A Stone's Throw

With everyone feeling a little better this morning--Mama's sinus infection and headache clear and Sis's early-morning stomachache gone, we decided on a little historical outing to the oldest house in Connecticut and the oldest stone house in New England, the Henry Whitfield House. Built in 1639 by Puritans for their minister, this was one of four houses (the other three are long gone) that acted as a fort in the early settlement. An example of post-medieval English construction, this L-shaped house doesn't look like anything else I've seen in the U.S. And originally it wouldn't have had that chimney on the right nor probably most of those windows (though, there are historical references to that little window on the corner of the second floor, which originally could see all the way to the Sound).

Beyond being fascinating architecture, the museum is very family friendly and accessible, mainly because it was do-it-yourself/self-guided, with two scavenger hunts and lots of informative and interactive labels. Those hour-long house tours you usually have to take at most historic houses, with their focus on specific family genealogies and the provenance of particular antiques, just aren't always interesting to children (or often even to me and I love old houses!). But the kiddos loved exploring this house, complete with flashlights in case it was too dark to see in the garret. We searched for bed keys (the infamous--and anachronistically quoted--"sleep tight"), betty lamps, butter churns, candle molds, footwarmers, quill pens, sanders (for drying ink), among other items. We talked about ways to stay warm--the aforementioned footwarmer, fireplace, bedwarmer--and ways to light a room--windows, rush light, lanterns, white reflective paint. The kids were nervous about the loose and creaking floorboards, especially by the time we were on the third floor, in the garret, admiring a very old musket, Revolutionary War uniforms, and all manner of tools to process wool and flax into cloth. And they were glad we had staircases instead of the ladders the original inhabitants would probably have used.

As the little museum display noted, the museum is not set up to look as if a family lived there, for there were more objects than any one family would've owned--several chairs, a few rope beds, several chests, lots of kitchen implements, all the wool and flax tools--which really surprised the kids because it didn't look like too much to them. It reminds you just how spartan life was, and difficult, too--dark, cold, with lots of hard, constant labor. In that light, it is a very impressive house for 1639, with very thick stone walls, numerous floors, and that L-shape, proof of just how important ministers were for their Puritan followers (who built themselves small thatched-roof houses).

After a stop at the shop for postcards for our scrapbook and a few materials for my own work at historical houses (including a book on colonial games and colonial childhood. And, confession, a reproduction tape loom!!!), plus jacks for Bud and a bunny for Sis ("wildlife at Whitfield" the sign said!), we headed to fetch lunch from nearby Bishop's Orchards. A lunch of apple turnovers, apple dumplings, peach pie, cherry pie, and bread. Which, really, are all foods the Puritans would have probably eaten in the Whitfield House . . . .