The Timothy Lester Farmstead, also known as the ''Garrison House'', is a historic farmstead at Crary and Browning Roads in Griswold,

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. Set on of land, the farmstead retains the look and feel of an 18th-century farm property, with a c. 1741 farmhouse, and farm outbuildings dating from the 18th to 20th centuries. The property was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on December 4, 1998.

Description and history

The Timothy Lester Farmstead is located in a rural setting of southern Griswold, at the junction of Crary and Browning Roads. The surviving 43 acres (of a once-larger farm property) are still lined with stone walls, and the farmstead itself is the only visible built intrusion on the landscape, which is gradually reverting to woodlands. The centerpiece of the farm complex is a -story wood-frame house, five bays wide, with a large central chimney. It was built in stages beginning c. 1741, and includes a two-story ell extending to the rear. It has an unusually large kitchen hearth with two beehive ovens. Adjacent to the house are a small wellhouse of great antiquity and an 18th-century barn. Across Crary Road from the house is another barnyard which includes several outbuildings in addition to a 19th-century barn. The property's agricultural development dates to about 1741, the year in which Mehitable Belcher married Timothy Lester. The property had been purchased from

Mohegan The Mohegan are an Indigenous people originally based in what is now southeastern Connecticut in the United States. They are part of the Eastern Algonquian linguistic and cultural family and historically shared close ties with the neighboring ...

natives in the 17th century, and acquired by Moses Belcher about 1720. The Lester family was prominent in area civic affairs, and this house served as a garrison and training ground during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. The Lester children were all signatories to documents petitioning for the separation of Griswold from Preston, which took place in 1815. The property was sold out of the Lester family in 1857, but remained in agricultural use until the mid-20th century. File:Timothy Lester Homestead 02.jpg, File:Timothy Lester Homestead 03.jpg,

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Houses completed in 1741 Houses in Griswold, Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in New London County, Connecticut

Description and history

See also

References