Showing posts with label Old Mystic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Old Mystic. Show all posts

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Update

Long time followers of this blog might recall the picture of this granite house, posted back in March 2014.


At the time I wrote what little I was able to find about the history behind this structure.  You can read about it here.  Recently I happened to drive by this house again, and I couldn't believe what I saw.  

Old Mystic, CT  2016

Someone is restoring the house.  You can see a roof has been added, along with doors and windows.  Other structural modifications are being made as well.  It's still very much a work in progress, but I was happy that someone is bringing this home back to life again.


The house has been in the same family for 160 years, and the current family members are restoring it.  More information about the history and restoration can found in this article.

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Granite Ruins Revisited


Old Mystic, CT

I first posted photos of this structure back in October of 2011.  You can find that post here.  I wrote back then that I knew nothing about this structure and there must be a story behind it.  I recently revisited the site and took some more photos.  It sits alone in a large field and seems to be in remarkably good shape.  I really like the various colors of granite block used in its construction.  Still being very intrigued about this building I searched as best I could and did find an article written about the property published by The Day back in July of 1978.  It's amazing what a properly worded Google query can find sometimes. 

According to the article, the house was built by Elias Brown, a Mystic lawyer, in 1825.  The designer of the house is lost in history, but it is thought that the granite used in construction came from some local quarries.  Tragically in Nov of 1924, the house burned.  Descendants of the owners have maintained the property at least until 1978 and more than likely still do some 36 years later.  The article quotes a Mrs Einna Peck, who is the daughter of the owner at the time of the fire, and was 80 years old back in 1978.  The article goes on to state that the descendants still own the house and property, and that there might be  some interest at that time in restoring the house.  After close to 36 years, the house looks pretty much the same.  Remarkably the property has not been vandalized, however nature has taken its toll on the remaining granite walls.  

As the late Paul Harvey would say, "Now you know the rest of the story..."