Norwalk After Two Hundred & Fifty Years

house ; and it now becomes necessary to state that Wash- ington once slept at the Wentworth Tavern. An old house was removed from Ann street last year, to make room for an addition to the Roth and Goldschmidt fac- tory, which was built in 1788 by Ehakim Smith, whose earlier home on the same site was burned in 1779. Elia- kim Smith's Bible was recently found' in the possession of the New York Bible Society, bearing the imprint of 1634. Its inscription is quaint and interesting. "This Book was 100 years old that year the subscriber was born ; Eliakim Smith, Jr., born Dec. 25, 1734, of Norwalk in Connecticut, New England; who died Feb. 11, 1819." On its fly leaves are notes of events which seemed worthy of record to its owner, among these, "Norwalk burnt July 11, 1779, and ye winter following most severe in ye fore part and ye following summer very dry." Marshall street was, in early days, an important thor- oughfare to the dock where packets from New York and steamboats some forty years later, made landing. At the dock called Liberty Point a ferry conveyed passengers across to Oyster Shell Point, long years before there was a bridge below Norwalk. Peter Ouintard had an inn at Liberty Point before the Revolution, and his son James rebuilt it after the fire. James Quintard's swining sign bore these lines: "Since man to man is so unjust You cannot tell what man to trust. I've trusted many to my sorrow So pay to-day and trust to-morrow." Old Well was scarcely a village in those days, but rather a group of farms, and the well which gave the place its name was on Water street, near thejcorner__of Haviland street, on the property of Eliakim Raymond, a patriarch of several Norwalk lines. His house stood at the corner of Washington and Water, streets before the Revolution, and was burned with- the rest of the town. Subsequently the site was sold to the Rev. Absalom Day, founder of the First Methodist Church, who built a substantial house of the Georgian style of architecture, in which, it is said, one of the doors of the old Eliakim Raymond house was adapted for further service. Twenty- five years ago the Absalom Day house made way for a business block. There is an old watercolor drawing in existence which shows the house as it looked seventy-five years ago. Nathaniel Raymond, son of Eliakim, served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War ; and, after his return, he built the house still standing on lower Wash- ington street, near the office of Raymond Brothers, where he spent the remainder of his life; a saintly soul, always present at the prayer meetings of the old First Church. One of Eliakim Raymond's daughters married Isaac Hoyt and they lived on West street, at the foot of Edward Beard's hill, in a comfortable two-storied dwelling. The old house now owned by Mr. Becker at the foot of Washington street is an Old Well landmark built by George Day. Before the drawbridge was built the tide came almost to the door on the north side, and shad were caught from an old pier at this point. The Peck warehouse, now used by J. H. Ferris for grain stor- age, was a country store doing a th riving trade in the 'thirties. Among the great elms which died from the ravages of the elm beetle a few years ago, were two noble specimens of their race on Flax Hill. They died and were removed at about the time MrTThomas I. Raymond built his present residence on the property which they adorned. These trees were the landmarks of the Daniel K. Nash homestead, the site of which was the scene of exciting incidents on the day of Norwalk's British inva- sion. Gen. Garth, in command of the portion of the troops which approached Norwalk on the west side of the river, believed the resisting patriots were intrenched on Flax Hill. He therefore distributed his troops so as to cut off the Americans from escaping towards Norwalk, and with the other portion charged up the hill. There was a sharp skirmish near Trinity Church ; but the Eng- lish gained the top of the first hill, losing three men on the present Raymond property. Gen. Garth covered his purpose by a military manoeuvre and paused to bury the dead, whose remains were disinterred somt fifty years afterward when the D. K. Nash house was built. The quaint cottage on West street Owned by Mr. Samuel Ferris was a Revolutionary home which has suffered little change. Thomas Hoyt lived here at the time of Tryon's raid and his family shared in the general alarm. The founder of the Reed family in America is buried on the estate of Mr. Samuel Richards Weed at Rowayton, and the place has been marked with a granite tablet, bearing John Reed's name and the dates 1660- 1704. He was one of Cromwell's men who fled to America after the Restoration. The first Reed house, which was torn 303 -* down early in the nineteenth century, was a roomy, substantial structure, the loft of which was devoted to religious meetings; the first to be held in that part of Norwalk. Many of the Reed descendants lie in the old Middle Five Mile River Cemetery. There is a group of houses in the vicinity built by later generations of Reeds, including the William R. Lockwood house, though the family has no representa- tives living there to-day. Near Keeler's ice pond are the ruins of an old chimney, the last vestige of a picturesque Warren house which was covered with broad hewn shingles and served as the subject of many a sketch and amateur photograph until its ruin was complete. As we go from Brookside to lower Five Mile River, we pass^ the home of Moses Webb, a veteran of the Revolution. In Rowayton, near the mouth of Five Mile River, are some Raymond houses that date back more than a hundred years. In the time of the Revolution, Ger- shom Raymond, in whose blood was mingled that of six of the founders of Norwalk, a member of the County Congress and Committtee of Safety, owned nearly the whole of lower Five Mile River, and also lands at the Oblong above New Canaan where the same stream rises. In early times Gershom Raymond kept six men on his Oblong fields to drive away the deer which were apt to trample down the growing grain. Hjs_house at Roway- ton was on Main street near the hotel building of to-day, but it disappeared long ago. Three houses built by Gershom Raymond's sons, Paul, Edward and Gershom, are the oldest dwellings in Rowayton at the present time, Paul Raymond's house dating from 1774. The Raymond Cemetery in Rowayton was founded in 1782 by these three brothers, the oldest of whom fought in the Revolutionary War. In "Picturesque America,'" edited by Bryant, and published about twenty-five years ago, are some drawings of Norwalk scenes by William Hamil- ton Gibson. Among these is a sketch of an old chimney on Wilson's Cove, which served for years as a range to mariners and fishermen. It is now quite disappeared ; but the house was of so much interest historically, and its structure so typical of early Norwalk houses, we must notice the description of it, which is given by W. S. Bouton, a South Norwalk antiquarian. "It was a two- story frame structure with a long roof sloping to the rear, the main timbers were of oak, fourteen inches square and 304 Paul Taylor He, use. West Norwalk. 5-JUL p~k~- J<95~ Isaac Selleck House, West Norwaik. Q^C pL&r<frt "*} Q $ f Eliiah Gregory House, \V . The Sherman House, Main Street, Norwalk. Jacob Jennings House, Mum Street, Norwalk. Gould Hoyt House, Main Street, Norwalk. ( > 1 « 1 Chimnev of the E Dsaias Bouton House.^^i, covered with chestnut shingles, with the butts fourteen inches to the weather. The chimney was situated in the center of the building, constructed of rough stone with cross-sticks of oak. Its inside was plastered with lime made of clam and oyster shells found in the Indian graves at Naramoke, now Wilson's Point. The windows were few and small. The main fireplace faced one of the front windows from which its owner could see Long Island Sound and the waters intervening, and watch the *' movements of all vessels which passed that way." Here lived Esaias Bouton, a descendant of an old Norwalk line and an interested Tory during the Revolution. He was very useful in securing produce and cattle for the British army on Long Island, and his own hearthfire served as the signal to the British vessels whether the coast guard was on duty or not. In 1798 an order signed by Tryon was found in the walls of the Bouton house, which read: "Deliver the beef, grain and vegetables, previously or- dered, to my commissary. Send them to the usual place of shipment." In West Not walk are some picturesque old houses. The Street house is the oldest of these ; and since it was considered an old house in 1750 it must be the oldest in town at the present time. It is well finished in- side with ornamental mouldings and paneled walls. Jesse Reed, from Rowaytpn, built his house in 1763, for which he cleared the land himself. It has been well kept and is occupied to-day by some of his descendants. AnjQiher old house is that of Isaac Selleck, which still remains in his family. The Charles Selleck house, now occupied by Mr. Frederick Ke\ser, is known to be one hundred and twenty-five years old. The Nash and Taylor houses be- long to the same period' as the Street house, first men- tioned. The Nash house, which is remarkably well pre- served, has a most interesting interior. Tradition credits Nathan Nash with helping the British with their foraging expeditions. The Taylor house, near by, is rapidly falling to de- cay. Its owner, Paul Taylor, was as staunch as Nathan Nash in his allegiance to King George, but took no part in the foraging raids on his neighbors' farms. He was a man of decided opinions and his Tory sentiments made him very unpopular with his American fellow townsmen. He was equally intolerant in religion, being a strong churchman of St. Paul's parish ;' and when his daughter married a follower of Jesse Lee he never forgave her; 305 but, in grief and anger, bade her visit his house no more. One of his sons, too, caused parental wrath by joining the patriot cause and serving as a coast guard in Middle- sex.