Connecticut Real Estate History

01/19/2025

Caleb Dudley III House, Guilford, Connecticut:

The date 1764 is assigned to this saltbox Colonial because Caleb Dudley III, who is known to have built the home, was married that year. About 70 years later a fire damaged the front door and was replaced by the present Greek Revival doorway, built by George Bushnell, master builder to the Dudley family of farmers on Clapboard Hill. Many features have been added and subtracted since then. In 1894, a pantry and sinkroom were removed from the rear and turned into a chicken coop, while a 1 1/2 story ell was added for a kitchen.

In 1958, the ell was removed and replaced by an additional bathroom. The last surviving handmade clapboards were taken off around this time to make way for a screened porch. The house was then painted red, which was thought to be its original color. The farmland property used to be home to Maple Shade Dairy, which later moved to Boston Post Road, becoming a bygone staple of Guilford. The Connecticut Historical Commission's inventory of 1972 stated that the home had a roof with a "respectable sag," but now the roof appears to be in good condition.



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01/14/2025

"...Connecticut’s first motor-car set forth in the streets of Hartford in April 1896." State Library

David Corrigan: Curator of the Museum of Connecticut History. First produced for the Connecticut Explored magazine By the mid-1890’s the bicycle craze in America was beginning to wane and Colonel […]

12/26/2024

At Old New-Gate Prison & Copper Mine, Connecticut’s past comes alive at America’s first copper mine and state prison.

12/21/2024

“Part steamboat, part medieval fortress, part cuckoo clock” were the words used to describe the Mark Twain House by biographer Justin Kaplan.

12/12/2024

Elmwood of Windsor, CT - The homestead of former United States Supreme Court Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth as featured in "Old Houses of Connecticut" (1923):

"On March 1, 1665, Josiah Ellsworth, the ancestor of all the Ellsworths in this country, bought the land from Mrs. Joanna Davison for a certain sum of money and 'forty-five pounds of wheat, pease, and Indian corn and poark at prices currant,' and in the hands of the Ellsworth family it remained until, on July 30, 1903, it was transferred, as a gift from one hundred and sixteen descendants of Oliver Ellsworth, to the Connecticut Society of the Daughters of the American."

The house was built in 1740 from timber of elm trees.

Visit the Oliver Ellsworth Homestead EMA at https://ellsworthhomesteaddar.org/ and visit the house museum in person!

12/10/2024

50 of 169 CT Town Signs -
Ivoryton, Connecticut

Sent by fellow Realtor .

11/24/2024

What's on your mind?

10/30/2024

The Darling House, Woodbridge, Connecticut:

At 1907 Litchfield Turnpike is the Amity and Woodbridge Historical Society. The well-preserved property includes fine barns and other outbuildings. The Colonial Cape style home has served as a distinctive house museum since 1936, though it was originally built between 1772 and 1774 for a leading English colonist named Thomas Darling. Darling was a Yale College graduate, a New Haven merchant, a chief magistrate and a deputy to the Connecticut General Assembly.

According to the historical society, "As an agent of Benjamin Franklin, Darling is credited with bringing the first printing press to New Haven. He married Abigail Noyes, the daughter of the Reverend Joseph Noyes, the 'Old Light' preacher of First Church in New Haven, where Darling was a member until he joined the Amity parish church in 1782, two years before the town was incorporated. The property passed down through a number of generations of the family and several were prominent in more local civic affairs including his son, Thomas, Jr., (1752-1815), who served as a town selectman and magistrate, and Thomas IV, who represented the town in the state legislature in the 1890s. In 1973 the contents of the house were left to the historical society by Miss Berenice Baldwin, the stepdaughter of the last family owner, and the 118-acre property is now owned by the Town of Woodbridge. Though not substantiated by family papers, some sources believe that the house once served as a tavern or inn, where cattle drovers stayed and found pasturage and water for their herds only one day from the major New Haven market."

“Thomas Darling House and Tavern” was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

10/22/2024

Pleasant Street Parsonage, Meriden, Connecticut:

In 1893, a Queen Anne style house was constructed at the behest of Meriden's First United Methodist Church. An impressive parsonage was built next door at 15 Pleasant Street to serve as a residence for Pastors, their families and visitors. The contractor was Benjamin Elmore of the Meriden Building Company and G.H. Flynn did the painting.

Some of the funds to finance the home were raised a year prior at a "Washington Supper." These dinners were annual events honoring President George Washington. Three hundred Methodists dined that cold February night, many of them wearing Colonial era garb. Two guests acted as George and Martha Washington. $60 were raised.

During the 1970s, the house was used as a clinic for those with drug addiction. The Methodist Church has remained owner of this stately edifice, now used as the church office.

10/14/2024

Hyland House, Guilford, Connecticut:

Read up on this historic house museum at CTRE.co, a website and an ode to Connecticut history curated by a Realtor who advocates / donates to organizations related to historic preservation.

Dispite being 300+ years old, Hyland House is exceptionally well-preserved. Its Early Colonial curb appeal is only overshadowed by its deep connection to the crime of slavery. Yes, Connecticut Yankees owned slaves, and unbeknownst to many today, Africans, who were brought against their will to America, built and ran many of the early homes of Guilford. Along with the Witness Stones Project, Hyland House now commemorates three slaves - Candace, Phillis and Montros - with engraved stones on the premises.