The Capt. Elias Selden House (1800)

This week we’ll be looking at buildings in the Haddam Neck section of Haddam. Haddam Neck is on the east side of the Connecticut River, separated from the rest of the town on the west side without a direct bridge connecting them. A prominent Federal-style house, noticeable when entering Haddam Neck from East Hampton, was built by Capt. Elias Selden around 1800. Selden was a lieutenant in the Revolutionary War and became a captain of militia in 1802. He first built a smaller earlier home across the street from his later house. When he built the current structure, he included part of his late father’s house as a rear ell. Henry M. Selden lived in the house in the later nineteenth century and became postmaster in 1860, running the post office in the building. Selden also wrote a history of Haddam Neck for The History of Middlesex County (1884). The house served as a post office until 1908.