HISTORY

Sheep farmer George Hyland, who died in 1693, may have been the first to live in the house, but his grandson Ebenezer Parmelee, was the most notable. Known as the "colonial clockmaker", Ebenezer built the first steeple clock in New England.

As is the case with much of 17th-century history, there are a few questions surrounding the origins of the Hyland House.       We know that George Hyland owned the property as early as 1660 and died in the second-floor bed chamber of a dwelling that stood on the lot in 1693. There is scholarly disagreement, however, as to whether the house that stands at 84 Boston Street today is the original house to have been built on Hyland’s lot. Town records and archaeological evidence tend to date the house from 1660. Yet a historic Structures Report prepared by two experts in 1996 suggests that the present house was constructed sometime between the late 1600s and the early 1700s. Clearly it is wrong to place too much emphasis on the date of origin.        What is far more compelling about the house is the pristine fashion in which it has been preserved and the authentic, period furniture and colonial artifacts that are on display in its rooms. To visit this living museum of early American life and architecture is to step back three centuries in time.        Students of architectural preservation find the events of the early 20th century when the house was saved from imminent demolition to be the most historically significant. The doomed house was purchased in 1916 by the Dorothy Whitfield Society who hired Norman Isham to restore the structure. Isham enjoyed a national reputation as a pioneer in the emerging field of historical preservation, Two years later, in 1918, the Dorothy Whitfield Historic Society opened the Hyland House to the public and has kept it open every summer since.        With five fireplaces and hand-hewn floors and walls, the house is remarkably close to its original condition. On display in its rooms is a collection of 17th and 18th-century furniture and decorative arts, including primitive utensils, slipware, rope bedsteads, family chests, quilts, stumpware and samplers.        Clockmaker Ebenezer Parmelee, grandson of the original owner, was the most prominent resident of the house. A shipwright and master of several metal and woodworking trades for much of the 18th century, he left his mark as “the father of Connecticut clockmaking.” His 1727 steeple clock kept time for an incredible 165 years in two successive Congregational churches on Guilford’s green.        The house was passed down through several generations of the Hyland/Parmelee family until it was purchased by the Wildman family who used it as private residence through much of the 19th century.

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