Norwalk After Two Hundred & Fifty Years

built in 1809 and the former, which was the home of Eli- phalet Lockwood, a Revolutionary officer and influential public man, was built somewhat earlier. The long rear additions to both these houses are the old servant quar- ters, dairy and work rooms, relics of slavery in Connecti- cut. Knight street was named after Dr. Jonathan Knight, a surgeon in the Revolutionary army who came to Norwalk in 1781, and built his house on the new and hitherto nameless street. High street was Mullen Hill in those days, and the William St. John house, still stand- ing, though removed from its first site, was a noticeable home, which is shown to good advantage in the painting owned by Mr. J. P. Treadwell, which gives a view of Nor- walk from the river. Painted white with a trim piazza and colonial railing, the old house stood on a well-kept terraced lawn with box bordered walks, a picture worthy of a New England tale. Arnold's Inn once stood where the Street Railway station is to-day, with a green bank rising behind it. It was considered "a very sightly place" there at the head of navigation, as it were, and the river view from the gallery of the second story was much admired. In summer a band played and the square before the inn became thronged when the New York packets were at the wharf. Gen. Tryon, when he was Governor of Connecticut, used to stop here sometimes ; and, on one occasion, he bought a collection of natural history specimens of Mr. Arnold which he sent to Lon- don. Sixty years ago the Connecticut Hotel, which is now the Boston Store, divided the entertainment of the public with the Norwalk Hotel, which is somewhat older, having completed its one hundredth year last April. Marquis De Lafayette stopped at the Norwalk Hotel in 1824, while on his famous tour of New -England, and he received a throng of Norwalk's best people in its parlors. The town went wild with enthusiasm and erected a tri- umphal arch on the bridge bearing in letters spelled in lights, "Welcome Lafayette." The Benjamin Isaacs house used to stand where the Masonic building and Mrs. E. P. Weed's residence are at the present time. It was probably the oldest house in town at the time it was removed, having been built in 1753, and there are several interesting stories connected with it. The Isaacs family owned a number of slaves, whose bunks in the cellar were objects of curiosity to recent generations. It was due to the efforts of the slaves that the Isaacs house was saved from burning during Tryon's visit. In April, 1781, Col. Stephen St. John of the Ninth Regiment of Connecticut Militia was taken prisoner by a party of Associated Loyalists while visiting his sick wife in the Isaacs house. He had run a great risk in coming to Xorwalk at that time, but his anxiety for his wife's health had brought him to her side. Some Tory learned of his coming and a company of soldiers under Major I [ubbeH, surrounded the Isaacs house, and arrested Col. St. John. They marched him to Fitch's Point, prodding him with their bayonets at times to hasten his steps, so that when he reached the vessel in which they embarked his shoes were filled with blood. The Anson Ouintard house on Water street, which also survived the burning of Xorwalk still bears tokens of former gentility in its present guise as a tenement house, in a well-designed doorway with wrought iron window frames. Another Revolutionary house which is still standing should be noticed, on the corner of Cross and River streets, near the livery stables. It was built by Matthew Reed of the Rowayton family which will be mentioned later. Matthew Reed was a famous maker of clocks, one of which, bearing his name, is owned to-day in Stamford. The house owned by Mrs. James which stands on West avenue near the corner of Berkeley street, was the home of John Belden in Revolutionary times. The saving of the house from burning in 1779 is accounted for, according to Moses Webb (a veteran) by the fact that Garth deposited some ammunition in the building on that eventful day in July. The Eeldens were hospitable people, entertaining many visitors from the surrounding towns in a generous fashion. Isaac Belden's house, now owned by the Catholic Club, was built just after the Revolution on the site of his father's homestead. A part of the Belden lands were at "the Xeck," known later as Belden's. or Wilson's Point. The rectory of Grace church is also a Belden house of an early date. The Reuben Mott house on Belden avenue stood, until 1861, on the property of the Hon. A. H. Byington, who lived in the old house until his own residence was built. The Mott house only escaped burning in 1779 by accident ; for, after the soldiers raided the milk room at the back of the house, they started a fire on a broad wooden shelf and left it to accomplish its work of destruc- tion. It happened, however, that the fire burned the shelf just enough to cause it to fall to the earth floor in 299 two pieces and the lack of draft, together with the cool, damp earth, checked the flames, which harmlessly smouldered out. An eight-pound cannon ball supposed to have been fired from a field-piece on Grumman's Hill on the day of Norwalk's invasion, was dug up on the Mott property some years ago. Stephen, a son of Reuben Mott, born in 1771, kept a tavern on the site of the Carnegie Library early in the nineteenth century, at which the stage coach stopped regularly. The Thomas Benedict house on West avenue made way some years ago for the residence of the Hon. E. J. Hill, at the corner of Maple street. Many living persons recollect the old shingled house with a projecting roof, surrounded by an orchard. It was built in 1725 by Thomas Benedict, fourth of that name in Norwalk, and was occupied in 1779 by the family of his son, Deacon Thomas Benedict. On the day of terror, Mrs. Benedict and her four grown children had retreated to the woods at Belden Hill. One of the boys, aged fourteen at the time, remembered the occurrences vividly all his life ; and, in 1847, he related the story to the Rev. Edwin Hall for his history of Norwalk. "Uncle Tommy Benedict/' as he was called, said that he and his father were work- ing on the Benedict farm at East Norwalk, on July 11, 1779, and they were the first to see Tryon's fleet entering the harbor and to give warning of his coming. A patriot guard watched all night and Deacon Benedict set out wine and cider in his porch for their refreshment. Next day these supplies rejoiced the hearts of Gen. Garth's soldiers, some of whom partook too freely ; and, as the deacon who witnessed the scene used to say, when telling the story, "a drunken person was as harmless as a corpse." The delay of Gen. Garth's men at the Benedict house, enabled the Americans to join forces at the Rocks before the two wings of the British troops could meet, which held the day a little longer for the defenders of the town. Mr. Benedict remained in his house with his ser- vants after his family's departure, being prevented by a sudden illness from following them. Gen. Garth decided to leave his wounded men at the Benedict house, which resulted in saving it from destruction. Mr. Robert Van Buren has made many changes in the old Phillipse house, yet it still retains the stamp of the eighteenth century. It was built by Ebenezer Phillipse 300 in 1795, on land purchased from the Benedict family. One of his daughters, Miss Sally Phillipse (afterwards the wife of William P. Stuart), assisted Miss Susan Betts in starting the first Sunday-school in Norwalk, which used to meet in Miss Betts' private school rooms. Elmen- worth covers such a large tract of land on the east side of the avenue we are interested to know what used to occupy it. James Benedict, whose house dated from the last quarter of the seventeen hundreds, planted the elms which stand by the park gates, to shelter his good old-fashioned home. West avenue was not level then, as it appears now ; the banks before the houses just here show how much the original grade has been changed. James Seymour's row of great maple trees in front of his homestead used to afford a welcome shade to men and beasts after they had climbed this hill. Another old Seymour home stood next below on the present Elmenworth Park, which was an inn at the time of the Revolution. Every one will recall the old Sammis house by the brook, which was torn down when Gen. Frost's house was built a few years since. It was so picturesque it is a pity there is so little to be said about it. John Seymour had the cottage hastily built for his family after the fire in 1779, to serve until his house was rebuilt. The latter is now a part of the remodeled house owned by Mr. J. F. Mcahon. Capt. Seth Seymour's home came next on the east side of the avenue on the site of the home of Gould Seymour, his great grandson, who proudly shows the captain's military saddlebags among other relics of colonial days. Capt. Seth Seymour had an honorable military record, and he died a prisoner of war in the wretched Sugar House prison in New York. Capt. Seymour's son Seth, a boy of sixteen in 1779, was the first to alarm the inhabitants on the west side of the river of the coming of the British vessels on July 11th. He saw them from Hayes's Hill near Keyser's Island, where he was working in the hay field and he hurried to Old Well to give the alarm. The contrast between old and new Norwalk is em- phasized in the quaint home of Jedediah Brown, standing next the new First Methodist Church, farther down on West avenue. The Wentworth Tavern once stood on the James H. Knapp property, next to the Baptist Church. It is inevitable in a paper of this kind that Washington should be mentioned as spending a night in at least one 301