Dan Antion

Suffield CT Doors – #ThursdayDoors

Built by Albert Jones in 1827

Last week, Connecticut took its first step toward reopening. This phase allows for more extensive travel – within our state, I’m not sure about driving into Massachusetts – in order to go about our business. Prior to entering this phase, while free to move around, the implication was that, if you were driving, you were going to work or to an appointment. We were allowed to travel for leisure, say to a state park, but I’m not sure “gathering photos for Thursday Doors” would be an acceptable answer. Of course, I’m not sure anyone would have asked, but like every decision during this time, I decided to error on the side of caution.

Suffield applied to be an independent town on May 20, 1674, exactly 146 years to the day that our travel restrictions were relaxed. The request was granted on June 8th of that same year. A few weeks ago, I showed a series of doors. From the Enfield Historic District. Suffield is directly across the Connecticut River (to the west) from Enfield. My doorscursion began just north of the town line separating Suffield from Windsor Locks (the town in which I live) and continued through the Historic District. Geographically, the area of Suffield I explored is roughly similar to the area in Enfield, just south of the bridge over the Connecticut River that connects these two towns.

I collected a good number of doors, including those of Suffield Academy. I’ll be sharing these over the next few weeks. Today’s gallery begins south of the Historic District, near the north end of the airport (BDL). So, we’re easing into the classic homes.

Areas we will be exploring

Thursday Doors is a weekly blogfest, hosted by Norm Frampton. Each week, Norm invites door lovers from around the world to capture some door images and share them at his site. If you have a door to share, head on up to Norm’s. If you just want to see some great doors, head on up to Norms.

This brewery started in Broad Brook, CT – south of this location and across the river. It couldn’t expand there, so it moved here.
The pastor of this church is famous for humorous messages on that board.
I couldn’t resist.
Welcome to the Suffield Historic District
I’m sure most of my readers know that this is a tobacco barn.
Classic New England
You can’t see the door from this angle, but Norm doesn’t let us trespass.
Classic barn.
One of the more robust houses in the district.
Pretty oclor.
Built by Albert Jones in 1827
The frame of this house was built in 1701
Nice wooded setting
Color, door, style – all meet my approval as if that’s necessary).
The side of that barn.
I love this barn.

78 comments

    • 300 years worth of stories in some cases, Pam. That’s a lot. These homes have seen everything. They’ve taken wind, weather, war, pandemics and all sorts of financial (and every other kid of) strife, in stride for centuries.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  5. I’m with GP Cox….. I love them all!! But the home built by Albert Jones in 1827 is amazing. Someone has gone to great lengths to keep this home beautifully preserved. Bravo! What a lovely town. It’s postcard perfect!
    🐾Ginger 🐾

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  8. It looks so beautiful in CT and surrounding areas… Now that school is out and I am not working and teaching I should be able see many more of your doors. Just love that last double-doored barn with the compass barn art.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  12. There are some pretty old houses there. One must have had a lot of money to build a house that big back in 1827.

    I love red barns and those you shared are beauties. I’m curious about the Hex sign on the barn you love. I’m going to go poke around and see if I can find one like this one and find out what it means aside from protection of course. 😀

    Like

    Reply

  13. Hi Dan – love them all … a real street of development … I particularly like the 1701 – more my style, on the other hand the robust one might be more sensible. These will be fun rides and tours with you … just glad you’re not trespassing further! Stay safe – all the best Hilary

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • No trespassing, Hilary. I might have looked like a tourist, but I’m used to that. The houses in this neighborhood are magnificent. These are some of the oldest homes in this country.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  14. Dan we can always count on you for some classic slices of New England history and architecture. I’m glad to hear the mobility rules are loosening but like you, I’m kinda hesitant to go exploring too much, or too far, during these crazy times. It doesn’t feel ‘essential’ so…well you know what I mean.
    Thanks for sharing these beauties from your pretty corner of the world :-)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thanks Norm. I think Thursday Doors is essential. I doubt I could convince anyone outside of your followers, but…

      I managed to get enough doors to go three weeks, I think. I may try to add some doors to break up the series, but this weekend looks like rain.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  15. Albert did a great job on his house and I really like the old barns or new ones for that matter. Seeing that style of house is like visiting a foreign country, even more so now that we live where Spanish style is the norm. I enjoy both, but I always find the differences interesting. There’s an area near us called Agritopia (http://agritopia.com/), which looks just like living in the Midwest. It’s quite pricey and lovely, but to me seems a bit odd here and also a bit wasteful, as they have lots of lawns = watering. When you live where water’s scarce, I think you should have natural landscaping to best preserve the resources. But it’s pretty to drive through and people want to live there.

    janet

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I guess some people bring their style with them. I’m not sure these houses would fit in anywhere outside of New England. Perhaps down the east coast. They are lovely.

      I agree with trying to avoid watering. If I had a good excuse not to have grass, I’d jump at the chance.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  16. I have only been to physiotherapy once a week for the past four weeks, Dan. Those are my sole trips out for the past 12 weeks. From Monday we can go to walk any time during the day, not only between 6am and 9am so I hope to get out of the garden for a bit. I enjoyed your lovely photographs as always.

    Like

    Reply

  18. Am glad you went and ended up with a great door post, full of nice buildings and doors. It’s strange, eh, it would otherwise have been a no-branier to go somewhere, make a plan, and …go!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  22. I remember the tobacco barn and the lessons you shared about them. I adore the pops of colors you captured in all the photos. I wish you safe travels as you begin to re-open up your state. In our state and neighboring Minnesota we are, um … well the news media shares the horrors of recent events. As for us, our little area has been mostly safe. :-)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  26. Hi Dan, I love the photo of the tobacco barn. It looks like Connecticut is a beautiful place – I’d take any of those homes if someone was in a generous mood. I remember venturing out when we were in the thick of lockdown and how weird it felt. I know this will sound non-essential, but I had to get some walking shoes . . . Walking was keeping me sane at the time and my shoes had fallen apart, I felt like the last person on the planet, and was worried that the Covid police would stop and scold me for my seemingly trivial errand. Glad things are going back to normal finally.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Hahaha – Doors and a beer. I like that. The poor brewery outgrew their former site (in Broad Brook, CT) and the town wouldn’t let them expand. So, they moved, but they only opened late last year. and then had to close in March.

      I do love these old New England standards.

      Like

      Reply

  32. New England is just gorgeous! Who doesn’t love a red barn in the green grass? Oof!
    I marveled on how during my vacation it was perfect weather to walk around dooring, but the city was chaos and I was safest sat at home. We were lucky to get some trekking in the woods done.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Add your thoughts or join the discussion. One relevant link is OK, more require moderation. Markdown is supported.

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.