The area of Essex called Essex Village was originally named Potapoug Point, or Big Point, by the Nahantic tribe. It was laid out as a part of the original Saybrook colony in 1648. It bordered the Connecticut River with two large coves on either side. There were three original families: the Pratts, the Hides, and the Lays. The Lays took the northern parts, the Pratts the middle acres, and the Hides the southern acres. In 1722 the settlers were given the right to form a Congregation Church, which was located in Center-Brooke, the original “social center” of what is now the Town of Essex. Main Street on the “point” was not laid out until 1748, and up to that time only a few people resided here.

By the middle of the 18th century, however, the focus was already moving to Potapoug Point, or Essex Village as we now know it, where shipbuilding was beginning to offer an alternate occupation to farming. The building of the ship “Oliver Cromwell” in 1775/76 by Captain Uriah Hayden could be considered the pivotal change in the local economy. The Oliver Cromwell was the first ship commissioned and financed by the Colony of Connecticut and the largest one launched in the river valley up to that time. The Town of Essex itself was split from Old Saybrook, and was incorporated in 1854, and in 1859, the villages of Centerbrook and Ivoryton were added. Shipbuilding remained a main economic force until the 1870s.

1. The Essex Town Green was originally the site of three homes. The Town Green borders Middle Cove and looks out onto Thatchbed Island.

2. The Gamaliel Conklin House, a center chimney, colonial style home with a steeply pitched roof, was built in 1800. Conklin, along with Jesse Murray, was a supplier of masts, blocks, and gear for the shipbuilding industry. 20 Main Street.

3. Next door is the Jesse Murray house, built in 1805, is in the Federal Style. 22 Main Street.

4. Uriah Hayden House. 24 Main Street. Uriah was the man most responsible for establishing a formal shipbuilding industry in Essex. Meigs Lane was once a pentway. This house was modeled after the new Baptist church, built by Jeremiah Gladding, in the “Egyptian style.” Additions have been added since.

5. 26 Main Street. Cape house on water. 1803.

6. The Noah Pratt house, 28 Main Street. Built in 1805 on land original known as Cornfield point. The house was sold to Uriah Hayden in 1817 and remained in the Hayden family until 1977. It now houses Commercial offices.

7. 30 Main Street, at the corner of Parker Lane, was erected in 1840 for Judge William Phelps. It was later owned by Dr. Charles H. Hubbard (1836-1908), who practiced in Essex for nearly forty-eight years. He also held various town offices and was the executor for the estate of Capt. Isaiah Pratt (1814-1879), who had left money for a new high school. Dr. Hubbard successfully challenged a stipulation in the will that would have limited enrollment to the children of parents who were members of the First Congregational Church. He continued as a trustee and leader of the new school for many years. Hubbard Field in Essex is named for him. The barn in back is newly constructed. Considered Greek Revival.

8. 32 Main Street. 1799. Grover L’Hommedieu (1741-1841) was one of the patriot militiamen who became refugees from Long Island to Connecticut after the Battle of Long Island in 1776 during the Revolutionary War. He settled in Norwich and in 1797 leased land from Samuel Lay in Essex. There he erected the town’s first ropewalk. Around that time he also erected the house at 32 Main Street in Essex. It was later occupied by his son Ezra L’Hommedieu (1772-1860), a ship-carver who invented the double-podded center screw auger, which he patented in 1809. Grover’s daughter Sarah (Sally) married Ebenezer Hayden II, the town’s leading merchant. In 1802, Grover L’Hommedieu sold the ropewalk to his partner, Ebenezer’s son, Jared. In 1815, the L’Hommedieu House was purchased by another member of the Hayden family, John G. Hayden.

9. The L’ Hommedieu Ropewalk. Essex had two ropewalks, in different locations, at different times. L'Hommideau had “lately erected” a frame that was 15’ wide by 60 rods (1000’) long that ran on the north side of Main Street. This meant it ran from the west side of the current “Glass Basket” building to where Essex Square is today. There was a 20’ wide “store” at the west end of this ropewalk, and the land rent was 4 pounds per year. Main Street followed a different path at that time, being located roughly halfway between current Main and Pratt Streets, and there was no Essex Square or North Main Street then. Grover was allowed to have a “copper”(large tar kettle) and a capstan for winding rope on the north side of this structure, although these were on Lay property. This “frame” was said to be “open,” indicating it probably had a roof, but no sidewalls. Consequently, it was probably operated on a seasonal basis. It was torn down in 1814.

10. The Griswold Inn, oldest continuously operating Inn in America is at at 36 Main Street. The Griswold Inn is the most famous landmark building in Essex. A sign at the Inn states that the Griswold House was built by Sala Griswold in 1776. It originally stood near the shipyard and was moved to its current location on Main Street to become part of the house constructed by Richard Hayden in 1801. Hayden’s house was the first three-story building in the lower Connecticut River Valley. Around the same time, Richard’s two brothers, John G. and Amasa Hayden, built houses on either side (they are now part of the Griswold Inn complex, the Amasa Hayden House being the Inn’s annex). Hayden sold his house to Ethan Bushnell in 1806, moving to a new brick house nearby. Ethan Bushnell turned his home into a tavern. A former schoolhouse on the property, built in 1738, was attached to the house, possibly to serve as a kitchen (it is now the taproom). After the Burning of the ships in 1812, it notoriously served and housed British soldiers. The Tavern was inherited by Bushnell’s children in 1849 and passed through a variety of owners over the years, probably acquiring the name Griswold House during the period it was owned by Emory Morse of Wallingford in the 1870s and 1880.

The Griswold Inn starred in Halmark’s “Christmas at Pemberley Manor” movie. And had a role in the 70’s Dark Shadows series as the Collinsport Inn. Owned by only six families. Currently owned by Geoff Paul, who lives in Champlin Square.

12. Richard Hayden house/ Hayden rectory. 1806. Richard Hayden, an Essex shipbuilder and merchant, built the first brick house in town in 1806. He had earlier lived in the house which is now the Griswold Inn. Hayden was head of the Hayden Shipyard and he built a ship’s chandlery in 1813, which was later moved across Main Street. During the War of 1812, he built a privateer schooner, the Black Prince, which he advertised in New York. This was one of the causes of the British Raid on Essex in 1814, which led to serious financial losses for Hayden, who died two years later. His widow and children remained in the Federal-style house until 1833, when Richard Hayden’s cousin, Samuel Hayden, bought the house. In 1894, Samuel’s daughter, Mary Tucker, left the house and furniture to St. John’s Episcopal Parish and was the church’s rectory until 2013.

13. Noah Tooker house. 1728. At corner of Novelty Lane. May have faced the river, then turned when the rectory was built. Several other houses in Essex were built to face the river and remain so sited today.

14. The Ebenezer Hayden II (the first Ebenezer Hayden was a brother who was born earlier but had died) probably built his Georgian and Federal style house, located on Main Street in Essex, in stages in the late 1790s. The doorway, featuring a semi-circular fanlight window, may have been added around 1800. The Hayden House was the first home in the lower Connecticut River Valley to have a hipped roof, which may have been constructed by the noted builder Thomas Hayden of Windsor and shipped down the river in sections to be placed on the building. The Ebenezer Hayden House is the third home up from the river and one of many homes built by members of the Hayden family in the vicinity of the Hayden Shipyard. Ebenezer II married Sarah, the daughter of Grover L’Hommideau, who had created the town’s first ropewalk.

15. Foot of Main, the Hayden-Starkey Store, at 48 Main Street in Essex, was only the second brick building in town when it was built in 1809. A warehouse and ships store, or chandlery, it was constructed by Samuel and Ebenezer Hayden, sons of Capt. Uriah Hayden, and was situated between their two residences. Their cousin, Richard Hayden, had recently built his house, Essex’s first brick building, nearby. Timothy Starkey, Jr., the Hayden brothers’ brother-in-law, became their partner in 1810. It is said that the British destroyed ropewalk and took merchandise from this store during their raid on Essex in 1814. Remaining in the Hayden family for many years, the building became a residence in 1856.

16. Uriah and Ann’s Inn. Now the Dauntless Boat Club. Built in 1776, this important structure was the homestead and tavern of shipbuilder Uriah and Ann Hayden. The Oliver Cromwell ship was built in his shipyard to the south of the house in 1776. The front yard has been filled in. To the southeast on Middle cove shore, where the Essex Corinthian Yacht club, Essex Yacht club, and Novelty Lane now stand, was the location of the Old Shoddy Mill, a wood turning factory which burned down in 1900. It was once owned by Thomas Dickinson, who went on to found the Witch Hazel factory.

ALT

17. Dickinson Boathouse, built by E.E. Dickinson of Witch hazel factory fame in the 1920’s. It replaced a West Indies warehouse that was built in 1753 and torn down in 1918. The building is now in privately owned.

18. Burning of the ships. The embargo that President Thomas Jefferson passed, followed by the British blockade of the Connecticut River during the War of 1812, impacted the shipbuilding industry of the town. The leading boat builders were converting their merchant ships into privateers in the hope of bringing home some of the spoils of war, but this act backfired. On the morning of April 8, 1814, 137 British marines and sailors, under the command of Captain Richard Coote, raided Potapoug Point and destroyed 28 ships with a value of $200,000. Of which, $60,000 was lost by the Haydens. The disaster, one of the few invasions and occupation of US. soil by a foreign power, is celebrated almost every year in Essex with a parade. It was, after all, the greatest financial loss suffered by the American side during the War of 1812.  Why was there no real resistance by the Potapaug Militia, either during the initial attack, or during the British retreat?  The head of this force lived in a home on the lefthand side of Main Street, close to the shore. There is strong suspicion that he agreed not to oppose the raiding force, in return for their promise not to harm homes or residents. Recently uncovered minutes of the local Masonic Lodge add greatly to this speculation for George Jewett, the Militia commander, was also Master of the Lodge.  Captain Richard Coote, the person in command of the British, who had apparently spared the ships of one Judea Pratt of New City Street, due to Masonic influence, could undoubtedly have “cut a similar deal” with fellow Freemason Jewett.

One immediate result of the raid was the demise of the old 1797 ropewalk, and a new larger one built 200 feet to the north. This change set for current street layout and appearance of Essex. Up until then, most commercial activity in Essex Village had centered in Champlin Square, with the Pratt Smithy and Ebenezar Hayden Store.

Looking up Main Street towards Essex Square.

This detail shows the location of the the Old Shoddy wood turning factory, now the site of the Essex Yacht Club from this 1881 Bird’s Eye view of Essex, CT. Below, another detail:

19. The Connecticut River Museum. The old Steamboat Dock in Essex was built in 1878 by Phoebe Hayden, widow of William S. Hayden. Originally a warehouse and general store, the building has been used for various purposes over the years. In 1944, it was acquired by the Lovell family, owners of the nearby Griswold Inn, who put a restaurant on the second floor. The Steam Boat Dock served the Ely-Lyme ferry. After they sold the building in 1962, it began to fall into disrepair, but was eventually saved and converted to become home to the Connecticut River Museum.

Town Dock: Moored at the Town Dock is the a replica of the Onrust, Dutch for “unrest” or “restless” built by Adriaen Block in 1614. Site of Essex Elly’s Ferry to Lyme, CT.

20. Hayden Chandlery. 1813. Captain Richard Hayden‘s Chandlery in Essex was built in 1813 and originally stood at the corner of Main Street and Novelty Lane. Constructed in the Federal style, it served as a chandlery (a store selling supplies and equipment for seamen and ships). Built next to Hayden‘s shipyard, the building continued to be used as ship’s store, although by the early twentieth century the upper floor housed a tenement. The first floor windows and the projecting windows on the second floor are later additions. The building was moved to its present location in 1949 by the then owners of the Griswold Inn and placed on a more modern foundation. The chandlery and nearby steamboat dock warehouse were purchased by the Connecticut River Foundation in 1974, in order to preserve the historic waterfront. Renamed the Connecticut River Museum, the institution restored the chandlery in 1975 to display exhibits. Thomas A. Stevens, a former director of Mystic Seaport, died in 1982 and left his library to the museum. That same year, the warehouse had been converted into a museum building and the chandlery was again renovated, this time to hold the Thomas A. Stevens maritime research library.

21. The Oliver Cromwell ship. On June 13, 1776, the ship Oliver Cromwell, built by Uriah Hayden, was launched in Essex. The ship was one of the largest full-rigged ships built for the state after the establishment of Connecticut’s navy. The Navy was formed after the start of the American Revolutionary War in July of 1775 when the Connecticut General Assembly authorized Governor Jonathan Trumbull and the Council of Safety to purchase and outfit two armed vessels. The General Assembly later authorized the purchase of more ships including the construction of the Oliver Cromwell. All of the ships of the Connecticut Navy were captured or destroyed by 1779. The Oliver Cromwell, in its service to the Navy, captured nine British ships, the first being the brig Honour, before it was itself captured in July 1779 off Sandy Hook by three British ships and a brig after a two-hour battle.

22. Robert Lay House. Built in 1730 on land homesteaded since 1648, it is one of the oldest surviving houses in Essex. The estate was broken up in 1820. It is now owned by the Connecticut River Museum. The Lay wharf was to the North west. Once known as the beehive because of the large number of rented rooms, the house has been restored and is now part of the River museum complex.

23. Commercial building. 53 Main Street. Dates back to 1720, according to Town list.

24. Parking lot. Former site of Old Red Balloon building, Guy C. Wigan’s studio?

25. Thomas Millard Homestead. Thomas, a ship figurehead carver from New York City built this smaller gambrel style house in 1802; it is one of three houses he built on lower Main. Now part of Griswold Inn complex and home to a coffee shop.

26. Timothy Starkey, Jr.’s house, now part of the Griswold Inn complex, was built in 1800, when he leased land from Samuel Lay to build his home on the corner of Main Street and Ferry Street (the latter street being laid out in the 1820s, after the house was constructed). Starkey later bought the land and property extending along Main Street to the wharf, developed Pratt Street and was involved in various business ventures. Timothy Starkey married his cousin, Mary Ann Hayden, a daughter of Uriah Hayden. Starkey owned the Hayden-Starkey Store with his brothers-in-law, Samuel Hayden and Ebenezer Hayden II. Timothy’s brother, Felix Starkey, lived next door to him and married Esther Hayden, who was also a daughter of Uriah Hayden. The house later passed to Timothy’s daughter, Phoebe, who had married William S. Hayden. The house remained in the family until 1974 and is is now used for businesses.

27. The gambrel-roofed saltbox house at 43 Main Street, facing toward Ferry Street in Essex, was built in 1801 by Ephraim Bound. In 1828, it was purchased by Timothy Starkey, Jr. (he lived next door), who erected a store connected to the house and at a right angle from its northeast corner. The store was operated by Starkey’s son-in-law Joseph Ellsworth and then by a grandson, Timothy Starkey Hayden. The Hayden family occupied the house until 1926. The original store, destroyed in the 1920s, was replaced by a new commercial building in the 1960s.

28. Thomas Millard house, 41 Main Street. The original structure dates back to 1805 when it was Millards house and workshop. Architectural changes were made in the 19th century and it housed attorneys offices and Essex Town offices.

29. George Jewett House. Built by Thomas Millard in 1803, the house became the residence of Jewett in 1814. Jewett commanded the Potopaug militia. Jewett, a Mason, is thought to have cut a deal with Captain Richard Coote, Commander of the British invading troops, who was also a Mason. The deal is thought to be that the militia would not engage, if the British spared the town and people. Jewett left town one year later.

30. Dr Ezra Mather house, federal style, was built on Lay land in 2815 and housed the village doctor. Shown in top photo of the blog.

31. The house at 29 Main Street, 1850. A few doors down from the home of Dr. Ezra Mather, on Main Street in Essex, is a house he had built for his son, Mortimer Mather. The 1870 house is a late example of the Greek Revival style.

32. The house at 35 Main Street in Essex was originally built in the late eighteenth century with a gambrel roof. It was enlarged sometime before 1810 by builder Thomas Millard, likely for the newlyweds, Nathaniel Wilson and Temperance Lay. It has been converted into offices.

33. Ezra Clark Homestead. The small house at the front was constructed by Ezra in 1827 on what was an animal pound. It existed as a tenement house in the early part of the 20th century until it was purchased by Robert Carter, an architect who renovated it and built the large rear ell.

34. St. John’s Episcopal Church. Built in 1894 in the Richardson Gothic style, of Portland Brownstone. The congregation itself was originally housed in a church in Centerbrook, where the Witch hazel building now stands. The congregation then moved to Prospect street, where our Lady of Sorrows now stands. The church was largely financed by the Haydens, who later donated the Rectory house. The deed shows that the original Main Street formed an ell, following the course of what is now Pratt street and Cross Street.

35. Shailer Store.

36. 21 thru 1 Main Street buildings was the site of the first rope walk. The buildings and homes were constructed circa 1820 onwards, reflecting the commercial growth of Potopaug point. Construction in this section accelerated after the War of 1812. Their siting reflected the relocation of Main Street itself, which had roughly followed Cross Street and roughly parallel to what is now Pratt Street.

37. Black Seal. This building was once operated by the Mack family as the Thelma theatre showing silent pictures.

38. Prentice Pendleton, originally from Middlebury Vermont, built a house in 1819-1820 on Main Street in Essex. He had married Almira Pratt of Essex, but sold the house after her death in 1826. It was later owned by Captain Cornelius Doane. Part owner of the ship Cotton Planter, Capt. Doane was a pioneer in the Mobile packet and cotton trade. In the 1850s, he turned his attention from the declining shipping industry to the commercial development of Essex, where he became president of the Saybrook Bank in Essex. Starting in the later nineteenth century, Main Street in Essex began to develop as a retail area and the Doane House was owned by several local businessmen. In the twentieth century, a small store was attached to the house on the east.

39. The old Post Office was located here until 1922. Other business include the Burrows Store.

40. Essex Banks. These two institutions were founded within three years of each other in 1848 and 1851, as the Saybrook bank and the Essex Savings Bank.

40. 1 Main Street. Built 1880 and housed the Hall’s Store.

41. Essex Square. Shoreline Electric Railroad Company, started service from Old Saybrook in 1910, routed through Essex Main Street, and extended up North Main Street, past the Dickinson Offices. The trolley line extended north and west through Centerbrook, Ivoryton, Deep River, and Chester.

42. The Talbots building and adjacent buildings were once the Benjamin William Jr. Homestead, 1814. Originally there was a small two story house at the top of the old rope walk. In 1925, the Essex Square Theatre was built, to present motion pictures and house offices in the rear.

43. 3 & 5 Essex Square. Miner Block; Samuel Ingersoll Building; Benjamin Williams Jr. House. The two buildings facing the square have housed Essex pharmacy, an Oyster House and other businesses. A large structure for its time, it was built as a store complex in 1835 by Elias Redfield and joint owned by Elias Parmalee in 1842. Albert Miner purchased the business property in 1871, and built an elegant house behind it on Prospect Street. Thus, the commercial structure was known as “Miner’s Block,” the site of the 1874 oyster house. Miner took on a clerk named Charles Mather, who later became his son-in-law and took over the business as Mather’s Store through the early part of the 20th century, specializing in hardware and appliances, later becoming an early home of Essex Hardware. The upper floors of the multi-level structure saw a number of uses come and go, such as a school room, various apartments and for decades, the third floor served as the meeting hall of the local Odd Fellows chapter and the Freemasons.

44. On North Main Street is the Arkin Block, built by Jacob Arkin, 1919, at one time housed a grocery store and other shops.

45. Farnham Parmalee house. 12 North Main Street in Essex, was originally located about 150 feet south of its current location. Built by Farnham Parmelee in 1818, it was purchased by Jacob Arkin in 1919, who moved it to make way for the Arkin Block, a brick commercial building.

46. site of second Ropewalk.

47. After the second ropewalk was destroyed by fire, this commercial building was moved to this location. It has housed several businesses, including a shoemaker, flower shop, and clothing store.

48. Baptist Church Conference Hall, 1837. This building was built just below the brick Baptist House on Prospect Street. When destroyed the local Point school, located where the Essex Savings bank now stands was mysteriously destroyed by a gunpowder explosion, the Baptists sold the building to the Town to house the school in 1845. It operated as a school until 1910. This is now the home of the Essex Art Association.

49. Samuel Lay House. Built in 1754 by Samuel Lay, the son of Robert Lay, Jr., the house at 17 North Main Street in Essex was altered the nineteenth century to conform to the popularity of the Greek Revival style. In 1924, the house was purchased and again altered by E.E. Dickinson, Jr.

50. Smith-Dickinson House. In 1841-1842, Charles Whitmore Smith, a merchant, built a Greek Revival house on North Street in Essex. In 1888, the house was purchased by Edward E. Dickinson, whose E.E. Dickinson Company dominated the nation’s production of witch hazel. The company was started in 1866, when Rev. Thomas Newton Dickinson saw an opportunity to bring the benefits of witch hazel to the general public. Born and raised in New England, Thomas Dickinson understood the powerful healing properties of the native plant, which was used by Native Americans. He opened his first distillery, bottling witch hazel in Essex Village on Prospect Street.

E.E. Dickinson wintered in Florida, where the wealthy community of Palm Beach was being developed at the time. In 1927, Dickinson enlarged and remodeled his house in Essex to resemble Whitehall, Henry Flagler’s famous mansion in Palm Beach. The house was owned by the Dickinson family from 1888 to 1971. It was originally built in the Greek Revival style, with a one story porch wrapping around the front. In 1927, the house was dramatically enlarged. The immediately adjacent Braddock property was demolished to allow for the expansion of the house. The columns were added and garage areas were added.

52. Walcott Pratt Homestead. Opposite the Dickinson Mansion. Once all Lay land, this house was built in 1796, when Wilco’s Pratt married Wolcott Pratt.

53. E.E. Dickinson offices. In 1865, the land and a store located here was purchased by the Dickinson Family. The store was moved to Plains road in 1925, and the current Dickinson Office building was built by E.E. Between 1898 and 1902, the storage (and bottling) building was built by the railroad depot in Centerbrook, and the brick factory on the other side of the tracks was purchased.  His son, E. E. Dickinson, Sr., succeeded him, and was responsible for the huge growth of the company.  By 1914, there were more than 6,000 barrels of witch hazel stored in Essex. Photos of 1911 show the trolley tracks running past the old office.

54. Next to it are the Dickinson garages, 1925 The family owned much of the land on North Main, including well past the River View cemetery, and including the cemetery itself.

Dickinson Park.

Prospect Street, has been called by many names: Pound Hill (cattle and swine pound), Zion Hill, Methodist Hill. Baptist Hill, and Church Hill.

54. The Essex Baptist Church. This building was completed in 1846, it replaced a brick structure across the street, which was torn down. It is designed in the Egyptian Revival style, one of two Egyptian Revival churches in the US. The other is in Sag Harbor. The congregation was founded in 1805, By 1860, it was the largest single denomination in town. Originally the church had a steeple, which came down in 1925 when struck by lightning. A gold dome and widows walk replaced it.

55. Our Lady of Sorrows Church. The church was originally located opposite the Methodist Church, and was originally St. John’s Episcopal Church. It was sold to the Our Lady of Sorrows in 1897, when the Episcopalians built the stone church on Main Street. The building was destroyed by fire in 1926. The Church building incorporates the seminary built by Lucius Lyon in 1848. The seminary switched hands and was operated as a hotel and eatery. The 1926 renovation changed much of the structure, but retained the foundations and orientation.

56. Highland house. 1909 Augustus Pratt and Samuel Griswold sold one & one half acres at the rear of the Pratt House ($500), to the town for a new school.  Sylvester Comstock also transferred a small, adjacent parcel back of Hill’s Academy to the town for $200 at the same time.  A brick, Georgian style structure was put up with 6 classrooms, central hall, and large basement, with recreation fields on the north.  As a result of this action, by 1910 all the elementary schools in Essex Village:  Meadow Woods, Point, and Southeast were combined, and it had the added advantage of being near Pratt High School.  In 1927, Samuel Griswold sold another adjoining acre to the school, on the west, for $1,000, which allowed for more playing fields.  This property today is “Highland Hall,” a convalescent center, and stands behind Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church. Now demolished.

57. Essex Public Hall. Built in 1899, hall was a private enterprise that offered entertainment until just before WWI when the Town of Essex took it over. It was sold to private ownership in 1962. It is now apartments.

58. Hill’s Academy. Built on land donated by Joseph Hill in 1832 and supported by several stock holders. It was always coed. It was taken over by the Essex historical Society in 1955.

59.Essex Firehouse. Essex Fire Engine Company Number 1 was formed by state charter on June 22, 1833. The charter called for a volunteer company of up to 30 members who would protect the Village of Essex from fire. The first fire house was located on what is now North Main Street at the intersection with Bushnell Street. This fire house was nothing more than a barn to house the original hand-drawn engine purchased by the company from Brooklyn, New York in 1834. In December of 1897 the town purchased the land from the Baptist Church and gave it to the fire department for their use. Interestingly, the fire apparatus was relocated to the new location on August 7, 1897, four months prior to the land officially being purchased for its new use. With numerous additions and remodeling this fire house served as fire headquarters until 2000 when a new firehouse was built on Saybrook Road.

60. Old Methodist church. Now converted into a home. This building was once the site of old Town Hall and the original Witch Hazel factory.

61. The house at 37 Prospect Street. Constructed as a brick edifice for the Christian Scientists in 1947.  This was originally a one story contemporary structure and served that congregation until 1964 when it was sold.  The Christian Science Church removed to the Old Post Road in Old Saybrook at that time, and has been there since.  This building has been altered several times and remains a private residence.

62. Methodist church. Constructed 1849. By 1849 the Methodist Church was put up by carpenter Frederick Gladding.  This classic Greek Revival structure operated as a church well into the 19th century.  It was sold in 1945 to the Essex Fire Department and eventually became a warehouse for the local Verplex Company.  The front façade of the building was sold to a group in Long Island, N.Y., but has since been reproduced, for it is now a private residence.  Before this building went up, the Methodists met in the “Town Hall,” now a dwelling house, just south of the Essex Fire Department, on the east side of Prospect Street.

63. Congregational Church. This is now the largest Congregational Church in Essex, but not the first. The First Congo Church in Centerbrook was the Mother church of the lower CT River valley, founded in 1722, with Abraham Nott as the first minister. This building was built 1900. Congregational Church’s address is 8 Methodist Hill. Methodist Church is on Prospect street, or Baptist Hill.

64. 35 Prospect Street. Parsonage of Congregational church.

65. Pratt Village Smithy. Recognized in 1938 as oldest continuously operated family business in US. Started in 1678 and handed down through ten generations.The building dates back to 1740. The business operated for almost three centuries and was finally ceased operations in WWII because of the inability to source materials. The old smithy building that survives today was built in 1848 by Elias Pratt.

66. Pratt House. Owed by historical Society. The John Pratt House, on West Avenue in Essex, evolved to its present form over many years. John Pratt, Jr. was the grandson of Lt. William Pratt, one of the first settlers of Essex. At the time, the Pratt’s were a family of blacksmiths. In 1701, John Jr. built the gambrel-roofed section, which is now at the rear of the Pratt House. In 1732, he began to construct the front part of the house, which grew over time. The house passed through several generations of the family and became a rental property in the early twentieth century. In 1953, it was given to the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities. The house has been owned and operated as a house museum by the Essex Historical Society since 1985.

67. The Long Yellow House. Built by David Williams, a ship builder, in 1766-1767 (and later expanded), the house at 27 West Avenue in Essex was acquired by Abel Pratt in 1798. According to the 1884 History of Middlesex County. They were the first inventors of machinery for cutting the teeth upon combs, by which they could be produced so as to compete with English manufacturers. The shop in which they worked stood a few yards west of the site of Pratt’s blacksmith shop, and the first machinery was driven by wind power.

68. Essex Town Hall. First a school built for the children of Congregational Church members in 1894. It burned in 1922 and was rebuilt without the Victorian second floor. It was gtreatly enlarged in 1922.It was converted into the Town Hall in 1952.

69. 30 West Avenue. Charles Uriah Hayden house. Charles Uriah Hayden was the grandson of Ebeneezer Hayden, the leading shipbuilder of his time in Essex. Ebeneezer had been predeceased by his children, so when he died in 1818, he left his property to his grandchildren. They proceeded to construct several impressive homes along West Street and Champlin Square in Essex. Charles Uriah Hayden’s Federal style home was built in 1819, on West Street across from Essex town hall. Within fifteen years, he had lost his money and had to sell the house to Joseph Post, a sea captain and ship builder. Post was likely the owner who added a cupola to the house. After six years, Capt. Post sold the house to his brother in 1841. The house had other owners over the years, including the Brooklyn, New York businessman George Ives Stevens.

70. 1 Champlin Square. Henry Lay Champlin House. Home of Henry and his wife Amelia Hayden. Henry was the leading shipmaster of the Black X line of packet ships to Europe. He was the first president of Essex Savings bank. The porch added and roofline changed when the house was occupied by the Cheney family in 1870s and 1890s.

71. 2 Champlin Square (10 West Avenue) Niles Gladding house.

72. West Avenue. 1815. Joseph Hill’s store and Old jail.

73. 6 West Avenue, 1775, Pratt house.

74. 2 South Main, 1880.

75. Osage Inn House, Essex. 9 South Main. 8 Nathaniel Pratt Homestead. The main part of this house was built in 1718, when Nathaniel Pratt was married to his second wife. The was site of an older structure from about 1688. The parcel was know as Cornfield point.

76. Original Essex Library. 3 South Main. Built 1897 with a bequest of $5000 from Captain Joseph Tucker along with several paintings.

77. Essex Square. 3 Essex Square. Trolley stop. The Shoreline Trolley operated in Essex for just ten years. The Shore Line Electric Railway was chartered by the Connecticut General Assembly in 1905 and was authorized to lay tracks, build bridges, erect power poles, and to build powerhouses and trolley barns. Morton F. Plant, a railroad heir and entrepreneur, offered financial assistance, investing heavily in the railway, and eventually took control of the operation. His assistance made possible continued construction of the railway, which eventually was completed in 1910. The section north of Old Saybrook opened to Ivoryton and Deep River in 1912 and Chester in 1914. After several crashes in 1917 and 1919, the trolley went into receivership in October 1919 following a strike in July. All operation along its 300 mile route had ceased by 1929.

The line ran on a private right-of-way from Old Saybrook beside the River to Essex Main Street, North Main Street, then over streets and a curved private way over the Valley Railroad into Centerbrook. The line followed Main Street (CT-602) to Ivoryton, then a private alignment which merged with the Middlesex Turnpike (Route 154) just south of Deep River. Trolleys ran along the turnpike through Deep River and into Chester, terminating near Ferry Street.

78. Main Street. Hunt building. Furniture and casket maker. 1879.

79. The Village Provisioners, 6 Main Street— former Mobil gas station. built 1970.

80. 8 Main Street. Parmalee House. Greek Revival, 1880.

81. Old Grocery store, 10 Main Street. built 1940. now Cooper and Smith gallery.

82. 14 Main Street. 1880. Now houses the Weekend Kitchen store.

83. Post Office Building. This brick building was built in the 1920 as the Essex Town Hall.