184 Sunset Road

Description

The Old Brockway House Built by Edward Brockway, who in 1799 was one of the first residents of Hartland to leave New England for the fertile plains of Ohio, the 19th-century American equivalent of the Promised Land! This rare old "primitive" colonial appears to qualify as what many historians consider a "First Period" house. Built decades before the American Revolution, it contains many elements of a home erected closer to the 17th century than the 19th. It is located on a dead-end street with Tunxis State Forest abutting on 3 sides. Tunxis State Forest is approximately 9,152 acres divided into sections on both sides of the Barkhamsted Reservoir. It contains large areas of unbroken forest in the town of Hartland and other neighboring towns. The house design is classic early American, featuring a central chimney, multiple hearths in each first-floor room, a narrow winding staircase from the entry hall to the upper story, and built-in corner cupboards with shaped shelves. The floors include both wide hardwood and softwood boards. All the interior doors are board-and-batten style, using feathered-edge paneling and either Suffolk or Norfolk latches. Much of the first-floor ceiling consists of rough, adze-cut exposed posts and beams, including magnificent summer beams. In some rooms, the floorboards from the room above are visible, still bearing old saw marks from a vertical up-and-down saw blade. Architectural elements include cantilevered floors on both the second story and attic, a steeply pitched roof, relatively small double-hung sash windows, and heavy entry doors with ancient box locks that require large old skeleton keys. Of particular interest are the raised fireboxes, cooking cranes, and interior beehive ovens in both the old kitchen and the east parlor. The kitchen firebox still retains its original steel oven door. Many of the rooms on the first and second floors contain wide poplar flooring, while the east parlor features rare maple flooring. The front entry hall is exceptionally deep for a house of this period, which may explain the absence of a funeral door. There are exceptional examples of wood wall paneling-both plain and ornate-including raised panels in the dining room and west parlor. Where there is plaster, it is the traditional horsehair type applied over wooden lath. The kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities appear to have been constructed from attic floorboards-a common mid-20th-century practice intended to add a touch of antiquity to a "modern" kitchen and bath layout. Off the kitchen, there is also a rear staircase that winds around to an upper bed chamber with walk-up access to the attic. In recent years, modern "reproduction-grade" improvements have been made, including beaded clapboard siding secured with primitive "rosehead" nails; double-hung, period-style "12 over 8" window sash; a classic carriage-house-style garage with vertical board siding and "tombstone" window details; and, lastly, a charming screened porch for seasonal living outside the main house. A stone patio extends from the kitchen and features a grape arbor and an old well that dates back centuries. The grounds are magnificent, with stunning high stone walls and 10.6 acres of primarily open land, meadows, and a large brook-fed pond. Additional land is available across the street from the house.