Strong House (Coventry, Connecticut)

The Strong-Porter Museum is located in southwestern Coventry, on the north side of South Street, on the eastern fringe of Nathan Hale State Forest and just west of the Nathan Hale Homestead, also a museum. The house is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, with a side-gable roof, two interior chimneys, and clapboarded exterior. The main facade is five bays wide, with a slightly off-center arrangement around a nearly-centered entrance. The entrance has a wide panel door framed by a plain surround with back molding. The window placement on either side does not extend the typical width of a house of this age, with wide blank spaces between the outer windows and the building corners. The interior of the house is reflective of its construction history, with the oldest portion east of the entrance. The main parlor on that side has exposed beams, wide paneled wainscoting, and a fireplace cupboard that suggests a chimney stood here that was once much larger. The western parlor shows original woodwork, doors, and hardware suggestive of a later 18th century construction date, c. 1770.[2]

The east portion of the house appears to have been built about 1710. The house was later extended to its present width, and the rear leanto was also added later, giving the house a classic saltbox appearance. The Strong house at one time belonged to the grandparents of American Revolutionary War hero Nathan Hale, whose homestead is nearby. Both houses were restored in the 1930s by noted antiquarian George Dudley Seymour, and represent some of Connecticut's earliest efforts at the historic preservation of colonial architecture. Seymour left this house, as well as land making up part of the adjacent state forest, to the state.[2] The house is now managed by the local historical society as a museum.

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Tolland County, Connecticut
• List of the oldest buildings in Connecticut

• Coventry Historical Society
• Trip report and photos of the museum