North Stonington Bicentennial Walking Tour 4

North Stonington Bicentennial Walking Tour

page 4

House ca 1900

86 Main Street

According to some histories, this house was built ca 1900. However, according to others, including George Stone, this house traces back to ca 1845, when the village tailor, Cornelius Connel, lived here. Stone claimed that in 1860, this house was occupied by Joseph Frink, the village carpenter and cabinet maker, and his daughter Mary L. Frink. M. Frink delivered a patriotic address, on short notice, when local men departed for the Civil War. Also, Stone’s aunt and uncle occupied this house when his uncle was the town tax collector.

Although some confusion exists over the construction date of this house, it is a good example of Cape form. Also, the side porch is a good example of the vernacular Colonial Revival style.

Gilbert Sisson House ca 1819

88 Main Street

Gilbert Sisson was a cabinet maker in the late 18th century. His son, Benjamin, established a department store in Binghamton, New York, which became very successful. According to George Stone, this house is known as the Deacon Ezra Miner House. This house was occupied by Captain Worth and Clarence Brown.

Although the construction date is an earlier period, this house is a good example of the Greek Revival style with its fully pedimented front gable roof, triangular gable-end window, and an abbreviated Greek Revival door surround (sidelights and no transom). The front porch is a good example of the Italianate style with its square posts and brackets.

William Denison House ca 1860

90 Main Street

Known as the William Denison house, it is believed that Mrs. Denison and her sons, George and John, sold the house, auctioned the household goods and moved west. Stephen Main purchased the house and sold it to Francis J. Bentley of Stonington. In 1872, Bentley sold the house to Mary A. Avery and it eventually was occupied as a home and office by Dr. Edwin H. Knowles. Knowles was born in 1842 in Smithfield, RI. He served in the First Rhode Island Light Artillery in the Civil War and was wounded in Fredericksburg in December, 1862. He began practicing medicine with his father, John H. Knowles, in Westerly, RI. Knowles received a medical degree in Philadelphia and in 1878 he moved to North Stonington and succeeded Dr. Lot W. Kinney as town doctor. Knowles died in 1910.

This is a good example of the Gothic Revival style in overall form with its central cross gable roof and porch. The most prominent extant picturesque detail is the flat-cut brackets on the porch.

Oliver Avery House ca 1818

92 Main Street

Oliver Avery, a cabinet maker, purchased the land on West Main Street from Elias Hewitt in 1818. Stephen and Roswell Avery, second cousins to Oliver, built Oliver the house in order to repay a loan. It is called a half house, constructed so that another half could be added. Although this small half house has lost some historic integrity due to modifications (such as the chimney, roofing material, and additions), it harmonizes with the scale and character of the Village.

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“Heartsease” 1870

125 Main Street

This house was built by Robert Wheeler in 1870, after his farm was destroyed by fire. The house is an excellent example of the Queen Anne style with its variety of surface textures, Eastlake detailing, cross bracing, and overall cross-gable form. The house also retains material integrity with its extant wood clapboards and wood shingle roofing. It is probable that when this house was constructed, it exhibited Italianate style elements. The Queen Anne modifications were probably made in the late 19th century. Behind the house is a three-stall carriage house with haymow and storage on the second floor. Its structure matches the house. The Wheelers are buried at the intersection along Mains Crossing and the tombstone matches the trim of the house. The current paint scheme closely approximates the original.

From 1928 to 1932 this house was the summer home of Dr. Francis Peyton Rous, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1966 for his pioneering research on the link between viruses and cancer.

Elias Hewitt House

On the present site of the Middle School, there once stood a large colonial house first owned by Elias Hewitt. Later it was known as the Sheriff Gilbert Billings Home. Mr. Billings was Deputy Sheriff for New London County for over 40 years.

This house later served as a girls’ dormitory for the Wheeler School. It was removed in the early 1950s.

WHEELER SCHOOL AND LIBRARY

101 Main Street

To provide higher education for the young people in North Stonington, Miss Sarah J. (Jennie) Wheeler, a daughter of Major Dudley R. Wheeler, started the Edgar H. Wheeler School in memory of her brother.

The first classes were held in the house east of the Congregational Church and later the site of Larson’s Store. The students dubbed the school “Over Brook Academy” because the brook ran underneath the building. Francis H. Kimball, architect of several New York City and Philadelphia buildings, undertook the design project to construct a new school and library.

In 1901 the school moved to this building constructed of Westerly granite. The lions guarding the steps are made of Italian marble. The school provided a free education to North Stonington students and welcomed boarding students from outside the community.

The new school building was based on the Richardson Romanesque style which utilized different building materials such as pink granite around the windows and gray granite for the rest of the building. Other features of the building are arched second floor windows, a recessed door, and polished columns of red granite.

The land for the first Elementary School (now the Middle School) and the High School was given by the Wheeler Trustees. A Board of Trustees continues to oversee the funds left by the Wheeler family in support of the library.

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J. O. & T. W. Wheeler House ca 1840

104 Main Street

This large Victorian home was built in the 1840s by John Owen Wheeler and his brother Thomas W. Wheeler, who were blacksmiths and store keepers. The remnants of the Blacksmith shop are a foundation, now a garden to the left as you face the main house. This house was home to the Wheelers until it was bequeathed to the Wheeler School and Library by the will of Henry Dwight Wheeler in 1899. This building then served as the boys’ dormitory.

It came to serve a variety of functions for the Wheeler School around 1911, including science class room, a printing shop, and home of the Headmaster.

This house has a good example of an elaborate Italianate style door hood with drop pendants and oversized brackets. Other Italianate style elements of the house are the tripartite window in the gable end and the bay window on the east façade.

George E. Burdick House 1915

112 Main Street

This vernacular early 20th century house harmonizes with the character of the village in form, scale and materials.

House 1914

118 Main Street

The builder and original owner of the house is unknown. In the 1940s, this house was occupied by Rev. and Mrs. Inor Partington. Rev. Partington was the pastor of the North Stonington Congregational Church.

This bungalow has some Craftsman characteristics including the exposed rafter ends and the flared shingles. The Colonial Revival features include the Tuscan column on the recessed front porch. Like its neighbor, this house harmonizes with the general character of the Village in scale, form and materials.

Wheeler Cemetery Grounds

Main Street

The land on which the cemetery is located was originally part of a farm owned by Elias Hewitt. The cemetery was first known as the Elias Hewitt Cemetery and later became known as the Wheeler Cemetery.

Major Dudley R. Wheeler and his family are at rest here. Dwight Wheeler left a fund of $4,000 to Ecclesiastical Society of the Congregational Church for the upkeep of the cemetery.

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