Historic Districts of Sharon :: Calkinstown

Calkinstown Road runs in an easterly direction from Gay Street (Route 41) to the junction of White Hollow Road (the Lime Rock Road). The earliest reference to the road appears in the town record of land transfers in 1780 when Stephen Calkin, Sr., the original owner of home lot #31 (and #35), granted “40 acres including the house and barn where I now live” to Amos Clakin. In the description he refers to a “boundry line running west by the highway that goes by my house.” The term Calkinstown describes the area of about a mile along that highway where Lt. Stephen Calkin’s home was built and James Calkin built and about 1/5th of a mile around the bend of the road toward West Cornwall where Amos Calkin built what seems to be the last of the Calkins’ houses in 1808.

Older Homes in this area:

The Calkin-Roeski House ca. 1808
Wooden frame house was built by Amos Calkin, a son of Lt. Stephen Calkin, around 1808, after purchasing “two acres near the Methodist Meeting House.” The original Sharon home lot #53, neighboring this property, is described as a Ministry Lot.” Owned by Otto Roeski in 1985.

The Calkin-Frattolillo House ca. 1802-1838
This wooden frame house – now shingled – was built by James Calkin sometime between 1802 (when he purchased the land from Samuel Roberts, Esq.) and 1838 (when Ira Williams purchased it). Owners in 1985, Rinaldo and Diane Frattollilo.

The Calkin-Miller House ca. 1751
Wooden frame house built in the mid-eighteenth century by Stephen Calkin, Jr. on “land I purchased of my father, Stephen Calkin.” A Federal style kitchen was added later by a Calkins family-owner or Ira Williams’ family owner, who purchased the farm in 1833. Williams is for whom Williams Road is named. 1985 owners- Mr & Mrs. Leigh Miller.

The Calkin-Allen House ca. 1760-1780
The Sharon town records suggest that this wooden frame house was the home of Lt. Stephen Calkin, Sr. According to Sedgwick’s History of Sharon 1842, Calkin came to Sharon from Lebanon, Connecticut, and was one of the town’s original proprietors, drawing home lot #31 in 1739, later purchasing home lot #35 from his brother Samuel, and the “east half of home lot #30? from Bezaleel Tyler, Jr. in 1760. This house was built on the Tyler land. Calkinstown is said to be named for Lt. Calkins’ and his seven Stephen, Joseph, Elijah, Timothy, Amos, Justus, and David. David Allen owned the home in 1985.

The Gager-Smith/Malcolm House ca. 1900
Two-story wooden frame house built around 1900 by George E. Gager. Owned in 1985 by L. Selina Smith and J. Margaret Malcolm.

The White-Wright House ca. 1846
Wooden frame house built around 1846 by Charles S. White. In the 1920’s the house was owned by the Spence School (a NYC Prep School for youngladies). Owned in 1985 by Hamilton W. Wright.

The Olmstead-Baker House ca. 1826-30
Center hall, two-story frame house is a classic example of the New England farmhouse that was built from the early 18th century well into the 19th century. It was built by George Olmstead sometime between 1826 and 1830. Owned by Ashton H. Baker in 1985.

The Thurston-Prindle House ca. 1925
Large wooden frame Colonial Revival house was built around 1925 by Edward D. Thurston, Jr. on the “Home Farm” of the Ezra Bartram family. Its present owner is Barclay Prindle.

The Roberts-Blake House ca. 1802
Center hall, wooden frame Federal style house is a distinguished example of the architecture of this period, with its characteristic Palladian window above the entrance portico and fan lights high in the gable at either end of the house. Owned by Sleila White Blake in 1985.

The Sanford-Weed-Burne House ca. 1790-94
This house is actually two houses. The earliest wooden frame portion may have been occupied by Ezra or David Sanford (1790-94), the first owners for which town records show a dwelling. The brick portion was built by Captain Hiram Weed, a sucessful real estate and foundry man. The front south portion of the house served as an eight bed hospital, the precursor of the present Shaorn Hospital, under the direction of Dr. Jerome S. Chaffee and two nurses.

The Weed-Armstrong House ca, 1846-53
This interesting three-story, wood framed Greek Revival was built by Cpatain Hiram Weed. There was also a store here which was operated by Elisha Knight and his partner Henry M. Gillette. The store’s scales were used to weigh the ore for Captain Weed’s Blast Furnace. In 1860 the Gillette brothers moved the business to Main Street. Matlida M. Armstrong owned the house in 1985.

The Smith-Weinert House ca. 1902-04
This bungalow-style, wood shingled house was built by John B. Smith in 1902. Smith also built a Creamery building which he later sold to Sharon-Elgin Creamery. In 1907 the property and buildings were sold to the Connecticut Advent Christian Church, which used the house as a place of worship until 1927, when it was reconverted into a dwelling. Richard Weinart owned the home in 1985.

Sharon's Earliest Homes & Farms

The town of Sharon was incorporated in 1739, and home lots were soon laid out and sold. Log cabins were built in the earliest years, soon to be replaced by many of the elegant homes that still line Sharon's famous Green.

99 Main Street, possibly the oldest house in Sharon, stands on the west side of the Green on part of the Original Home Lot #26. Land records reveal that a Town Meeting was held here on December 11, 1739. On July 6, 1742, owners Nathaniel Skinner and his son Thomas sold their houses and 90 acres to Joshua Gibbs for very little money. By 1748 Zebulon Badcock bought the same parcel for almost three times the sum, suggesting that an early log structure had been torn down and replaced with the fine house that still graces the town green. The stone foundation may be original to the first structure. It then passed into the Patchin family for 122 years, during which it saw life as a Publik House. For much of the 20th century, the house was the home of Dr. Jerome Chafee, founder of Sharon Hospital.

12 North Main Street is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is a fine brick mansion that is a commanding presence at the north end of the Green. John Pennoyer purchased the lot in 1769 and built what is now used as the kitchen wing. He lived in the house until 1775, and in 1779 sold it to Samuel Elmer, who added a small shop in the southeast corner. The Sharon Land Records, Volume 8, page 139, record that George King bought the house and a barn on 11.75 acres in 1783. At the time of his death in 1831, the property was listed as "2 acres with brick house, store, small house and outbuildings, ½ acre with small red house and new barn, and ¼ acre with small red house." The King Homestead was distributed to his heirs and stayed in the family until 1906. Architectural details are available from the CT Society of Colonial Dames.

South Main Street in Sharon is known for its grand mansions, many of them built in The Guilded Age of the late 19th century. But scattered among those more recent gems are a few of Sharon's earlier homes. One fine example is The Pennoyer House at 44 South Main Street. Original Home Lot #22 was drawn by Samuel Calkin. It was bought from Stephen Calkin in 1743 by John Pennoyer of Stamford. Pennoyer first built a small stone dwelling, which now is the rear "ell". By 1757 he had completed the handsome brick building now standing, and inscribed his name and the date over the front door. The house has had quite a "colorful" history, ranging from sheltering Hudson River refugees during the Revolutionary War to standing guard over a mulberry orchard for a fledgling silk industry. General Augustine Taylor, Commander of the troops for the defense of New London, owned the house from 1784 to 1816. Taylor served for many years as Justice of the Peace for Sharon, and his signature appears as such on many early Sharon land deeds.

Download PDF file of Old Sharon Houses complete with photos.

The Lost Farms of Sharon Connecticut

Sarah Coon recently gave us a list of old Sharon farms compiled around 2000 by her father, Morris Paley, and Jimmy Morehouse. There are 89 farms on this impressive list, sorted by the road on which they were located. Not being from Sharon, I always enjoy documents like this because they help me to become more familiar with the town's history and also with the background of some of the objects in our collection. As I skimmed the list, a few of the names stood out because they were dairy farms and we have milk bottles with those names on them.

Lewis Devaux ran a farm up on Jackson Hill Road, from which he sold milk in clear glass bottles that said, in raised letters, "Lewis Devaux, Pure Milk, Sharon, Conn". The Highfield Farm on Mudge Pond Road printed a green drawing of a cow on its bottles, along with the words "Highfield Farm, Sharon, Conn, Guernsey Milk". Stamped into the bottle near the bottom, in raised letters, is "Sealed mTr SS" and several other numbers and letters which might excite a rabid milk bottle collector but are pure Greek to me! The Webotuck Farm, on Low Road, also had a cryptic code "Sealed BB48 Duraglass" on its gracefully shaped quart bottles.

But the oldest (and easily my favorite) milk bottle in our collection came from a farm not mentioned on Mr. Paley's list - the Per Lee dairy farm. The glass bottle is small, about 7" high, with an unusual metal cap held closed by a wire clamp and is said to date to 1890. Stamped on the bottle in raised letters on the front is "E.J. Per Lee Sharon Dairy, Sharon, Conn", and on the back side "This bottle to be washed and returned. Not to be bought or sold". No nonsense directions, if you ask me. And no cryptic codes.

Where was the Per Lee dairy? I felt like I had seen the name here recently, but where? I finally found it in a letter from Everett B. Per Lee squirreled away in our genealogy boxes. Writing in 1963 at the age of 83, Mr. Per Lee gives a delightful rambling description of his family's life in Sharon.

"My family moved from Ellsworth to Sharon in the spring of 1881 or 1882. There he [my father] operated on a farm owned by Gilbert L. Smith, a little over a half mile from Sharon's main street on the road to Amenia, N.Y. Soon after that they joined the Congregational Church. A few years afterwards he began supplying milk to the Sharon Inn, also the Bartram House. Later that route was extended to the whole village and still later to Sharon Valley, which at that time was a thriving community… (Here he digresses into a discussion of the Hotchkiss family)…

To get back to the dairy, my father moved to the place on the Lakeville road in 1894. The farm contained only thirty acres so my father rented another from two men, Dunham and Levin, and continued to supply the village with milk until 1908. At that time he suffered a stroke and passed away on November 12th, 1910… (more wonderful rambling) …

I have four grand children and three great- great grandchildren. My ???? great grandmother came over in the Mayflower. She did not practice birth control, had eighteen (18) children.

Are you still reading my ravings? I'll be 83, Aug 23, 1963,
Sincerely, Everett B. Per Lee."

This letter gives me even more reason to treasure the little milk bottle in our collection! Thank you, Mr. Per Lee. If you know anything about the Per Lee farm, or any others in town for that matter, please let me know. The items in our collection mean so much more when they have some real life added to them.

More Information on Sharon's Historic Homes and Places Coming Soon

More People will be listed here in the near future, please check back for updates. You can also view the Sharon Historical Society Blog for history articles, event announcements and society news. And our Sharon Genealogy pages for information and downloadable PDFs with headstone inscriptions.