National Register of Historic Places

Woodward, Ashbel, House

Franklin, New London County, Connecticut
Listed
April 7, 1992
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
92000264

About this property

The Ashbel Woodward House is a historic house museum at 387 Connecticut Route 32 in Franklin, Connecticut. The Town of Franklin now operates the house as the Dr. Ashbel Woodward House Museum. The house was built c. 1835, and is a fine local example of a Greek Revival house in a rural setting. It was home for many years to Ashbel Woodward, a local doctor. His descendants gave the property to the state in 1947. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 8, 1992. The Ashbel Woodward House is located southeast of the village center of Franklin, on the east side of Connecticut Route 32. It is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, five bays wide, with a side-gable roof, clapboard siding, a granite foundation, and brick chimneys. The main entrance is centered on the front, slightly recessed under a Greek Revival surround with pilasters and entablature. The building corners are pilastered, and the side gable ends have semi-elliptical windows. An ell, apparently original as it shares the foundation with the house, extends to the rear. The property also includes two barns and a third outbuilding that probably functioned as a corn crib. The interior contains exhibits on local history and an art gallery. The house was built about 1835, on land purchased by Doctor Ashbel Woodward, a prominent local physician, in 1834. Woodward, a graduate of Bowdoin College, settled in Franklin in 1829 and served as the town's primary medical practitioner until he died in 1885. He was also interested in local history, amassing a collection of historic and prehistoric artifacts, and writing a book-length history of Franklin, which was published in 1869. The property was given to the town by his descendants in 1947. National Register of Historic Places listings in New London County, Connecticut Media related to Ashbel Woodward House at Wikimedia Commons Poem with clues to letterbox by Ashbel Woodward Museum New York Times, "WORTH NOTING; Franklin Home Is Revived To Reflect the Town's Past", November 2, 2003

Location

387 CT 32
Franklin, New London County, Connecticut
41.60483, -72.13613

Categories

HEALTH/MEDICINEARCHITECTURE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Native Heritage
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Settlement
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Nearby Historic Sites

Baltic Historic District
Listed
2.7 mi
Yantic Woolen Company Mill
Industrial
3.1 mi
Bean Hill Historic District
Listed
3.6 mi
Bozrah Congregational Church and Parsonage
Industrial
3.7 mi
Waldo, Edward, House
Industrial
4.2 mi

Questions about this property

When was Woodward, Ashbel, House listed on the National Register?

Woodward, Ashbel, House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 7, 1992.

What type of historic resource is Woodward, Ashbel, House?

Woodward, Ashbel, House is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Woodward, Ashbel, House?

The period of significance for Woodward, Ashbel, House is recorded as the industrial era.

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