Capt. Elisha Phelps House, historic house in Connecticut, United States
The Capt. Elisha Phelps House is a wooden structure built in the late 1700s with simple colonial design, small windows, and a large stone chimney. The rooms are furnished with period pieces that show how families lived, worked, and kept warm through New England winters.
The house was built in 1776 by Elisha Phelps, who served as a captain during the American Revolution and helped capture Fort Ticonderoga. After his death, his brother Noah converted it into a tavern in 1786, which operated for generations and became an important gathering place for the community.
The house shows how the Phelps family lived alongside their neighbors, with the tavern serving as a gathering place where people met for meals and community news. Walking through the rooms, you see the ordinary objects that made up daily life and helped families stay connected.
The house offers guided tours where visitors can walk through the rooms and learn how it was built and used over time. The location in central Simsbury is peaceful and easy to reach, with surrounding gardens and related historic buildings that help visitors understand the period.
The Phelps family arrived on the ship Mary and John in 1630 as among the region's first settlers, making the house a direct link to the earliest days of New England colonization. Walking through today, visitors experience a connection spanning over 300 years of one family's presence in the same location.
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