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The house is a gambrel-roofed type, thus completing a chain of houses showing every early style of American architecture. It was the home of the Webbs family. It acquired its name, Hospitality Hall, through its ever-open doors. It has received for entertainment a vast number of the early names famous in American history.
The incident has come down that Major Webb on one occasion sent on word to his obedient wife to prepare for Washington and his staff, as coolly as if he had been the proprietor of a forty-room mansion. What a scene of preparation ensued!
Perhaps this house may be, as has been stated often, the most notable, historically, in the state. Washington specifically mentions in his diary one visit to it of five days' duratation, during May, 1781, in which time he records the fact that the campaign of Yorktown (which ended the war) was planned. He gives the names of his generals and those of the French naval staff who came here expressly from Newport. The names of all the persons concerned may be seen in the history of Wethersfield, a town which at that time stood with Hartford and Windsor as the three original settlements of almost equal importance.
The porch of the house may have been added about 1820, when some mantels, now removed, were put in place, and the chimney on the dining room side was removed, since the kitchen chimney in the ell took its place. The front door is of the old Connecticut style, with X (cross) panel below, the hardware also being original. The hall is done in an ancient style with alternate light and dark diamond checkers on the floor. The stair run is straight, but has the whorl on the newel post. The hall walls below and above are done in oil in British castle scenes, without repeats on the wall paper.
In the hall stands a rare large Chippendale side table and other interesting pieces. Yorktown parlor, as the large parlor has always been called, is really a sitting room. Here was held the conference above mentioned. The scenes are in oil, representing first the conference, the persons shown being in all cases portraits. the table around which the company are gathered is one at which Washington actually sat as a dining table, and is in Mr. Nuttitng's Broadhearth at Saugus Center, Massachusetts, being the rarest piece in private hands in the country, because of its style. The next scene represents a general view of the siege of Yorktown, with Washington and Lafayette in the foreground. A third subject is a detail of the siege, and the last is the surrender, Washington seated on his favorite horse, Buckshin, receiving the sword of Cornwallis. Great pains have been taken to preserve all elements correctly.
The mantel is very handsome, being from an historic Rhode Island house of the period. The furniture will be allowed to tell its own story.
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In the parlor proper, on the opposite side of the hall, which in the old days was never to be opened except on state occasions, the wall paper shows a country road, with stone wall and post and rail fence, and an old arched bridge. The road is skirted with elms, oaks, and birches. A one-horse shay jogs along, and figures in poke bonnets appear. The houses by the roadside are all historic types, three being neighboring Connecticut subjects and the others the Hazen House and Broadhearth. In this room, on the handsomely panelled fireplace side, is a rarely good shell-domed cupboard. The door shows in X panel and is arched, matching a door on the other side. Good early pieces are in the cupboard. Some rich examples of Chippendale chairs and tables appear here, with an excellent mirror.
The dining room has a ball-and-claw-foot table and Dutch chairs, a style which had not fully gone out when the house was built. the sideboard table is rare. The mantel here and the domed cupboard were saved from the Marsh House, dating from 1734.
In the ell we have a puzzling instance of a building erected at a different time from the main house, but whether here on the lot earlier or later we have been unable to determine. It has a hewn overhang.
The braces between the chimney girt and its side posts are perhaps unique. One was in place and, the mortise holes being found for the other, it has been restored, with the fireplace chimney and room-wide hearth, following a fashion known to exist in England and found in vareious other American houses.
The entire rear wall of this ell is brick, with some herring-bone work. Part of the windows have the original sash, the restored sash being apparent.
The door beside the chimney is certainly a "left-over" from the seventeenth century. It has its original butterfly and strap hinges and wooden latch with string, so that if any bad boy gets shut in the cupboard he will be able to make his way out again.
Rare Windsors are in this room, and unique tables. The little wall cupboard is well fastened on! It is too pretty to leave loose. An unusually fine American gate-legged table and a very large six-legged Dutch-footed table give generosity. The red Windsor chair, with the thickened ears, is possibly unique.
The heavy framed table is an unusually good example of its type. The writing arm Windsor chair was naturally a reigning favorite in its day, being wonderfully convenient for writing or reading. The are no less than four of these chairs in the chain of houses, each having intercasting points of difference.
The little settle in the nook between the chimney and the window is inviting. The room altogether is wonderfully attractive.
Going to the second story, we proceed first to the Washingtonchamber, so called because it was his sleeping room during his successive visits to the house. The wall paper is that in place in his time. We cannot claim anything for its beauty, but, of course, it would not be proper to disturb it. The bed here has an old netted canopy, and the highboy shows an unusual three-toed fool. Without mentioning other matters, we proceed to the chamber in the rear, where are a few old printgs on the walls and an old-time suite of furniture such as might have been proper for one of Washington's aids.
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The large front chamber on the opposite side of the hall is supplied with a rare five-legged highboy and a bed which is earlier than the house itself, it being of oak, with crude flutings at the foot, and of a very rare though simple type. This beautiful room has a good outlook on the old village street, with its broad turf, its church spire, school, etc. This room and the two to the rear of it are done in conventional picture papers.
The dining-room chamber has a dainty mahogany bed of excellent design and still another type of highboy and tables. Braided rugs supply the covering for most of the rooms.
The last room on this floor to be visited is the kitchen chamber, which has an outlook on the old-fashioned garden and orchard. Some of the articles of furniture have been in this room for generations. The room was found cut up into several parts by later board partitions, which have all been removed, giving a spacious and charming appeareance, which is such a contrast to the crowded modern conditions in which one stumbles over numerous pieces of unnecessary and incongruous furniture. The fireplace has been furnished with a crane, as it has been found that in the old houses cranes in the chambers were not uncommon. Probably they were found convenient for brewing a pot of tea or warming a sleeping potion.
The attic is the largest and perhaps the most intereating room in the house after the Yorktown parlor. The great gambrel roof affords a spaciousness that suggests a little world in itself. The room has an extremely interesting gallery with a rail. Whether the attic was used for house warming or not we do not undertake to say. It was the custom in old attics to have beds for the younger generations as a means of accommodation in the time when guests were numerous. What a place for a dozen young fellows to pass the night, while their dignified elders were below.
About this attic are numerous old chest and hair-covered trunks of quint design. The attic is really a museum of such things as were too good to be thrown away, but too crude for the lower rooms. Especially all articles which were used in travel gathered in attics. Here also various implements of husbandry or of the workshop repose.
By the side of one of the chimneys is a smoking oven in which the hams were placed for self-curing. It is the intention to use this attic on occasion for gatherings of historical societies or other associations who love the good old fashion and the stories of the past.
The garden of the house is developing slowly because an old-fashioned garden cannot be called into being in an instant after its overthrow.
The old back stoop is extremely quaint, with heavy timbering, and is an inviting spot for the guests of the house to remain at leisure as long as they wish,
The proximity of this house to Hartford, its location on the Washington route, and its restoration as a Yorktown memorial render it easy of access and desirable to visit. The work has been a labor of love, not undertaken with any anticipation of return.
This house is the most southern of the chain.
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Wallace Nutting bought the Webb Washington Welles House in 1917 for his colonial picture business. In 1922 he sold it to The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America who refer to the house as The Webb Deane Stevens Museum. It remains under their care to this day. Follow this link for more information about The Webb Deane Stevens Museum.
Following are some of the photographs made in and around Hospitlity Hall - The Webb Washington Welles House:
"Birthday Flowers" studio # 9405 Captioned, "The Yorktown Parlor" in Connecticut Beautiful.
"Tea In Yorktown Parlor" studio # 9406
"Caught Unawares" studio # 9407
"A Hearth To Fight For" studio # 9411
"A Welcome Task" studio # 9417
"A Daughter Of Wethersfield" studio # 9422
"Over The Tea Cups" studio # 9437
"A Picture Library" studio # 9438 Also titled, "Old Treasures" studio # Unknown
"Doughnuts For Dessert" studio # 9439
"Doughnut Day" studio # 9440
"A Stately Tea Pouring" studio # 9441
"Wig Wag Churning" studio # 9445
"Harmony" studio # 9454
"An Inspritation" studio # 9456
"The Music Of The Heart" studio # 9458
"The Soul Of Harmony" studio # 9460
"Hospitality Hall" studio # 9463
"A Grandmother's Sheffield" studio # 9470
"A Grandmother's Highboy" studio # 9471
"A Sheffield Heirloom" studio # 9472
"A Faerie Tale" studio # 9476 Captioned: "The History of The Revolution" in Connecticut Beautiful
"A Thrilling Romance" studio # 9477 Also titled, "The History of The Revolution"
"A Parlor Of 1752" studio # Unknown
"Latest Fashions" studio # Unknown
"The Yorktown Parlor" studio # Unknown
"Reading In A Wing Chair" studio # Unknown
"Cutting A Silhouette" studio # Unknown
