The Elijah Peck House

 

The Elijah Peck House, which is furnished like a home, contains an old iron kitchen stove and many old kitchen and pantry items. The oldest item in the house is a pair of wedding slippers dating back to 1755. There is a Sturdevant spinning wheel, a Victorian parlor set and such items as a melodeon, an early vintage gramophone, old books and costumes, quilts and fine china. A collection of “objets d’art” belonging to the late Van Wyck Brooks (a noted critic and historian of American literature) who lived in Bridgewater in his later years, is also on display.

 

HISTORY OF THE ELIJAH PECK HOUSE

The house was built by Elijah Peck about 1820. The Elijah Peck House originally stood on the corner of Clapboard Road and Center Street where Mr. Peck resided and kept a store. John Sanford and Lyman Smith kept the store for many years.

 

The next occupants of the house were Charles G. Sanford and his wife, Emily Morris. They lived there until 1845 when they moved to Brooklyn, New York. Glover Sanford then bought the house and his son, Homer B. Sanford, who was twice married, brought both his brides to live there. When Glover Sanford and Sons moved their business to Bridgeport in 1870, Homer Sanford moved as well and sold the Peck House to Henry Beardsley.

 

Mr. & Mrs. Henry Beardsley lived in the house a few years before it was sold to Edgar L. Peck and Austin H Gillette. While they owned the house, it was rented by various persons including Mr. & Mrs. Ed Pitcher, John Leach, Mrs. Ruby, Harvey Treat and Mr. & Mrs. James H. Keeler, Jr. While the Keelers lived in the house, Mrs. Kate Irwin Keeler kept boarders, including Reverend William B. Colburn and Dr. Frederick E. King. 

 

Edgar L. Peck sold his interest in the house to Horace D. Gillette, who then bought out Austin Gillete’s share. Horace D. Gillette then moved into the house and lived there with his family until 1889 when he moved to Denver, Colorado, where he lived for the rest of his life. Horace D. Gillette sold the house to the firm of Mallett and Hatch. Charles N. Hatch and his wife lived there until 1910. At that time Mr. Hatch, who had bought out Mr. Mallett’s interest in the house, moved it to his lot just south of the Town Hall, where it now stands.

 

Built about 1820 and moved to its present location in 1910, the Elijah Peck house boasts one hundred and fifteen years of service to its many occupants - both business and homemakers.~Mary E. Hatch