The Strong House, now the Strong-Porter Museum, is a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...

at 2382 South Street in

Coventry, Connecticut Coventry ( ) is a town in Tolland County, Connecticut. The population was 12,235 at the 2020 census. The birthplace of Captain Nathan Hale, Coventry is home to the Nathan Hale Homestead, which is now a museum open to the public. Coventry was in ...

. It is a -story wood-frame structure, five bays wide, with a center entry and two interior chimneys. The oldest portion of the house is estimated to date to 1710, early in the period of Coventry's settlement, and retains a significant number of period features. The house was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1988. It is now owned and operated by the Coventry Historical Society as a museum. In addition to exhibits in the house about local history, visitors can tour the carpenter shop, 19th century privy, carriage sheds and barn.

Description and history

The Strong-Porter Museum is located in southwestern Coventry, on the north side of South Street, on the eastern fringe of

Nathan Hale State Forest Nathan Hale State Forest is a Connecticut state forest encompassing in the New England town, towns of Coventry, Connecticut, Coventry and Andover, Connecticut, Andover. The forest is managed to sustain a reliable source of forest products and re ...

and just west of the

Nathan Hale Homestead The Nathan Hale Homestead is a historic home located at 2299 South Street in Coventry, Connecticut, Coventry, Connecticut. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, and was also known as Deacon Richard Hale House. Connect ...

, also a museum. The house is a -story wood-frame structure, with a side-gable roof, two interior chimneys, and clapboarded exterior. The main facade is five bays wide, with a slightly off-center arrangement around a nearly-centered entrance. The entrance has a wide panel door framed by a plain surround with back molding. The window placement on either side does not extend the typical width of a house of this age, with wide blank spaces between the outer windows and the building corners. The interior of the house is reflective of its construction history, with the oldest portion east of the entrance. The main parlor on that side has exposed beams, wide paneled wainscoting, and a fireplace cupboard that suggests a chimney stood here that was once much larger. The western parlor shows original woodwork, doors, and hardware suggestive of a later 18th century construction date, c. 1770. The east portion of the house appears to have been built about 1710. The house was later extended to its present width, and the rear leanto was also added later, giving the house a classic

saltbox A saltbox house is a gable-roofed residential structure that is typically two stories in the front and one in the rear. It is a traditional New England style of home, originally timber framed, which takes its name from its resemblance to a woode ...

appearance. The Strong house at one time belonged to the grandparents of

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

hero

Nathan Hale Nathan Hale (June 6, 1755 – September 22, 1776) was an American Patriot, soldier and spy for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He volunteered for an intelligence-gathering mission in New York City but was captured b ...

, whose homestead is nearby. Both houses were restored in the 1930s by noted antiquarian

George Dudley Seymour George Dudley Seymour (October 6, 1859 – January 21, 1945) was an American historian, patent attorney, antiquarian, author, and city planner. He was the noted authority and foremost expert on Nathan Hale, the American Revolutionary War hero. ...

, and represent some of Connecticut's earliest efforts at the historic preservation of colonial architecture. Seymour left this house, as well as land making up part of the adjacent state forest, to the state. and The house is now managed by the local historical society as a museum.

References

External links

Coventry Historical Society

Trip report and photos of the museum
{{National Register of Historic Places Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Houses completed in 1710 Museums in Tolland County, Connecticut Historical society museums in Connecticut History museums in Connecticut Houses in Coventry, Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in Tolland County, Connecticut 1710 establishments in Connecticut

Description and history

See also

References

External links