North Stonington Bicentennial Walking Tour

North Stonington Bicentennial Walking Tour

History of North Stonington

The village of North Stonington was the outgrowth of the early settlement of the Town of Stonington, which was settled along the coast in 1649. Thomas Stanton, Thomas Miner, and Walter Palmer soon followed William Chesebrough, who brought his family to live in the wilderness. In 1658, the English plantation between the Mystic and Pawcatuck Rivers was named Southertown and declared under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts colony. In 1662, Governor Winthrop obtained a new Charter of Connecticut from King Charles II.

Settlers moved inland on territory occupied by Pequot Indians. The village of North Stonington is on land originally granted to Amos Richardson in 1667, which he gave to his son Samuel on his 21st birthday, April 20,1682.

Samuel Richardson, a farmer, built his house in the present area of the schools and his extensive farm included the land now occupied by Kingswood-Meadowwood. He operated a gristmill on the Shunoc River east of the village. He died in 1713, having no sons; the land was divided among his six daughters and his widow. In 1702, Nathaniel Ayers bought 30 acres, including the center of the village, from Richardson and the area was known as Ayers Mills. During the 1750s the western portion of the village was used for farming, while the eastern part remained engaged in milling.

The village began to take its current form beginning about 1790. The Ayers, on the eastern part of the village, were selling off house lots along the streets, and John Swan and Elias Hewitt were selling on the west. The mercantile center of the village began to develop with small industries making use of water power of the Assekonk Brook and Shunoc River.

Established In 1807

At a town meeting on April 5,1806, it was voted to divide the Town of Stonington into two separate towns. The division of the towns was based on an ancient line creating a North Religious Society of Stonington nearly one hundred years prior to the separation of the country from Great Britain. The line was important because it delineated which of the two Congregational Churches people would attend. It was also decided that the new town to the north of the line was to be called Jefferson in honor of President Thomas Jefferson. The General Assembly of Connecticut confirmed the vote in May of 1807 naming the town, not Jefferson, but North Stonington, because the North Religious Society there had been so named in 1720 and the name had been become identified with the vital interests of the area. It is to be remembered that in colonial times, the church was the center of worship, government, commerce, and taxation.

Milltown

The township of North Stonington contained many districts and settlements, each with its own character, schools, churches, post offices, and stores. Some of these villages developed around mills and others around clusters of farms and interrelated families. The largest and most notable village was Milltown. In about 1810, it was inhabited by 210 people and included a gristmill, sawmill, fulling mill, cotton mill, and wooden mill, all of which were powered by the Shunoc and Assekonk Rivers. The village continued to grow and by 1810, in addition to more residences, it also included a tannery, a trip hammer works (iron works) and other random mills. The woolen mill, built by Nathan Pendleton, was the major village industry through most of the 19th century. Craftsman also manufactured goods in the village with cabinet making being the most common. With six stores, the village became the trading center for people from miles around. Outfits of the finest silk and satin could be purchased, as well as fur muffs and satin hats trimmed with ribbons and flowers. Other fineries found included fine wool, thread lace, English carpets, and lovely china tea sets. The variety of goods available here suggests a large trade from the surrounding towns.

By 1840, Milltown was in its prime and the political interest of eastern Connecticut centered on this flourishing community. It was a place of considerable importance and there was talk of making it a railroad center for the Westerly and Jewett City Railroad Company. Even the construction of a large theater was contemplated.

Soon after this time the industrial decline of the village took place. Technological interventions moved weaving away from cottage industry toward factories and the prominence of commerce faded due to the Civil War. The village would still be called Milltown until the 1900s. The name Milltown began to fade with the advances in new technologies which entered the town in the form of a trolley that stopped at a station called North Stonington.

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Trolley

The first trolley of Norwich and Westerly Street Railway Company arrived in North Stonington on August 30, 1906. It prompted a great celebration with houses decorated with flags and bunting. The trolley station, now nonexistent, was next to the William Avery house on the corner of Main Street and Rocky Hollow Road. The trolley line helped revive the village and provided transportation of local farm products to New York and Boston. The state highway (Route 2) was constructed in 1919 and the trolley abandoned in 1921.

A concrete bridge over the Assekonk Brook, found in the woods behind the Congregational Church, is the most obvious reminder of trolley transportation in North Stonington.

William H. Hillard House ca 1860

33 Main Street

In the mid-19th century, this house was occupied by Deacon John D. Wheeler and his wife. Later, the house became the parsonage for the Third Baptist Church, located next door. Wheeler ran a small shop on the river bank in the village where he made various tools. William Horace Hillard lived in this house in the late 19th century. Hillard was born in North Stonington and was both a teacher and a farmer. In 1861, he bought the general store of Charles N. Wheeler (60 Main Street). He was deacon of the Third Baptist Church beginning in 1881 and also became superintendent of the Sunday school.

This house is Gothic Revival in overall form with the prominent center cross gable on the flank gable roof and in the porch detailing with lace-like, flat-cut brackets. The house also exhibits some Italianate style details including the paired round-arched windows in the gable ends.

The Third Baptist Church 1833

29 Main Street

On December 25,1828, at Samuel Chapman’s home, nine men and women adopted the covenant and the 14 articles of faith and practice as drafted by Rev. Levi Walker. They became the first members of the New Baptist Church inspired by the evangelism of Elder Jebez S. Swan of New London. By June 1829, there were 39 members when the church joined the Stonington Union Association. This Third Baptist Church held its meetings in dwelling houses and in the District #2 Schoolhouse on the riverbank opposite the Post Office. The land for the church was donated by Mrs. Avery (widow of Stephen Avery). In 1833 the new church was built, known as the Milltown Baptist Meeting House. This high-style Greek Revival style church is a prominent element of the Village. It is an excellent survivor of the Greek Revival style with its fully-pedimented front gable roof, round window, and open-bed pedimented door crowns and pilasters. The fanlight transoms are more indicative of the Federal style than the Greek Revival.

The Fourth Baptist Church, also know as the Laurel Glen Chapel, was dismantled in 1940 from its site in Laurel Glen and attached to the rear of the Third Baptist Church. The Christian Education Wing has been added to the rear of the church. Two wood burning stoves heated the church until 1919. Except for rearranging the pews, the original part of the church remains much the same as when it was built.

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National Register of Historic Places

On March 17,1983, North Stonington Village was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Within the boundaries are fifty eight major structures, the majority of which were built in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The North Stonington Historical Society sponsored the application.

Noah Grant, Jr. House 1791

37 Main Street

The front portion of the house was built in 1791 by Noah Grant Jr., who was indirectly related to Ulysses S. Grant. The rear ell originally stood as a separate building on Main Street and was used as a general store by Hosea and Ephraim Wheeler in the late 1700s and was later moved to the rear of the house. The sequence of what was done and when is not clear but the foundation of the ell is at least as old as the house.

This Federal style house also exhibits some Greek Revival and Italianate style characteristics. This house is Federal in overall form with its symmetrical five-bay façade, central entrance, interior end chimneys, and the two story pilasters. The principal entrance, fully pedimented gable, and gable-end fanlight are Greek Revival style elements and were probably added in the early to mid-19th century.

The first floor was “victorianized” around 1860-65. That is when the windows were enlarged, the bay window added, larger moldings were applied over the originals downstairs and the stairway was changed from a square landing to a curved one.

The house originally had eight fireplaces; today there are five and a wood stove. The house is unusual for its high ceilings (8 and 9 feet) and brick chimneys for such an early date. All of the timbers and planks are chestnut.

Stone walls behind the house were the foundation of a stable which disappeared from the property in the early 1900s.

For a short time in the early 1960s, the house was owned by the Congregational Church and it was used as a parish house and for Sunday school, then returned to a private home in the mid 1960s.

William Avery House (Stanton Hewitt) ca 1792

35 Main Street

This house was built by William Avery ca 1792. William Avery opened a tavern in this house in partnership with Nathan Pendleton. On this lot, Avery built a store with an apartment above. This store was at one time called Browning & Clark and later became the tailor shop of Cornelius Cornell. About 1850, the house and store was acquired by Charles Edwin Hewitt. In the 1860s, the store building was moved and is now the west wing of 37 Main Street.

The house is a good example of the Georgian style in overall form with the attic jetty on the flank gable roof and the symmetrical five-bay façade with a central entrance. The decorative door transom is reflective of the Federal style as are the separate double chimneys. The portico with the narrow Tuscan pilasters and delicate barrel-vaulted open-bed pediment is typical of late Georgians and early Federals.

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