Oliver Wolcott House

The Wolcott House is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, five bays wide, with a side-gable roof and a large central chimney. A 1+1⁄2-story gambrel-roofed ell extends south from the main block, and a two-story service wing extends to the rear. The main entrance is sheltered by a Federal period pediment supported by fluted columns and topped by a broken-gable pediment.^[4]

The house was built in 1753 by Oliver Wolcott, Sr., the son of Roger Wolcott, who was the colonial governor of Connecticut at the time of the house's construction. Wolcott lived in the house until his death in 1797. For most of the 20th century the house was also owned by Wolcott descendants.^[4]

Oliver Wolcott, Sr. was born in Windsor, Connecticut (in a part that is now South Windsor) in 1726. He graduated from Yale College in 1747 and then studied medicine. He moved to Litchfield in 1751, and quickly became one of its leading citizens, serving as sheriff, judge, and member of the colonial legislature. He was an active supporter of independence in the American Revolution, serving as a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1775 to 1783, during which time he signed the United States Declaration of Independence. He was also active in the state militia, commanding a brigade at the Second Battle of Saratoga in October 1777, and overseeing Connecticut's defenses later in the war. In 1784 he served on the delegation which negotiated the Treaty of Fort Stanwix with the remains of the Iroquois Confederacy. He served two consecutive partial terms as Governor of Connecticut, from January 1796 (taking over from Samuel Huntington, who died in office), until his own death in office in December 1797.^[4]

• List of National Historic Landmarks in Connecticut
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Litchfield County, Connecticut
• List of Washington's Headquarters during the Revolutionary War