Picture Connecticut: The Home Of A Legendary Statesman

WILLINGTON, CT — The latest stop on the Picture Connecticut tour takes us to Willington and the historic circa 1820 Hiram Rider House, situated at the junction of Route 74 and Route 320.

The local address is 238 Tolland Turnpike in Willington, across from the historic markers and structures on the Willington Town Common.

According to the Historic Buildings of Connecticut website, the home belonged to an accomplished and celebrated statesman — Hiram Rider. Rider was a judge, a county sheriff and a Willington selectman locally. Rider was also a state representative and served as Connecticut treasurer. Historic Buildings tells is that the home was passed down to Rider's son. Another former owner was Jennie Church, who wrote for various Connecticut newspapers and authored a series on "Pen Pictures" of Willington for the Stafford Press in the 1930s.

The home is actually on the market.

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Picture Connecticut is a weekly series that features images of the state, past and present. Here are past images:

2024

• We All Vote In A Yellow VW, East Granby
• Payne Whitney Gymnasium, New Haven
• Daily Train Crossing, Windsor
• The Civil War Train Monument, Vernon
• A Spooky Sculpture, Tolland
• Whalers gear ... in Carolina, Cary, NC
• The Hurricane of 1938 (Part 2), Mystic, Stonington
• The Hurricane of 1938 (Part 1), New London
• Firefighters Memorial Garden, Manchester
• Eagleville, Mansfield
• Island Beach Ferry, Greenwich
• High School Sports Booster Car Washes, anywhere in CT
• The Lyman Orchards Maze, Middlefield
• A bucket of FC, Vernon

• The Bug Mailbox, Ellington-Somers
• All Faiths Gather At Town Park, Vernon
• Riverside Igloos, Milford
• The TPC Pro Shop, Cromwell
• The Santa House, North Pole, er, Northern Connecticut
• Mile 4 Funnel, Manchester Road Race, Manchester
• UConn Lacrosse Giving Back, Connecticut River Valley
• The Capitol Grounds Tour, Part 3, Hartford
• The Capitol Grounds Tour, Part 2, Hartford
• The Capitol Grounds Tour, Part 1, Hartford
• The Doughboy, East Hartford
• The Walt Whitman Stone, West Hartford
• The indoor bush plane, Hartford County
• The Big Pink Chair, Ellington
• The Notch, Granby
• The CT 9/11 Monument, Westport
• Vintage Gas Pump, Somers
• Tobacco Harvest, East Windsor
• Late Afternoon, Lakeside, Coventry
• Fogarea, New Haven County
• Judy Black Memorial Park and Gardens, Washington Depot
• Connecticut River Police Boat, Rocky Hill
• The first dentist, Windsor
• The Frog Bridge, Willimantic
• The World War Bridge Rapids, Putnam
• The Peeking Cow, Tolland County
• The Ivy Lacrosse Tournament, New Canaan
• The Bradley International Airport runway, Windsor Locks
• The Underground Railroad, Unionville
• The cow carousel, Ellington
• Charles Island, Milford
• State Veterans Cemetery, Middletown
• Glastonbury-Rocky Hill Ferry, Glastonbury/Rocky Hill
• The Old County Jailhouse, Tolland
• Agent Orange Monument, Andover
• The Sunken Garden, Farmington
• Lafayette Tour Monument, Vernon
• The Pinchot Sycamore, Simsbury
• Bob's Discount Furniture Studios, Manchester