Facing Plymouth Green and adjacent to the Plymouth Congregational Church is the Stoughton Building. I don’t know what its original purpose was, but it was built circa 1840 and once stood on the east side of North Street, about where St. Peter’s Episcopal Church (now the First Baptist Church) was later built. It is said that the building was moved to its current location in the 1890s under cover of darkness to avoid trouble with those who had opposed moving it. The Stoughton building’s bell tower, gable fanlight, and south wing are later additions. The building is used as an annex to the Plymouth Congregational Church.
At 60 Elm Street in Hartford, adjoining Bushnell Park, is a building known as the Pump House. A pumping station, it is part of the Connecticut River Flood Control Project, which helps the now underground Park River‘s waters reach the Connecticut River. The Pump House was constructed in 1947 by the Army Corps of Engineers using stones salvaged from bridges that once crossed the Park River. Today the Pump House also contains a public art gallery.
The house at 36 Brooklawn Avenue in Bridgeport was built in 1896. It was first the residence of Mrs. Andrew E. Nash, widow of a real estate developer.
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