The Nathaniel Hempsted House is a stone, gambrel-roofed house on Jay Street in New London. It was built in 1759 by Nathaniel Hempsted, the grandson of the diarist Joshua Hempsted, whose house is located just behind it. Like the William Coit House, the Nathaniel Hempsted House was once on the waterfront, before Bream Cove was filled in. The building was once known as the Old Huguenot House, because it was believed that Huguenots (French Protestants) helped to build it. Actually, it was Acadians (Catholic French Canadian refugees) who were more likely involved in the construction. The house was later sold out of the Hempsted family, but was eventually acquired by Connecticut Landmarks to join the adjacent Joshua Hempsted House as a museum.
