Historic Buildings of Connecticut - Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

John McCurdy House (1700)

Across from the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme, on South Green, is a house built around 1700 by Amos Tinker. In 1753, it was purchased by John McCurdy, a Scotch-Irish ship merchant who was a patriot during the Revolutionary War. George Washington spent a night in the house in April, 1776, when he was on his way from Boston to New York. In July, 1778, Lafayette was also a guest at the McCurdy home. John McCurdy was the grandfather of Judge Charles Johnson McCurdy, who lived in the home in his later years with his daughter. Judge McCurdy was a lawyer who served as Lt. Governor of Connecticut (1847-1849) and on the state Supreme Court (1863-1867). He was also U.S. Chargé to the Austrian Empire (1850-1852).

The David Bishop House (1796)

David Bishop was a New London builder who started a grocery, lumber and building business with his brothers. In 1872, he purchased a 1796 gambrel-roofed house at 49 Washington Street and raised the building, adding a new first floor for his grocery business. He also lengthened the windows and added dormers and a bay window. The building was restored in the 1990s and the ground floor now houses the offices of New London Landmarks, while the upper level contains two apartments.

Capt. Samuel Mather House (1790)

The house of Capt. Samuel Mather, on Lyme Street in Old Lyme, is an impressive gambrel-roofed structure built around 1784 or 1790. The width of the house’s clapboard siding is graduated, increasing with each course up to the building’s cornice. Capt. Mather, a descendant of Rev. Richard Mather of Dorchester, was a wealthy merchant involved in trade with the West Indies. He married Lois Griswold and their daughter, Mehitable Mather, married Capt. Thomas Sill. The house is now the Parsonage of the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme.

Ebenezer Hayden II House (1795)

Ebenezer Hayden II (the first Ebenezer Hayden was a brother who was born earlier but had died) probably built his Georgian and Federal style house, located on Main Street in Essex, in stages in the late 1790s. The doorway, featuring a semi-circular fanlight window, may have been added around 1800. The Hayden House was the first home in the lower Connecticut River Valley to have a hipped roof, which may have been constructed by the noted builder Thomas Hayden of Windsor and shipped down the river in sections to be placed on the building. The Ebenezer Hayden House is the third home up from the river and one of many homes built by members of the Hayden family in the vicinity of the Hayden Shipyard. Ebenezer II married Sarah, the daughter of Grover L’Hommideau, who had created the town’s first ropewalk.

Lynde Point Lighthouse (1838)

A wood lighthouse on Old Saybrook’s Lynde Point was first lit in 1803. It was replaced by the current brownstone tower in 1838, which is similar to the earlier New London Harbor and Faulkners Island Lights, but is considered to be the finest of the three buildings. Lynde Point Light is an also referred to as the Saybrook Inner Light, in contrast to the Outer Light, or Saybrook Breakwater Light. A seawall was constructed to protect the original tower in 1829. The first keeper’s house stood from 1833 to 1858. This was followed by a Gothic Revival gambrel-roofed home, demolished in 1966 and replaced by a duplex, which houses Coast Guard employees. The Light was electrified in 1955 and automated in 1978.

Groton Battle Monument (1830)

The Groton Battle Monument commemorates the Battle of Groton Heights, fought during the Revolutionary War on September 6, 1781. The battle was a result of the British raid on New London, led by Benedict Arnold. Fort Trumbull, on the New London side of the harbor, and Fort Griswold, built on the heights on the Groton side, were built to protect the strategic port of New London. Arnold had information from an American turncoat which enabled the British to avoid the fire from Fort Griswold‘s guns and surprise the Americans. The British forces then burned New London and, after a fierce battle, in which 150 rapidly assembled American defenders faced a British force of 800, Fort Griswold was captured. The American commander, Col. William Ledyard, is said to have been killed by his own sword after surrendering to the British. According to American sources, a massacre of the Americans followed the surrender, although British sources mention neither the death of Col. Ledyard or a massacre.

Today, the remains of Fort Griswold are part of a Connecticut State Park. Also on the park grounds are the Monument House Museum and the Groton Battle Monument. The Monument is a granite obelisk, constructed between 1826 and 1830. It is the oldest monument of its kind in America, preceding the Bunker Hill Monument and the Washington Monument. The Groton Monument has a marble plaque listing the names of those who fell defending Fort Griswold. In 1881, the centennial anniversary year of the battle, the top of the monument was enclosed and its height raised to 134 feet. Visitors to Fort Griswold can climb the tower and reenactments of the battle are also held at the Park.

Jared Pratt House (1803)

Jared Pratt built a house on Main Street in Essex around 1803, after his marriage to Polly Bull. In 1854, Captain Isaiah Pratt purchased the home from his father, although his parents were allowed life use. Isaiah, who later altered the house in the Second Empire style, sold it to his sister, Mary Pratt, in 1868. In 1922, the main section of the building was moved from Main Street to what is now called Pratt Street to make room for the construction of a new town office building (now the Post Office).