Joshua Hempsted House (1678/1728) & Nathaniel Hempsted House (1758). The Joshua Hempsted House shown above is the oldest house in New London and one of the few remaining 17th century houses in the state. Hempsteds lived in the house until 1937. It is now owned and operated by the Antiquarian and Landmarks society of Connecticut.

These are two important survivals of colonial New England. The Johsua Hempsted House is one of the oldest documented frame buildings in North America.

The property was once on the shore of Bream Cove, which has been filled in. Careful restoration and original furnishings allow you to step back in time to when New London was a leading seaport.

Documentation suggests that the houses played a role in freeing slaves and they are listed on the sites of Connecticut's Underground Railroad that are open to the public.

Joshua Hempstead 2nd was born in in Joshua Hempsted house the year it was built by his father in 1678 and lived there until he died eighty years later in 1758. During that time, he raised nine children of his own and two grandsons after their father, Joshua's oldest son, died. For most of that time, he was a single parent. His beloved wife died in 1716, after the birth of their ninth child. It was the same year their oldest son died.

For 48 years, from 1711 to 1758, Joshua 2nd kept a diary. It provides a fascinating account of daily life in Colonial America. Because he kept track of marriages, births, and deaths, it is an excellent source of genealogical data.

Joshua was an active man: a judge, a farmer, a surveyor, a shipwright, a carpenter, a town official, a stonecutter.

In 1901, the New London County Historical Society published the diary and in 1999 published a new edition of it. To read the introduction to the 1901 edition, click here.

A CD-Rom version of the diary with complete search with wild card features is now available from The Oldham Publishing Service. Click for information on the CD-Rom