Located on South Main Street in Suffield, Connecticut, this stunning Second Empire mansion showcases the tobacco wealth seen in the town in the mid-to-late 19th century. Local legend states that in the early 1800s, a Cuban man arrived into town and was hired by a local farmer to grow tobacco and roll cigars for sale. Decades later, dozens of farmers in Suffield erected tobacco barns and cultivated tobacco to be rolled in cigars and shipped to communities all over the east coast. One of the first men in Suffield to box the cigars as a pack for shipping and sale was Henry Phelps Kent (1803-1887). With his success, Henry Kent purchased a large lot on the town’s Main Street and hired local architect, John C. Mead, to design a mansion to display his success in business. The large Second Empire mansion features flush-board siding, a full length porch, and a projecting mansarded tower with convex roof. The home was later owned by Samuel R. Spencer, a politician who served as a Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut, the first as a blind man. The home is now operated as a bed & breakfast “Spencer on Main”, named after its second owner.
Buildings of New England 