The Loomis-Hadley House

Known as the Loomis-Hadley House, this lovely colonial house with its elegant “fan-lighted entrance with side lights” and windows with 12-over-12  “lights”, or panes, is the nearest old house to the Stoddard Congregational Church. It is just across from the church, being on the other side of Rt. 123 North where it bends and begins to ascend Pitcher Mountain. The Stoddard Historical Society building is next to it on the east side.

The house was built around 1834 by Capt. Jonathan F. Sanderson who built a tavern and hotel next door on the west side, later known as Central House, until it was razed in 1942. Its tavern bar ended up in the Spouter Tavern at Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT. Sanderson also built a store across the street which is gone as well.

William and George Ireland owned it for a while, and William Loomis, the blacksmith, bought it in 1841, but, by the time of an 1892 D.H. Hurd map, it was labeled the Jonas Hadley Place. Jonas Hadley and his daughter, Ida, moved into this house from his farm sometime before 1892. Cornelia Harrington purchased the house in 1909, followed by owners Kate S. Warden (c. 1912) and later Doris Rockwell.

Robert and Joanne Webster purchased and restored it in 1973, adding the garage and kitchen/family room ell at the back. Dr. George and Sally Cahill owned it as primarily a summer home from 1978 to 1997.

Additional Notes on the Hadley House

From a letter to Jean Kelly, the previous webmaster, from Bob and Joanne Webster, December 19, 2001:

"[At the time of the real bicentennial celebration, when we opened our house for a house tour], …many people who came from other areas thought the ‘ell’ of the Hadley House was the original and predated the rest of the house, despite its being less than a year old…partly because we built the ell’s fireplace modeled on another from that late 18th century house in Surry and had used excess old brick from the Morse House to face that fireplace…and added wide pine flooring from Carlisle Restoration Lumber. (Dale Carlisle was just getting started in the business at the time and his son Donny was a student in the one-room schoolhouse that used to set next to the church on the corner.)"