The nonprofit Histoury will be returning to Wilton on Saturday, Nov. 16, with another unique tour of the town’s historic architecture. Histoury’s first tour in 2022 featured colonial community buildings such as churches, general stores, and schools, some of which have been converted into residences and were special interior stops as the tour bus traveled throughout town seeing and discussing many more. In 2023, Histoury’s bus tour uncovered and highlighted Wilton’s many midcentury modern homes and again included several special interior stops.
This year, the bus will once again make its way throughout town, focusing on an array of interesting colonial-style residences and the stories of the people that called them home. Several private homeowners along the way will be generously inviting tour participants inside their homes for the unique opportunity to enjoy the special historic details that have been preserved for centuries.
One of these special stops will be at the Platt-Shipman House (pictured above) in East Wilton. This Federal-style residence, considered one of the best-preserved of its kind in town, was built circa 1830. David Platt, early owner of the home, maintained an ax factory from his acreage here along the banks of the West Branch Saugatuck River. He would go on to eventually sell his patents to the Bradley Edge Tool Company just over the Weston border (the Bradley Edge Tool Company Historic District in Weston retains the remaining structures of its industrial village). In the 20th century, the home was owned for nearly five decades by one of the country’s first female surgeons and mother to another pioneering woman in STEM who held 15 patents in chemistry. Further history associated with this home and its interesting architectural details will be discussed, including this rare example of mutules, possible connection to Southern plantations, Wilton’s mulberry tree craze, and the relocation of a barn, now attached to the house.
Another special stop on the tour will feature an additional example of a historic building relocation, once featured in This Old House magazine! To save it from demolition, the circa 1750 Morehouse-Holmes House was moved from East Wilton to a Wilton property near the New York border. Dismantled and rebuilt as an extension of the existing 1772 Middlebrook-Morgan House, the chestnut post-and-beam East Wilton structure is exposed throughout this “new” addition, which also features original wide-plank chestnut flooring and a large fireplace built with stone salvaged from the original and additional stones harvested from the grounds of its new location. The historic barn on the property was also relocated. Originally across the street, it is said that the barn was once used as the meeting place for the services of the Bald Hill Methodist Church.
Other homes and their histories will be discussed, including the home of Wilton’s last real daughter of the Revolution; that of a long-time shopkeeper who America’s first self-reported counterfeiter claimed watered down the liquor, so he paid him with fake currency; and the country home of one of the America’s first female architects! This architect designed a Westport home for her daughter, who would go on to write Return to Arcady, an illustrated book of recollections of Wilton people and places in the early 1900s.
The tour will be guided by Allison Casazza, a Danbury native and historic preservationist. Light refreshments will be served following the tour at Wilton Historical Society, where participants will park and board the bus. Space is limited for this one-time-only event. Register online, and reach out via email with questions.