In 2005, the newly-created, state-funded Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism awarded its first Endangered Properties Grant to the Town of New Fairfield. The $50,000 grant was used to relocate and preserve the Parsonage and the Gideon Hubbell House, two historically significant State Register properties threatened with demolition. Both properties were to be adapted for reuse as part of New Fairfield’s new community center, the first step in the creation of a living history village and town center. The houses were moved to their new location on March 4, 2007.
The Gideon Hubbell house is of interest not only because it is one of the oldest buildings in the area and a good example of Greek Revival architecture, but also because when Gideon died in 1838 his probate left a copy of his will and a complete inventory of his personal property, from the family cow down to the last pair of velvet trousers. With this information the house could be restored as a typical homestead from the beginning of the 19th century. Also, in its historical context, we have a record of the optimistic dispersal of Gideon’s family, leaving an empty house at his death, which mirrored the vigorous westward expansion of his era.