Thomas Lee House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Thomas Lee House
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Thomas Lee House (photo from 1940)
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 Location in Connecticut
Location in the United States
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| Location | CT 156 and Giant's Neck Rd., East Lyme, Connecticut |
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| Area | 2 acres (0.81 ha) |
| Built | 1660–4 |
| Architectural style | Colonial, Saltbox |
| NRHP reference No. | 70000693 |
| Added to NRHP | October 6, 1970 |
The Thomas Lee House is a very old and special home in East Lyme, Connecticut. It's located where Giant's Neck Road meets Connecticut Route 156. Built around 1660, it's one of the oldest wooden houses in all of Connecticut! Today, the East Lyme Historical Society takes care of it as a museum. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, which means it's an important historical site.
Contents
Discovering the Thomas Lee House
The Thomas Lee House stands in the southwestern part of East Lyme. You can find it on the south side of CT 156. It's just east of Rocky Neck State Park. This house is two and a half stories tall. It has a strong timber frame. The roof is steep, and there's a large brick chimney in the middle. The outside walls are covered with original wooden boards called clapboards.
The front of the house has five sections. The main door is in the middle. It has decorative pillars on each side. Above the door, there's a small window and a fancy top part.
How the House Grew Over Time
The inside of the house shows how it changed over many years. The oldest part was built between 1660 and 1664. This first section was a two-story building. It had a chimney on one side. Later, another section was added on the other side of the chimney. A "lean-to" was also added to what used to be the front. This happened after a new road was built.
There was a small, stone-walled cellar under part of the house. You could get to it through a trap door. A huge fireplace with a wooden beam above it took up most of the west wall. Around 1700, two more rooms were added. These were the West Parlor and the West Chamber. They were built as a separate structure. Around 1765, the kitchen and other rooms were added. These were part of the lean-to section.
The Lee Family and Its Legacy
The house was built by Thomas Lee. He was the second person named Thomas Lee to own this land. The house stayed in the Lee family for a long time. They owned it until the mid-1800s. Then, it was sold to a neighbor. For a while, the house was used for chickens and storage.
In 1914, something special happened. Descendants of the Lee family teamed up with a group called the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities. They bought the house back! A person named Norman Isham helped restore the house. He was an early expert in saving old buildings. They carefully made it look like it did in the 1600s. In 1915, the house opened as a museum.
Today, the East Lyme Historical Society runs the Thomas Lee House. It is a historic house museum. Inside, you can see how people lived in the 1700s. The rooms are filled with furniture and items from that time. It's like stepping back in history!
See also
