By Dave Matlow
In another recognition of preserving Westport’s heritage, the Woodson family today received a Westport Historical Society (WHS) plaque from WHS historian Bob Weingarten (l), adding their 1909-built home at 7 Old Mill Road. to the WHS list of notable Westport homes.
Accepting the Westport Historical Society plaque today were (l-r) Elizabeth Woodson, 22, and her parents Jenifer and Hart Woodson. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
Accepting the plaque were Elizabeth and her parents Jenifer and Hart Woodson. According to Jenifer Woodson, the plaque was a surprise Christmas gift to Elizabeth, a Stanford University senior who serves as president of the Stanford student body, class of 2015, and celebrates her 22nd birthday on Christmas Day. She is a graduate of Greens Farms Academy.
“Shortly after we moved into our Old Mill Road house in 1994, I’ll always remember little 2-year old Elizabeth saying, ‘I don’t ever want to move again,’” said Jenifer Woodson.
Today, recollecting her love of the Woodsons’ 1909-built house Elizabeth said, “So much today is ephemeral, that’s why this old house is so important to my parents and me.”
The Woodsons affection for their home required some patience and determination too when it was severely damaged in Hurricane Sandy. “We had to evacuate the house on Oct. 28, 2012, partially moved back in May 2013 and then had it elevated to meet FEMA guidelines in 2014,” Jenifer Woodson said.
According to Weingarten, the house at 7 Old Mill Road was part of the land purchased by Georgianna and Harry Sherwood from Allen Sereno in the early 1900s. Sherwood subdivided the land into 17 lots and started to sell and lease the lots starting in 1907.
From 1907 to 1912 nine lots were leased with the provision that the renters build a house on the lot and lease the house for 10 years, he said.
It is unexplained why 7 Old Mill Road did not have a provision requiring a house to be built on the lot, Weingarten said. However, records show the property was leased for 10 years starting in 1910.
Since the provision of erecting a house on the lot was not in the lease agreement. it is assumed that the Sherwoods built the house in c.1909 and commenced leasing it for 10 years starting in 1910, he said.
According to the Connecticut Historical Commission, “The row of 17 cottages isolated on the south end of Sherwood’s Pond, locally known as the Mill Pond, is the most impressive assemblage of seasonal homes in Westport, and possibly in western Connecticut.
“The Cottages, built primarily in the 1910s and1920s in the Colonial Revival and Craftsman modes, are not only well preserved, but they perpetuate their original use as summer, seashore cottages.”
