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.

9 South Canterbury Road, Canterbury (1820)

The Federal-style house at 9 South Canterbury Road was built c.1820 and has a porch on the front and side that was added later. In the 1850s, the house was owned by Marvin H. Sanger, a merchant, banker and politician. According to the Illustrated Popular Biography of Connecticut (1891):

Marvin Hutchins Sanger was born in Brooklyn, in Windham county, April 12, 1827. In his infancy his parents removed to Canterbury, where he was educated in the public schools, and at Bacon Academy in Colchester, and was kept at home assisting his father upon the farm until he reached the age of eighteen. Then followed two years of experience in a country store as clerk, which served as a preparation for the business of general merchandizing which he followed in Canterbury for twenty years, from 1849 to 1869 […] November 14, 1855, he was married to Miss Mary J. Bacon, daughter of the late Benjamin Bacon of Plainfield. They have had two children, both daughters. Mr. Sanger has been a lifelong democrat […] He has long been a justice of the peace and has thus been much occupied in the trial of criminal cases. He was elected town clerk and treasurer in 1852, and has been re-elected ever since with the exception of two years. He has been judge of probate for about a quarter of a century, and was postmaster at Canterbury for fifteen years under various presidential administrations. He has been on the board of directors of the Brooklyn Savings Bank, and now for several years has been its president. He represented Canterbury in the state legislature in 1857, 1860, 1882, 1887, and 1889; was secretary of state for four successive years, from 1873 to 1877 and was democratic candidate for state treasurer in the autumn of 1890, receiving an apparent majority of all the votes cast, but failing to receive official recognition from the house of representatives at its session the following January, owing to a disagreement between the two branches of the legislature as to the accuracy or validity of the returns, –as was the case with all the candidates on the democratic state ticket, with the exception of the comptroller.

In the 1920s, the barn to the rear of the house was used by Hiram Hawes as a flyfishing-rod factory.

Skinner-Hammond House (1790)

At 765 Hartford Turnpike in Vernon Center is the impressive Federal-style Skinner-Hammond House, built around 1786-1790 by Reuben Skinner. It may have been the work of master builder Elisha Scott or one of his apprentices. Scott was born in Tolland and later lived in Poultney, Vermont. At one time, the house served as a tavern and public meeting place called Skinner’s Inn. The house was later owned by the Hammond family, who were pioneers establishing nearby Rockville‘s woolen industry in the mid-nineteenth century. Alterations were made to the house c.1830 and c.1890.

Levi B. Frost House (1836)

According to tradition, Asa Barnes established a tavern in his home in the Marion area of Southington in 1765, the same year he married Phebe Adkins. In 1781, when French troops under the comte de Rochambeau were marching through Connecticut on their way south, the eighth campsite of their march was established nearby on French Hill. During the four nights of the encampment, Rochambeau and his officers were entertained by Barnes in the tavern. They would stop there again during their return march, on October 27, 1782. Barnes continued to live in his tavern/house until his death in 1819. His son, Philo Barnes, leased the home to Micah Rugg and Levi B. Frost, pioneers in Southington’s bolt manufacturing industry. Frost, a blacksmith, purchased the property in 1820. The original building burned in a fire in 1836 and Frost rebuilt his house in the Greek Revival style. While the Frost House, which is located at 1089 Marion Avenue, features the classic hallmarks of that style of architecture, it is unusually long at 50 feet. This may be due to the house being constructed on the foundations (and perhaps even incorporating the original framework) of the original eighteenth-century tavern.