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New Canaan Now & Then: ‘The Gingerbread House’

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‘New Canaan Now & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Joanne Santulli, Karen Ceraso, Bettina Hegel and Schuyler Morris. The gingerbread house on Ponus Ridge was originally purchased from the Sears Catalog and built in 1932. 

The property had belonged to the Hayo family as early as 1909. In 1913, Charles Hayo, who worked as a farmer, had a telephone installed at their property. In November 1914 it was reported that Mr. Hayo had broken ground and was building a new home north of his existing home on the property which the family moved into in 1915. In July 1933 the property was owned by Emily M. Hayo. 

Ms. Hayo was born on Feb.

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New Canaan Now & Then: The Husted Welling House

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‘New Canaan Now & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Joanne Santulli, Karen Ceraso, Bettina Hegel and Schuyler Morris. The property on Park Street which is now home to the Sanctuary Condominiums was once owned by Levi Hanford. 

Hanford sold the land to Jesse Crissey, then to Hiram Crissey before it was sold to Silvanus Seely. It was speculated that Silvanus Seely built the home for his wife, Sally Crissey Seely. Ms. Seely, who died in 1850, was the sister of Prudence Crissey Husted. 

On April 1, 1851 Prudence Crissey Husted purchased the property from Silvanus Seely. Ms. Husted was 60 years old at the time and her husband, Thomas Seymour Husted, had died three years before.

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New Canaan Now & Then: Meadowridge Farm

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‘New Canaan Now & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Joanne Santulli, Karen Ceraso, Bettina Hegel and Schuyler Morris. Meadowridge Farm located on Ponus Ridge was not the first house built on this property, but rather was rebuilt in the 1930s because the original home was affected by the newly planned Merritt Parkway. 

Preliminary studies began in 1926, and the road was constructed in 1938. Located south of the Merritt, roughly across Ponus from Hawks Hill Road, the property, owned by Florence Lockwood Reid and her husband, William Henry Reid, was a massive parcel of land at the time. The original home is referenced in the 1923 Countryside Social List (the social register of people with summer homes) and was referred to as Henry Reid’s summer home at South Ponus Street (Ponus Ridge was also known as Ponus Street at the time). 

Mrs. Reid, born on September 20, 1872, was the daughter of Frederick W. Lockwood. Mr. Lockwood was a friend and business associate of John D. Rockefeller and is considered one of the first summer residents of New Canaan.

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New Canaan Now & Then: The Seymour House [Part 2 of 2]

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‘New Canaan Now & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Joanne Santulli, Karen Ceraso, Bettina Hegel and Schuyler Morris. Part 1 of 2 of this installment can be found here. Daniel G. Weed sold the house, the buildings, and 10 acres to his half brother, Andrew, on May 10, 1868. 

The Weed brothers bought and sold a lot of land in the neighborhood and apparently remodeled several homes. The estate of Andrew Weed sold the property to Holly B. Slauson of Norwalk in 1914. Three years later, Mrs. Franklin S. [A.] Colby bought the property in August. 

Olive Colby was the daughter of Laban Arnold and Delia Ann Gaines Arnold who were married in 1848 in New York.

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New Canaan Now & Then: The Seymour House [Part 1 of 2]

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‘New Canaan Now & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Joanne Santulli, Karen Ceraso, Bettina Hegel and Schuyler Morris. The Seymour House on White Oak Shade was built in 1760 by Captain Thomas Seymour, who served in the Revolutionary War. 

It was visited by the Rev. William Drummond during the winter months of both 1772 and 1773. The building was typical for its era with five windows spanning the second level on the front facade and four on the lower level with the front door in between the windows. 

Captain Seymour lived in the house for 50 years. Thomas Seymour was born in Hertford, England in 1632 and married Hannah Marvin after arriving in Norwalk. Mr. Seymour and his wife had eight children, but only one son, Matthew, who was born in Norwalk in 1669.