Independence Day Celebration at the Governor Samuel Huntington Homestead Museum

This early eighteenth century colonial Connecticut home has recently had its cedar shingle roof re-done and been painted. Note nineteenth-century windows and door on the right.

Had the pleasure of spending my Independence Day down in Scotland, CT celebrating the Declaration of Independence, its history, and the people who made it happen.

Between the events, I poked around and took images of this well-preserved colonial home that is open the first and third Saturday from May 1-Oct 31 (I think). It is definitely worth a trip especially if you are interested in eighteenth and nineteenth-century building methods. Yankee thriftness and genteel poverty meant that a lot of old houses like this one have been preserved for us to enjoy and marvel at. Please see those pictures at the end of this post.

Kevin Ring is responsible for keeping this house in good shape. He has been with the Trust since its beginnings in the 1990s.

President of the Samuel Huntington Homestead Trust Janet Lussier

Catherine Huntington reading a poem.

Flag raising by Treasurer Kevin Ring

Great music by Tom Callinan veteran of the Vietnam War.

Yours truly signing my name on the DOI!

The original core of the house was probably built around 1720s for Nathanial and Mehetebal Thurston Huntington who were married in 1722 in Windham. Could be earlier. The house was continuously lived in by farming families up into the mid-twentieth century. And was bought by the Governor Samuel Huntington Trust in 1994.

First known photograph taken in December 1880 by a traveling photographer.

Old iron implements: rug beater, hooks, etc. From another era...

Evidence of an old well in the front yard.

This window has an etching on it which one cannot see in this picture. Laundry basket?

Some old shelves tucked away here and there in this home.

The first floor is wheelchair accessible! Note an old outbuilding foundation and herb garden. In the way distance is an old field and more outbuildings.

Hall fireplace, probably the site of the first kitchen hearth. Place is great to study!

See the lath and plaster walls.

There are 3-4 places where old wall stencils are visible.

Old garret. Classic old Big wheel (wool) in the back.

Impressive wainscoting in the second floor hall chamber.

Relics of the past that come up in the spring! Old key and kewpie doll. Cool!

The Governor Samuel Huntington Homestead Museum is only a short drive from other homes: Governor Jonathan Trumbull mansion, The Leffingwell museum, the Waldo homestead (Scotland Historical Society), the Franklin Historical Society (Ashbel Woodward home), the Windham Textile Museum, and much more! New London and Windham counties have a lot of old house museums to see that the former long-dead owners would still recognize!