Clark-Stockade House (1780)

About 1659, Deacon George Clark began construction of the first house in Milford to be built outside the early settlement’s protective stockade. The building, known as the Stockade House, was expanded over time into a saltbox structure. It is also called the “Nathan Clark Stockade House,” named for a grandson of George Clark. This original house was dismantled in 1780 by Michael Peck, a builder, and David Camp, his assistant. They constructed a new house, using building materials salvaged from the one they took down. In the twentieth century, the house served as a rooming house, tea room and Milford’s first public hospital. In 1974, the Clark-Stockade House was moved from Bridgeport Avenue to become part of Wharf Lane, the Milford Historical Society’s complex of colonial houses.

Stone-Otis House (1830)

The Town of Orange was incorporated in 1822 and soon new buildings began to be constructed in the vicinity of the new town’s Green. The Stone-Otis House was one such structure, built around 1830 for Dennis Stone. A prominent citizen, Stone owned the town’s second general store, located in his home. Around 1840, he added a large front display window to the house for the store. Stone and his family later moved to Kansas. The house, which is transitional between the Federal and Greek Revival styles, was sold Phoebe and Charles Otis, a tool and dye maker, in 1887. The family sold the house to the town in 1966. The restored house is now a museum and the headquarters of the Orange Historical Society.

Old Town Hall, Hebron (1838)

Hebron‘s Old Town Hall was built in 1838 on Hebron Green as a Methodist meeting house. The earliest Methodist Church in Hebron was erected c. 1805 on Burrows Hill and lasted until 1828, when a new schoolhouse was built that was also used by the church (which had contributed $100 towards its construction) and for town meetings. This was used until the 1838 church building was erected. The old Burrows Hill church building was taken down in 1845. The Methodist Society in Hebron broke up around 1850 and in 1863 the building was sold to the town for use as a town hall, at which time the structure was lowered to one story. It was used for town meetings until 1950 and afterwards was used by various civic organizations for meetings. Since 1971, the Old Town Hall has been owned and maintained as a museum by the Hebron Historical Society, which recently restored the building.

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East Windsor Academy (1817)

The East Windsor Historical Society is headquartered in the brick East Windsor Academy, also known as the Scantic Academy (pdf), which was built in 1817 by the Academy Company, a group of stockholders. It originally had a cupola containing a school bell. The first floor served as a school until 1938, except for an period between 1871 and 1896, when it was owned by the First Congregational Church and used for various meetings. It was then used as a dwelling for a number of years and was converted into two apartments for teachers in the area in 1946 by L. Ellsworth Stoughton. He later donated, first, the upper floor for a museum in 1968 and then the entire building in his will to the Society.

Old Academy, Fairfield (1804)

Fairfield’s Old Academy was a school founded in 1802 by a group of prominent local citizens. The schoolhouse itself was erected on the Old Post Road in Fairfield and opened in 1804. The original academy was in existence until around 1884. The building then served several purposes over the years, being used by a nearby private school and as a library and place for meetings. In 1920, the Old Academy was faced with demolition but the Eunice Dennie Burr Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Fairfield Historical Society joined to save and restore the building, which was moved to the town green in 1958. Today the Old Academy is owned by the town and still used by the DAR. Opened to visitors several days a year, the building contains historical artifacts and the second floor is maintained as a replica of the old schoolroom.

Colton-Hayes Tobacco Barn (1914)

The Colton-Hayes Tobacco Barn in Granby was built in 1914 by Fred M. Colton and was given to the Salmon Brook Historical Society by his daughters in 1976. It is now a museum, located with the Society’s other buildings on Salmon Brook Street. The barn contains a diverse collection representing many aspects of Granby’s past. Adjacent to the barn is the Bushy Hill Mail Hut, which once stood where Barndoor Hills Road meets Bushy Hill Road in the Granby community of Bushy Hill.