‘New Canaan Now & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Joanne Santulli, Karen Ceraso, Bettina Hegel and Schuyler Morris. The Colonial house at 605 Ponus Ridge was built in 1751 and in 2003 was documented as being the eighth-oldest house in New Canaan.
The land at that time was a gift from Obadiah Seely to his son Obadiah Jr. and included four acres of land on what was then called “Ponasses Ridge.” Mr. Seely Jr. had married Abigail Crissy the year before, and they had one child at the time, Hannah Seely, born on Dec. 18, 1750. The Seelys went on to have five more children: Obadiah born in March 1753, John born in December 1755, Samuel born October 1760 (and died in 1764), another Samuel born July 1765, and Abigail born March 1767.
The house constructed at the time was a typical center chimney Colonial house with a centered front door facing the road. In 1995 architect Richard Bergmann and historian George Nelson visited the property and discovered that the roof rafters showed framing for a center chimney which was removed at an unknown date due to remodeling.