Overview

Explore the complex history of nearly four centuries through the evolution of the Henry Whitfield House. The museum is in the process of changing its interpretation – confronting the facts about the site’s history to acknowledge past injustice, recognizing how that injustice manifests in society today, and working toward an equitable future for all people. See the ‘Historical Significance’ section below for more information.

November-April:

• Whitfield House open weekdays by appointment
• Gift Shop & Visitor Center open 10:00-4:00 most weekdays

May-October:

• Whitfield House, Gift Shop & Visitor Center open 10:00-4:00, Wednesday-Sunday

The museum features:

• Whitfield House — Three floors filled with furnishings and artifacts, the introductory exhibit The Old Stone House detailing the house’s history, and a variety of scavenger hunt activity sheets.
• Visitor Center — Museum gift shop, exhibit galleries, research library (available by appointment), travel information, and restrooms.
• Education Building — History displays and hands-on activities in the repurposed 1870s barn.
• Grounds — Sprawling lawns, extensive stone walls, mature trees, a bronze statue representing Henry Whitfield, a ship’s cannon from the War of 1812, and a spur of the New England Trail that runs from Long Island Sound in Guilford through New Hampshire.

Outdoor Experiences:

• Explore the site’s history through interpretive signs with photos and links to online material including audio tours in English and Spanish
• Pick up the “I Spy” Bingo game at the parking lot kiosk and search the museum grounds for 5 in a row
• Picnic, play catch, read, paint, and more – there are over 8 acres of sunny and shady spots to enjoy!

Online Experiences:

• Take a virtual tour through the Whitfield House
• Explore some of the objects in the museum collection on the website Connecticut Collections
• Explore some of the museum's archives on the website Connecticut's Archives Online
• Solve digital jigsaw puzzles featuring images of the Whitfield House and objects from the museum collection

         

 

Passport to Guilford History

Guilford’s five history museums invite you to visit their sites and all they have to offer. Each museum has its own architecture, time periods, collections, and stories to explore. When you visit all of them, you venture through nearly 400 years of history. The participating museums are the Dudley Farm Museum, Henry Whitfield State Museum, Hyland House Museum, Medad Stone Tavern Museum, and Thomas Griswold House Museum. The program is open to adults and children, and the hope is to encourage residents to visit and support the amazing history sites right in their own backyards.

To begin, visit any of the museums during regular hours to pick up a Passport, then get your Passport stamped when you tour each site. The program begins Saturday, June 1, 2024 and runs through Sunday, September 29, 2024. (Please note: check with individual sites for hours, admission, and other information.)

If you visit all five museums and return your completed Passport to any of them by Sunday, September 29, 2024, you will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win one of five prizes. The identical prize baskets will be overflowing with museum swag and merchandise generously donated by local businesses. Five winners will be randomly selected from all of the completed Passports.

 

Museum Receives $500K Grant from National Park Service

“The Henry Whitfield House is one of the oldest landmarks in New England, and its legacy serves as an historic reminder of the settlement of Connecticut as a colony and the story of how our nation was built,” Governor Ned Lamont said. “For more than a century, the state has been operating the house as a museum and working to preserve it so that the story of its legacy can be told for future generations. This grant will have a critical role in aiding in that preservation process. On behalf of the State of Connecticut, I thank the National Park Service for recognizing the importance of this landmark here in our state and its role in United States history.”

The Henry Whitfield House Rehabilitation Project is being supported in part by a Semiquincentennial grant from the Historic Preservation Fund administered by the NPS, Department of the Interior. The NPS awarded a total of $7 million in the inaugural round of funding for the Semiquincentennial Grant Program commemorating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. Created by Congress in 2020, this round of grants will support 17 cultural resource preservation projects across 12 states. The museum’s application to the Semiquincentennial Grant Program included letters of support from Guilford First Selectman Matthew Hoey, State Representative Sean Scanlon, State Senator Christine Cohen, U.S. Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, U.S. Senator Christopher Murphy, and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal.

 

Work will include repointing the exterior and interior of the stone walls, improving drainage, and replacing the antiquated and failing electrical and heating systems. The project will also update the building’s existing National Register of Historic Places nomination with a more inclusive narrative to better understand and document the relationship between the Guilford settlement and its Indigenous neighbors as well as how the Henry Whitfield House illustrates the history of other underrepresented groups. This project will not only preserve the integrity, significance, and safety of this 383-year-old historic resource into its fifth century, but ensure that visitors may continue to expand their understanding of the site, its complex role in our nation’s history, how it impacts our nation’s society today, and how it impacts their lives personally.

See the full Press Release

Historical Significance

 

Construction of the Henry Whitfield House began in 1639 when a group of English Puritans, including Reverend Henry Whitfield and his family, entered into an agreement with the Menunkatuck band of the Quinnipiac tribe and renamed the area Guilford. Built of local granite, the house was one of the colonial settlement’s four stone houses that functioned as defensive buildings and private homes. It is now considered to be Connecticut’s oldest house and New England’s oldest stone house. Since 1900, it has been owned and operated by the State of Connecticut as a public museum, and the site is a State Archaeological Preserve.

The house underwent many structural changes over the course of its nearly 400 years. Restored by noted architects Norman Isham and J. Frederick Kelly in the early 1900s, it is an important example of Colonial Revival restoration work and was named a National Historic Landmark based on these historic preservation projects.

The Henry Whitfield House is a physical reminder of the European settler colonialism of the 1600s, as well as the Colonial Revival era of the 1800s-1900s that celebrated and glorified European ethnocentricity and superiority. The museum is striving to confront the facts about the site’s history in order to acknowledge past injustice, recognize how that injustice manifests in society today, and work towards an equitable future for all people.

Related Resources

 

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