13 West Mystic Avenue, Mystic (1840)

The Greek Revival house at 13 West Mystic Avenue in Mystic was built in 1840 by the Chapman family. From 1956 to 1961, it was the home of Captain (later Admiral) James F. Calvert, who commanded the USS Skate, the third US nuclear submarine to be commissioned and the second submarine to reach the North Pole. Skate first went under the polar ice cap on August 11, 1958, but the thickness of the ice prevented it from surfacing. Skate later became the first submarine to surface at the North Pole on 17 March 1959.

Holley Homestead (1752)

In 1746, Sylvanus Freeman purchased a farm in the Wormwood Hill area of Mansfield and in 1752 he built a gambrel-roofed house on the property. Freeman sold the farm in 1764 and it passed through several other owners until 1817, when it was acquired by Selah Holley, a widow from Charlestown, Rhode Island, whose husband had passed away two years before. She lived in the homestead with her children, among whom was Perry Holley, who continued to reside in the house with his mother after his marriage in 1830 to Lois Fenton. As described in the Commemorative Biographical Record of Tolland and Windham Counties, Connecticut (1903), Perry Holley

was born July 2, 1809, in Rhode Island, and came to Mansfield when a boy. During his boyhood he worked upon the farm, and when still a young man learned the trade of forger, working at the manufacture of bits and augers in various localities where those goods were made; he was also one of the first operators of the trip hammer, being very expert in the handling of the clumsy machine, and consequently commanded good wages. In company with Hiram Parker he operated a forge shop near his house for a few years. After working at his trade for many years, he spent his declining years in Mansfield, farming, and died there in March, 1885. In religion he was a member of the Methodist Church at Gurleyville, and when a young man took a very active part in its affairs. Mr. Holly married Lois Fenton, a native of Mansfield, daughter of Elisha and Phileta (Storrs) Fenton, where her father was a blacksmith. Mrs. Holly died on April I8, 1892, aged eighty-four years, four months, to a day.

The Holley Homestead was sold out of the family in 1889 to Mary F. Sewall of Montclair, New Jersey, who used it as a summer home. One autumn, as she prepared to return to New Jersey for the winter, she asked a local carpenter to build an addition to the house. When she returned next summer, she was astonished to find that he had built what was essentially an entirely new house attached to the old gambrel-roofed colonial. The original house was later altered with the addition of a porch and gables. After 14 years of ownership, Sewell sold the house to Elizabeth Scheib Doty of Brooklyn, whose husband, Ethan Allen Doty (d. 1915), owned a large paper mill called Doty & Scrimgeour. The house, located at 627 Wormwood Hill Road, was next sold in 1931 to Stanley Kunitz, a well-known poet who worked on restoring the structure. It was again sold in 1935 to John Plimpton, who rented out rooms in the house. It is still owned by his heirs.

Ellington Congregational Church (1915)

Four church buildings have served the Ellington Congregational Church since it was established in 1733. The first two churches, built in 1738 or 1739 and 1805-1806 respectively, stood in the town park. The first faced South (now Main) Street and the second, designed and constructed by builder Samuel Belcher, faced the site of the current church. When a new church was completed, the second building was sold and moved to Rockville, where it served as an opera house. It burned down in 1941. The third building, designed by Augustus Truesdale of Rockville, was constructed in 1867-1868 on the site of the current church. The building was completely destroyed by fire on the night of October 3, 1914. At that time, the church bell was usually rung to sound the alarm that there was a fire in town, but with the church itself on fire, no one could climb the steeple to toll the bell and the church burned down. Work on the current church building commenced in 1915 and it was dedicated on August 17, 1916.

15 South Street, Litchfield (1819)

The building at 15 South Street in Litchfield, associated with the name Charles Webb, was built in 1819. Its current Greek Revival appearance and front porches are likely due to later alterations. It is a surviving example of the early nineteenth-century commercial structures, with residences above the first floor, that were common in Litchfield at the time. Many similar buildings on West Street were lost a fire in 1886, which destroyed much of the village center. 15 South Street is now home to South Street Antiques.