Mar 29, 2023
Simsbury House (1820)
Built 1820-22, for Elisha Phelps (1779-1847) and his wife, Lucy Smith (1791-1847). The Phelps family had lived in Simsbury since the late 17th Century. Elisha was a U.S. Congressman and the son of Major-General Noah Phelps whose espionage mission in and around Fort Ticonderoga was instrumental in securing an important strategic victory for the Continental Army. The house devolved to Elisha's son-in-law, Amos R. Eno, who used it as a summer house having become a multi-millionaire real estate developer in New York City. Amos was the grandfather of Gifford Pinchot, the Founder of the U.S. Forest Service considered the "Father of American Conservation," who was born here in 1865. Amos retreated here in 1884 after his son, John, was discovered to have embezzled $4 million from his bank, the Second National Bank.... Amos - whose investments in real estate gave him an estimated fortune in excess of $20 million - not only honored his son's debts and paid back every last dime, but he also added a large extension to the back of the house to accommodate visits from his increasingly large family which gave the house over 30-rooms. After he died in 1898, he left the house to his second surviving daughter, the widowed Mrs Antoinette Wood, who named it "Eaglewood" in reference to her family's role as Patriots and her own surname. "Nettie" gave the house a Colonial-Revival overhaul (replacing the original gabled roof with a large gambrel roof) and hired the Olmsted Brothers from New York to landscape the gardens. She was a leading Suffragist and in 1915 she was the founding President of the Simsbury Equal Suffrage League. She donated generously to, and frequently served as a delegate to the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association. She died here in 1930 and although she didn't have any children the house remained in the Eno family until 1948 when it became a restaurant named 'The Simsbury House'. Simsbury's Eno Memorial Hall was built with money given by her to the town to serve as a memorial to her parents. After a developer purchased the house in the 1960s and began to auction off its historic fixtures, the Town of Simsbury stepped in and bought it. But aside from painting the exterior, they left the house empty and un-renovated. In 1985 it was bought and restored by the Simsbury House Associates and now serves as an inn, café, and wedding venue.
Simsbury House (1820)
Built 1820-22, for Elisha Phelps (1779-1847) and his wife, Lucy Smith (1791-1847). The Phelps family had lived in Simsbury since the late 17th Century. Elisha was a U.S. Congressman and the son of Major-General Noah Phelps whose espionage mission in and around Fort Ticonderoga was instrumental in securing an important strategic victory for the Continental Army. The house devolved to Elisha's son-in-law, Amos R. Eno, who used it as a summer house having become a multi-millionaire real estate developer in New York City. Amos was the grandfather of Gifford Pinchot, the Founder of the U.S. Forest Service considered the "Father of American Conservation," who was born here in 1865. Amos retreated here in 1884 after his son, John, was discovered to have embezzled $4 million from his bank, the Second National Bank.... Amos - whose investments in real estate gave him an estimated fortune in excess of $20 million - not only honored his son's debts and paid back every last dime, but he also added a large extension to the back of the house to accommodate visits from his increasingly large family which gave the house over 30-rooms. After he died in 1898, he left the house to his second surviving daughter, the widowed Mrs Antoinette Wood, who named it "Eaglewood" in reference to her family's role as Patriots and her own surname. "Nettie" gave the house a Colonial-Revival overhaul (replacing the original gabled roof with a large gambrel roof) and hired the Olmsted Brothers from New York to landscape the gardens. She was a leading Suffragist and in 1915 she was the founding President of the Simsbury Equal Suffrage League. She donated generously to, and frequently served as a delegate to the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association. She died here in 1930 and although she didn't have any children the house remained in the Eno family until 1948 when it became a restaurant named 'The Simsbury House'. Simsbury's Eno Memorial Hall was built with money given by her to the town to serve as a memorial to her parents. After a developer purchased the house in the 1960s and began to auction off its historic fixtures, the Town of Simsbury stepped in and bought it. But aside from painting the exterior, they left the house empty and un-renovated. In 1985 it was bought and restored by the Simsbury House Associates and now serves as an inn, café, and wedding venue.
Mar 29, 2023
Posted Date
Mar 29, 2023
Historical Record Date
Mar 29, 2023
Source Name
House Histree
