Step Inside the Oldest House in Connecticut
I've been in the market for a new home here in Connecticut for the past year, and I've seen just about everything. The oldest home that I seriously considered was built in 1938. I just couldn't wrap my head around buying a house that was built when my late father was only a year old.
It started me thinking, what is the oldest house in Connecticut? I found the answer, and it's nearly 400 years old. The Henry Whitfield House was built 383 years ago in what is now Guilford. The Whitfield House was built just before Guilford was settled. Henry Whitfield was a Puritan minister who fled England to avoid religious persecution.
The Whitfield House was finished in the Summer of 1640, and served as a family home for Whitfield, his wife, and their 9 children. The house also served as a place of worship, a meetinghouse for town meetings, a fort with two-foot thick granite walls, in case of attack, and as a shelter for weary travelers.
The Whitfield house was remodeled in 1868, and opened as the first State museum in Connecticut in 1899. The house has been restored a few times over the last 120+ years. It was listed on the National Register of historic Places in 1972, declared a National Historic Landmark in 1997, and also named a State Archeological Preserve in 2006.
Visitors can now explore the house with historian-guided or self-guided tours, but you can take a look right here, and see what it was like to live almost 400 years ago.
Step Inside The Oldest House in Connecticut
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