Stiles-Stoddard House (1795)

The Stiles-Stoddard House in Seymour was built on the site of an earlier home, constructed by the son of a Pequot sachem, named Joseph Mauwehu, who was also known as “Chuse.” Joseph and his followers lived in an area of land known as Indian Hill, which was north of the Naugatuck River near the Great Falls. From around 1740, the Indians lived peacefully with the white settlers who were moving into the area, but eventually the newcomers numbers grew to an extent that made it difficult for the Indians to follow their traditional way of life. After living more than four decades in the area, Joseph then left with his tribesmen and moved to Kent, where their was a larger Indian reservation. Seymour was first known as Chusetown, named in honor of Chief Joseph. In 1795, Nathan Stiles built his house on the site where Joseph had lived, at a fork in the road, where today Pearl Street splits off from South Main Street. After Stiles’ death in 1804, his widow, Phebe Dayton Stiles, lived in the house and owned land on Indian Hill. Over the years, many people sought to buy her land, and to each of them she promised to sell it eventually, but these promises were so often repeated without her selling to anyone, that Indian Hill came to be known as the “Promised Land.” The house was later received by Dr. Thomas Stoddard as a gift from his father. In 1898, when C.H. Lounsbury owned the house, he raised and repaired the building, converting it into a two-family home.