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 house I seriously considered was built in 1938. I just couldn’t think of buying a house that was built when my late father was only a year old.
It made me think, what is the oldest house in Connecticut? I found the answer, and it’s almost 400 years old. Henry Whitfield House was built 383 years ago in what is now Guilford. The Whitfield House was built just before Guilford settled. Henry Whitfield was a Puritan minister who fled England to avoid religious persecution.
The Whitfield House was completed in the summer of 1640 and served as the family home for Whitfield, his wife and their 9 children. The house also served as a place of worship, a meeting place for town meetings, a fort with two-foot-thick granite walls, in case of attack, and a shelter for weary travellers.
The Whitfield House was remodeled in 1868 and opened as Connecticut’s first state museum in 1899. The house has been restored many times over the past 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 Archaeological Reserve in 2006.
Visitors can now explore the house with historian-led or self-guided tours, but you can peek here and see what life was like nearly 400 years ago.
Step inside Connecticut’s oldest home
The Henry Whitfield House was built in 1639 in Guilford, Connecticut. It is the oldest house in Connecticut and the oldest American colonial stone house in New England.
Cornish Castle in Cornwall Connecticut
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