Haddam Quarter Road, north side (0.2 m West of Arbutus St.)

This charming Greek Revival farmhouse stands on land which slopes down towards Haddam Quarter Road. It is surrounded by shade trees of considerable antiquity.

• Record ID: 20
• Address: Haddam Quarter Road, north side (0.2 m West of Arbutus St.)
• Current Owner: Churchill, William & Jane
• Name of Building: William Churchill House
• Historic Name: Deacon Samuel Newton House
• Download PDF of Original Record

Notable Features

The Samuel.Newton House is a side-hall plan Greek Revival farmhouse consisting of a 2t story main block with two additions to the northwest corner. The facade of the main block is divided into three. bays. The first story contains an entry with full entablature and antepilasters and two six-aver-six windows .The second story contains three six-over-six sash. The gable peak. which is surmounted by a full pediment without an entablature contains a rectangular six-over-six window. The main block, which stands’ on a sandstone block foundation, is framed with posts and beams and sheathed with clapboards. It is surmounted by a brick central chimney. Two additions were attached to the northwest corner of the main block. The first is gable-roofed, 1t stories high, and contains a central doorway flanked by two six-over six windows.

Historical or Architectural Importance

Newton (1757~846) in 1824 deeded the young man a 30 acre lot. Samuel married Betsy in 1827, by whi ch time the house was standi·ng. “Deacon Sam,” as he was known in Durham, was one of the pillars of the old Puritan Order at a time when the town was becoming increasingly commercial and secular in its occupations. Elected a Deacon of the First Congregational Society in .1827 (at 31, he was unusually young to receive such an honor) he took his responsibilities seriously, working with his cousin, Deacon Abner Newton, to organize neighborhood prayer meetings and leading in the persecution of dissident religious groups such as the Methodists and Seventh Day Adventists. Newton was the chief proponent of the effort to establish Sunday schools in Durham. He was also a political leader, serving in the General Assembly in 1856. Samuel Newton died in 1864 leaving the house to his widow who sold it to her son, John Burwell Newton, in 1869. He sold it the following year to George W. Youngs, who sold it two years later to Andrew and William Synett of Portland. The Synetts farmed the land until 1936 when they sold it to Francis H. V. Morgan of Hartford. The house passed through the hands of several families until 1965 when it was acquired by its present owners. This house is architecturally significant as one of the most handsomely sited and unspoiled Greek Revival farmhouses in Durham. Its historical significance derives from its associ ation with Deacon Samuel .Newton, one of the town’s ni neteenth-century political and religious leaders and a member ‘of one of the town’s founding families.