250-Year Old Quaker Hill House Dismantled to Make Room for New Development
QUAKER HILL - The old must inevitably make way for the new and so a landmark believed to be more than 250 years old has passed from the scene at Wintergreen Point.
The landmark is the old Moore homestead said to have been built in the early 1700's, although the exact date of its construction is not available.
Last owned by the heirs of Nelson B. Moore, the house was sold to Theodore Senkow, Quaker Hill contractor, when the estate was settled.
New Development Planned
Senkow, who plans a new development of 30 homes in the Wintergreen section, isn't interested in old homes. "I build new ones,", he says, and so this week he dismantled the old homestead by running a bulldozer through it.
Before knocking down the house, however, Senkow netted a nice profit for its intrisic value by the sale of antique parts to Sturbridge Village. Sold were three panel doors, mantels, wide boards from the flooring and partions, windows and wainscoting.
The house came into the Moore family in 1834 when James Moore bought it. The history of the land started in 1670 when Thomas Bolles, born in Wells, Me., and a cooper by trade accepted the invitation of Connecticut's governor, John Winthrop, to move to the New London area. Ten young pearmain apple trees, imported from England, were given Bolles by Governor Winthrop for the move.
Bolles purchased land on what is known as Bolles Hill from Owenco, son of Uncas chief of the Mohican Indians, and settled there with his wife, the former Miss Zipporah Wheeler, and their children, Mary, Joseph, and John
Wife, Children Murdered
On the late afternoon of June 6, 1678, Keweebhunt Nucgittaty and his squaw, passing by the open doorway, discovered that Mrs. Bolles, Mary and Joseph had been killed with an axe, but little John, being held by his mother while she was peeling apples in the doorway, was protected by her body and apparantly unharmed. Bolles had gone to New London on a business trip.
The Indians, continuing to New London reported what they had found. They were promptly charged with the crime and were thrown into jail to await trial. Not long afterward, John Stoddard, who lived not far from the Bolles family, confessed the killing of Mrs. Bolles and her two children. He was tried in Hartford and was hung for his crime. Records of the trial are on file in the office of the secretary of state in Hartford.
The survival of baby John in his mother's arms meant much ot the community as years accumulated and John's descendants grew and multiplied. Little John soon had a new mother, Rebecca Waller, of New London, and later another, Hopestill Chappell.
When John reached the age of reason, his convictions and religious beliefs led him to become very influential in creating public opinion favoring complete personal and religious liberty, which resulted in the adoption of the Toleration Act in 1727 and the Connecticut Constitution in 1818.
By right of Betsey Bolles, daughter of Joseph Bolles (who was one of John's descendants) the property came into the possession of Justin Worthy and his wife, the former Betsey Bolles.
Their daughter, Eliza Jane Worthy who married James Moore, a paper maker, then became owners of the property. This James Moore, who was lame, walked to work MOnday mornings at Hubbard's Paper Mills in Greenville, and walked back home to Quaker Hill Saturday nights. He also was employed alter at the Woolworth Paper mill at the foot of Bolles Hill.
When James and Eliza Jane Worthy Moore died, their three children, Catherine Moore Rogers, wife of Randolph Rogers of Montville Center; Delia Ann Moore, wife of Thomas A. Perkins of Greenville; and Nelson H. Moore, then of Norwich, became owners. The latter bought the interests of his sisters and became sole owner. For many years he conducted a summer camp at Wintergreen Point and later realized his lifelong ambition to return to his boyhood home surroundings to spend his last days.
Home Built Around Chimney
When the Nelson H. Moore estate was settled, the home built for Mr. Moore and his bride in 1868 was occupied by his son, James Justin Moore, who still resides there.
The old house was built around the chimney and the fireplace in the cellar was eight feet square and attached to a ten by ten inch oaken beam lintel. The opening in the fireplace was five feet tall with a swinging iron crane and a Dutch oven. Fireplaces also were places in each room and each had its sperate flue.
A tree felled by the 1938 hurricame knocked off the chimney and in the repairs some of the flues were consolidated. About ten years ago, James Justin Moore removed second floor paneling because powerdering bricks in the chimney caused a fire hazard. The paneling appeared to be white pine and perfect, without knots.
An antique corner cupboard, for years a curiosity to antique dealers who tried to purchase it, was built in had the original handwrought H. and L hinges. The small paned glass in the doors appeared to be the original. This was included in the Sturbridge Village sale.
All nails in the house were hand-wrought and some of the floor boards were 18 and 20 inches wide.
It is interesting to note that pearmain apples, the indicement for bringing Bolles from Maine, were still being harvested in the early 1900's, the the orchard trees have since been cut down or destroyed.
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