South Green Historic District Proposed
They are all structures in the proposed Old Saybrook South Green Historic District which would include the area between Main Street, Old Boston Post Road, and Pennywise Lane.
The district consists of many large, impressive homes built between 1760 and 1900 because of the wealth coming from the large shipbuilding industry and especially the commercial shipping between Saybrook and the West Indies.
Prominent Saybrook families lived in these homes including William Hart Jr., a general in the Revolutionary War who was also a candidate for governor of Connecticut.
Other noteworthy families include the Pratts, Ingrahams, Bushnells, and Actons.
Visitors can read historical information about Saybrook on a sign located on the South Green, which was known as the Trivet Green, at the intersection of Pennywise Lane and Main Street.
Going across Pennywise Lane is the Humphrey Pratt Tavern Store located at 2 Pennywise Lane which at one time housed a pharmacy owned by Miss Anna L. James, the first black woman pharmacist in Connecticut.
When James was pharmacist there, the building was located at the corner of Old Boston Post Road and Main Street, and legend has it that General Lafayette made a purchasew at that store.
Residents in the late 1800’s used to go to 40 Old Boston Post Road to visit a Victorian Eclectic building which housed the Action library.
The building features two-story windows looking to the west and features double paneled entry doors with large frosted glass windows.
Perhaps the history of the several houses of worship in the district remind us of a time when families faithfully throughout the colony went to church every Sunday.
The Former Episcopal Church Building at 16 Old Boston Post Road is a modified Greek revival; two-story clapboard building now houses two storefronts and was moved in 1873.
The other Episcopal Church in the historic district, at 336 Main Street, was built in 1872 and features English country-style rural Gothic Revival with a steeply pitched slate gable roof and bell tower.
The building cut of granite features arched stained-glass windows and a front entrance with two large wooden doors within a small gable alcove.
The Episcopal Church’s Rectory was built in 1873 and is next door at 338 Main Street.
The original Episcopal Rectory building, built in 1874, is still standing and has been used for commercial purposes ever since.
Another church of interest to those interested in the 1800’s would be the First Church of Christ Building built in 1840 featuring four fluted Doric columns across the faÃ?§ade.
The report states the Congregational Church was located on the green, land deeded to the Ecclesiastical Society by John and Isaac Pratt, father and son.
The present Congregational Church was erected across the street in 1839 after the older church was removed from the green.
Before the district can be officially designated, it must receive approval form the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, approval from town land-use commissions, go to a public hearing, and be voted on by property owners in that area.
Establishing such a district would result in the creation of the town’s second historical district.
The North Cove Historical District was created in 1985 after a 15-year process which originally proposed the creation of two historical districts, one for South Green and one for North Cove.
The federal government declared the South Green and its immediate surroundings a “Landmark Area” on the National Register in 1976.
