The William Ward Jr. House is a historic house at 137 Powder Hill Road in
Middlefield, Connecticut
Middlefield is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 4,217 at the 2020 census. The town includes the village of Rockfall in the northeast section.
History
Middlefield, in Middlesex County, is so named becau ...
. Built in 1742, it is the oldest surviving house in Middlefield. It 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 ...
in 1988.
Description and history
The William Ward Jr. House stands in a rural residential area of southwestern Middlefield, on the west side of Powder Hill Road south of Long Hill Road near a local park located in a former
brownstone quarry featuring dinosaur tracks. It is a -story wood-frame structure, three bays wide, with a large central chimney, gabled roof, and clapboarded exterior. It has a typical New England
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 with an integral lean-to extending to the rear, and a single-story ell to the left.
The construction of the house includes many early features, including gunstock posts, and its second story overhangs the first slightly, a rare surviving feature in Connecticut. Its foundation and fireplace hearthstones are brownstone, the latter exhibiting fossil remains, suggesting that the stone was probably taken from the nearby quarry site. The interior retains a number of original features, including doors and door hardware.
The property was first granted to William Ward in the 17th century, when the area was part of
Middletown. His great-grandson, also named William, built this house in 1742. It is the oldest surviving house in Middlefield, and is architecturally distinctive for the use of cantilevered girts to support the rear lean-to roof. The house remained in the hands of the Wards and associated families until 1935.
See also
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, William, Jr., House
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut
Middlefield, Connecticut
Colonial architecture in Connecticut
Houses in Middlesex County, Connecticut
National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, Connecticut