New Canaan Now & Then: Mansion House

453 Carter Street

The current owners are not spooked by the ghost that occupies their home at 453 Carter Street.

The cast of characters that lived in this residence seems as though they would be excellent housemates. The house, known as the Mansion House or the “Benedict-Eels-Thatcher House,” is reputedly the oldest house in New Canaan.

It was built in 1724 on land owned by the Carter family who sold it to Deacon John Benedick Jr, who gifted it to his son, John Benedick, soon after his wedding to Dinah Bouton of Norwalk. At the time Carter Street was known as Clapboard Hills. The house architecturally belongs to what is known as the fourth phase in the development of the Connecticut House – that phase in which the added lean-to became an integral part of the original construction. The house was two stories high at the front and less than one at the rear, which was “mansion construction.”

Despite the fact that it was a part of a new phase of construction, there are elements of the Mansion House that were unusual, including the front and end girts having been framed to extend beyond the walls below, giving a slight overhang (three inches) to the second story, and the “stair porch” or “chimney bay,” a room that was six feet by ten feet. At the time of the construction, two sugar maples were planted at the front path, known affectionately as the Bride and Groom Maples. Unfortunately, in 1998 one of these majestic trees (the Bride) succumbed to old age and had to be removed by the town on April 30, 1998.

The Mansion House was occupied by Reverend John Eels, the first pastor of the Congregational Church, which was organized in New Canaan on June 20, 1733. Rev. Eels was apparently a colorful character and many stories exist of his interactions with his flock. Among those is the story of a young couple who wished to be married.  They arrived at his home during a thunderstorm and were given this response: “Under this window in stormy weather,/ I join this man and woman together,/Let no one but Him who made this thunder, /E’er part these married two asunder.” 453 Carter Street is no longer the Congregational Church Rectory.  

Ebenezer Carter bought the property back from the Benedicts in 1795 and his son, Thomas Carter, lived there until 1955 when it was purchased by James Tournier, whose family lived there for seventy years and made many changes to the property. Most notably, they removed the chimney bay to expand the living space and “modernized” some aspects of the interior. Fortunately, the Tourniers did not discard the material used to construct this massive chimney and when the home was purchased by Mabel Thatcher in 1926 she was able to have the chimney rebuilt. Ms. Thatcher also found the original wainscot tacked to a wall in the basement. Ms. Thatcher was a descendant of the early settlers of Stamford and Norwalk and was a champion of historic preservation. She lived at 453 for 52 years until her death in 1978. 

Tom and Libby Butterworth purchased the home in 1989. They made extensive changes, including an addition in 2011 that includes a family room, a bedroom suite, and three additional bedrooms. Libby fondly recounted to the Advertiser in 1997 that she and the ghost of Mabel got along quite well.  

“New Canaan Now & Then” is presented in partnership with the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society.