Federal Style

Mathewson-Dunn Residence // c.1815

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This Federal-style house sits on the heavily trafficked Pompey Hollow Road in the center of Ashford, Connecticut. Early history of the residence is sparse, but by the 1860s, it was the home to Charles Mathewson (1812-1880), who came to Ashford from Woodstock in 1850 and bought a saw and grist mill nearby. The mills were operated here until 1865, when he was succeeded by the firm of Lombard & Mathewson, manufacturers of fertilizers and wholesale dealers in agricultural implements. After successive ownership, the property, which included a 135-acre farm, was purchased by the Catholic Diocese of Hartford in 1921 with the intention of establishing a new parish in the Ashford area. The Diocese assigned Father William J. Dunn, a Connecticut native and son of Irish Immigrants, to this daunting task. Since they had no church building, he partitioned off a section of his own home to serve as a chapel for about 100 worshipers, until the purpose-built St. Philip the Apostle Church was built in the 1930s. The Federal style house here has an elaborated center bay which includes the entrance on the first story and a Palladian window on the second story. The main entrance is flanked by pilasters with Doric capitals which are replicated at the corners of the residence as well.

Church Farm // 1821

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Here is your reminder that you can find amazing, high-style historic houses even on the most remote back roads in New England! This is Church Farm, located in Ashford, Connecticut, in the state’s Quiet Corner (northeast section of the state). The main part of the Church Farm house was built by Zalmon Aspinwall (1769-1844) and Mary Snow Aspinwall, his wife, in 1821; it is believed the house incorporates an earlier dwelling built in 1791 by Robert Snow in the ell. The Aspinwalls were a well-to-do Mansfield Center family, with more than 1,500 acres of land. Zalmon Aspinwall, who was related by marriage to the Snows, also held mortgages on several other Ashford farms. In the 1840s the house came into the hands of Lucinda Aspinwall Church (1807-1876) and her husband John Church. John was primarily a farmer, with 135 acres under cultivation in 1850, probably most as pasture and fodder for his 140 sheep, with which he raised wool. Subsequent generations of the Church Family retained ownership of this property Church Farm as the family homestead and country retreat. Servant rooms were added to the ell, and a large barn (said to be the second largest in Windham County) were built in the 1890s. The large Colonial Revival portico, added c.1930 to replace Victorian verandas, completed the house’s transformation into a country estate. The property was most recently gifted to the Eastern Connecticut State University Foundation, Inc., in 2007 by Joseph and Dorothy (Church) Zaring, and the house and grounds are maintained by the University.

Samuel Read Hall House // 1831

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Samuel Read Hall (1795–1877) was an American educator, who in 1823, started the first normal school, or school for training of teachers and educators, in the United States. He helped found the American Institute of Instruction in 1829, the oldest educational association in the U.S. He served as pastor in Brownington and Granby, Vermont from v 1846 to 1875 and would also become the principal and teacher at the Orleans County Grammar School in Brownington. He lived in this Federal style house in the village until his death. The Hall House is now a part of the Old Stone House Museum and Historic Village. Fun Fact: Samuel Read Hall is said to have been the earliest person to introduce the blackboard to the American classroom!

Alexander Twilight House // c.1830

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The highlight of the town of Brownington, Vermont is the Old Stone House Museum & Historic Village, a collection of amazing 19th century architecture set amongst the rolling hills of the Northeast Kingdom. One of the buildings in the village is this structure, the Alexander Twilight House. Alexander Twilight (1795–1857) was born in Corinth, Vermont, on September 23, 1795. He was raised by a fair-skinned mother, Mary Twilight, and a mixed-race father, Ichabod Twilight. Twilight entered Middlebury College in 1821 and graduated in 1823, possibly making him as the first person of color to graduate from an American college. Alexander Twilight accepted the call and moved to Brownington to serve as the town’s reverend.  He also served as headmaster of the Orleans County Grammar School.  To meet growing enrollment needs, he designed, raised funds for, and built the first granite public building in Vermont, Athenian Hall, which contained classrooms and a dormitory. He had this Federal style house built in the village, large enough to house some students in his home. Before building his Federal style home, he lived in a much smaller, vernacular home, which was added onto the rear of this home as an ell (later separated by the museum). Elected to the Vermont General Assembly in 1836, Twilight became the first African American to serve in a state legislature in the United States. In 1847, after conflicts with the Orleans County school administrators, Twilight moved to Quebec, Canada for five years, but then returned to serve as headmaster in Brownington.  He died on June 19, 1857 and is buried in the Brownington churchyard. 

Original Twilight House

Cornè House // 1822

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What does this house and the tomato have in common? Keep reading to find out!

Michele Felice Cornè (1752-1845) grew up in Naples Italy and became disillusioned with the Napoleonic Wars. After the French occupation of Naples in 1799, he fled and was brought to the United States on the ship Mount Vernon, commanded by Elias Hasket Derby Jr., and settled in Salem, Massachusetts. Cornè moved to Boston in 1807 and lived and worked there until 1822 when he moved to Newport, Rhode Island, purchasing a property containing a barn. Cornè either had the barn renovated into this 1822 house or built the Federal period house from its timbers. Here, Cornè would paint many maritime scenes as murals in homes and businesses. However, his true contribution to his adopted country was convincing his neighbors to eat the tomato. While in Newport, it is reputed that Cornè introduced the tomato into the American diet. In early 19th century New England tomatoes were thought to be deadly poison. Cornè was accustomed to eating tomatoes in his native land and would regularly eat them without ill effect and, thus, allayed the fears of the residents of his adopted country. Today, the popularity of the tomato in American cuisine can be credited (in part) to Cornè and his love for the tomato.

Pacific National Bank // 1818

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Whaling captains and crew upon returning to the island of Nantucket, would be flush with cash and goods and needed a safe and secure institution to hold their earnings. By the late 18th century, the depletion of the whale population in the Atlantic required whaling vessels to travel further and further in search of oil to fill the barrels in their holds. Ships began sailing to the Pacific and due to the distance, would be out at sea for years rather than months. Money from the Pacific voyages flowed back to the island, which soon required real banking facilities, and the Pacific Bank was established in 1804 and immediately prospered. The bank erected this stately brick building at the end of Main Street Square. Details such as the blind arches filled with sandstone panels that surround the building’s windows, the semi-circular Ionic entry portico and the high brown sandstone stoop with wrought-iron railings are unique on Nantucket and among the finest examples of their type in the region. Also interesting about the building is the fact that it contained living quarters for the cashier whose presence was intended to provide security. The building is now (of course) home to a Bank of America.

Eddy-Cutler House // c.1806

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Located next door to the Rebecca Maxwell Phillips House on State Street in Warren, Rhode Island the Eddy-Cutler House stands as possibly the finest brick Federal style building in the waterfront town. In July 1806, Benjamin Eddy purchased this house lot and began construction on his new mansion. Born in Warren in August 1772, he married Abigail Kelly in 1794 and began a career as a sea captain. Like many of the town’s wealthiest residents, Benjamin Eddy was engaged in the slave trade. Captain Benjamin Eddy was captain of at least three slave voyages, delivering 139 captives to the Charleston docks in June 1806 alone. In 1808, just before the “Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves” he purchased and imprisoned 176 Africans – the largest number ever carried on a Warren slave ship. Nineteen died during the return voyage. When he reached Charleston, South Carolina the remaining 157 people were sold into slavery. At the time, the sale would have returned nearly $33,000. He would return home to this mansion on money profited from human suffering, a story as American as apple pie. In 1871, the Eddy Homestead was transferred to Charles R. Cutler, a ship master and whaler who had many successful voyages to the Indian Ocean.

Rebecca Maxwell Phillips House // 1804

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Another of the “wedding gift houses” in Warren, Rhode Island is this Federal style mansion on State Street! The house was funded by James Maxwell, a wealthy local merchant who profited by the transport and sale of enslaved Africans. A large part of Maxwell’s wealth was attributable to the sale of enslaved captives, such as those aboard Maxwell’s schooner Abigail, which left Warren in September 1789. The captain of the vessel, Charles Collins, purchased 64 slaves on the coast of Africa, and sold them in the Americas by June of 1790. Of the 64 captives embarked on the ship, only 53 survived the voyage. This home was built as a wedding gift to his daughter Rebecca and her new husband, William Phillips. The three-story mansion exhibits a pedimented fanlight transom, corner quoins, and a shallow hipped roof. The property has always included two lots, the other lot has long had a Japanese Beech tree, brought from Japan by Commodore Joel Abbot in 1853.

Samuel and Patty Randall House // c.1810

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This stately three-story Federal style mansion sits on Baker Street in the lovely town of Warren, Rhode Island. The house was funded by James Maxwell, of the local family of merchants and slave traders, for his daughter Martha “Patty” Maxwell and her soon-to-be husband, Samuel Randall. The house was gifted as a wedding present to the new couple, and an expensive one at that! Judge Randall operated a school nextdoor and established “The Telescope,” Warren’s third newspaper nearby the house. The pop of color at the entry and the Victorian-era door hood work so well on this facade as well.

Carr Homestead // 1790

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By about 1790, Caleb Carr (1768-1853) built or renovated this stately Federal style mansion on Water Street in Warren, Rhode Island. He operated a tavern from the house, and had an elegant fanlighted door put on each facade—one for household use, the other for tavern customers. The property was inherited by his son, Captain Caleb Carr Jr., who continued as a tavern owner, but was also an important shipbuilder and operator of the ferry to Barrington, which docked at the end of the street. The Carr Homestead is today covered with later siding and has Victorian-era two-over-two windows but I would bet all the original siding is still under there and the house would shine with some repairs. I hope to see it happen!