Rural Connecticut

Ivy Glenn Memorial Hall // 1847

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

Methodists established a small congregation in Eastford, Connecticut by 1826, and by 1831, a new meeting house was built in the center of the village. The meeting house was used jointly by Methodists and Universalists, each having the right to occupy it half the time. By 1847, Methodists here were able to erect their own church, this building, in the Greek Revival style. Originally, the building had two doors on either side of a center window in the façade. There was a steeple and, rare in those days, a pipe organ in the sanctuary.  In 1916, the church joined with the nearby Congregational church, requiring them to sell the building ten years later. The town of Eastford bought the structure for $200 in 1926 for use as a town hall. In 1934, the Civil Works Administration provided funds to renovate the building with the town library being installed in a portion of the basement along with town offices and a vault. Town meetings were held in the former sanctuary space upstairs. When the space was outgrown for town offices, a new building was constructed elsewhere and this building transitioned to solely library use. The renovation project was paid for by money bequeathed by Wilmer Glenn, a New York stockbroker who spent summers town. He donated funds in memory of his late wife, Ivy.  The present-day name of the building came to be the Ivy Glenn Memorial and the library moved into its new spacious home in 1972.

Bartlett House and Barns // c.1840

Buildings of New England1 Comment

We featured Ashford, Connecticut, so now it’s time to explore some of neighboring Eastford! Settled in the early 1700s, the eastern portion of Ashford separated from its parent town in 1847, and became the town of Eastford. Prior to this, light industry, such as the production of cotton batting, twine, and wooden handles, complemented what would remain a predominantly rural agricultural community well into the 20th century. The winding back roads are lined with charming farmhouses bounded by rugged historic stone walls, making the town retain its rural feel. When driving through, I stumbled upon this postcard-worthy historic farm complex. Historic maps show that the property was owned by D. Bartlett in 1869, which appears to be Daniel Bartlett (1812-1898). The Bartlett property is enhanced by two historic barns sited nearby on a bluff overlooking the fields, which were likely once lined with trees or crops. By the 1900s, the property was owned by Nicholas and Clementine Dechand, the small road leading up to the farmhouse was named after the couple.

The Congregational Church of Union // c.1841

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

The small town of Union, Connecticut was established in 1734 and as with many towns at the time, religion and community were some of the first things to be codified when settling in a new area. The town’s publicly supported religion, Congregationalism permeated everyday life in Union. Even after disestablishment in 1818, the Congregational church continued as Union’s predominant religious organization well into the twentieth century. By 1841, the members built this edifice, the congregations second, on a hill overlooking the town’s modest green. The vernacular church features a Gothic lancet window, classical belfry, and later pent roof porches over the entrances on the primary facade.

Old Union Town Hall // 1847

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

Union, Connecticut is the smallest (by population) town in the state and it was the last Connecticut town east of the Connecticut River to be settled, largely because of its rough terrain and poor soil. The small town of under 800 residents was incorporated in 1734 and named Union, likely named after the fact that the new town was formed of a “union” of different sections of land which were left over when the boundaries of surrounding towns, though it is still speculation. Union erected this Town Hall building in 1847 which was fitting for the town’s small (and then-declining) population at the time. The one-story clapboard building is vernacular and lacks much adornment of other town halls and institutional buildings of the time period in nearby towns. Eventually, the town built a new city offices building and the small town continues to maintain the former building to this day and it houses the Union Historical Society.

Weir Farm Barn // c.1820

Buildings of New England2 Comments

Weir Farm, later an artists retreat and studios, was once a fully operating farm, with horses, cows, oxen, chickens, vegetables, and numerous gardens. To artist Julian Alden Weir, farming was more of a hobby than an economic necessity, undertaken for aesthetic reasons. Weir’s romantic vision of the landscape extended to his use of oxen, carts, and hand tools instead of modern machinery available at the time. Over its long history the barn complex has housed a milking room, a carriage house/wagon shed, a garage, a tack room, an equipment and tool room, hay lofts, a corn crib, and stalls for donkeys, ponies and horses. The rustic barn is a typical “English-barn” built between 1815 and 1835 by The Beers’ family, who owned the property until 1880. Weir used the barn as a prominent feature in many of his paintings like “New England Barnyard” and “After the Ride.” It remains an important piece of agricultural and artistic significance to the now nationally recognized Historic Site.

Seymour House // 1760

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

While this house appears to have been built in the mid-1800s as a Greek Revival home, it was actually built nearly a century earlier as one of the oldest extant properties on Main Street in Ridgefield, CT! Located on proprietors lot #20, the original building lots laid out for the new town of Ridgefield, this house appears to have been constructed in 1760 for Matthew Seymour (Seamore) and consisted of what is now the ell of the home (left side). Seymour operated one of the trade posts in town that engaged in trade with a nearby native Ramapo Tribe. The home was likely re-oriented and added onto with a more formal Greek Revival wing with its gable roof facing the street before the Civil War, a configuration it retains to this day.

The Fountain Inn // 1740

Buildings of New England2 Comments

Located on Main Street in idyllic Ridgefield, in Fairfield County, Connecticut, The Fountain Inn provides one of the most welcoming and historical bed and breakfast experiences in New England! The Fountain Inn was built in 1740 as a “city home in the country” for David Hoyt, who showed off his wealth and stature in the young town by having such a high-style home built at the time. Decades later during the Revolutionary War, David Hoyt’s house became a part of the Battle of Ridgefield. After defeating the Colonial militia elsewhere on Main Street, British Gen. William Tryon‘s troops turned their attention to nearby Keeler Tavern, the local militia’s headquarters, which just happened to be neighbors with the mansion owned by David Hoyt, a known Loyalist. General Tryon’s troops practiced their artillery-firing skills on the building pummeling it with cannonballs, sending a message to the head of the local militia. David Hoyt formally demanded a cease-fire, as he was concerned about wayward cannonballs damaging his home. By 1790, with Ridgefield’s British influence diminishing by the day, David Hoyt finally left his Connecticut home and sailed back to England. The home was expanded and modernized over the next two hundred years until the present owners purchased the property and underwent a massive restoration of the Colonial house inside and out as their family residence. In the past year, the inn opened as the Fountain Inn so-named after a Cass Gilbert-designed fountain across the street.