Morgan and Susan Wynkoop live in a house that was built nearly 100 years before the American Revolution, before anyone had heard the name George Washington or called this country the United Sates of America. Their house, which dates from 1683 to 1687 is currently the oldest dated structure inWestport.
“The wood beams in the house are possibly from the ships that were used to get toAmerica. I’ve heard that that’s what was done with many of the ships, and it explains the notches in the wood, that otherwise don’t serve any purpose,” said Morgan Wynkoop. The beams are also blackened in some places of the house, which according to Wynkoop means that there had been a fire in it at some point.
According to Wynkoop, the first owner of the house was Captain John Osborn, who was given the land for the house from a grant his father, Richard Osborn, had been given for service in the Pequot Wars.
The house entered the Wynkoop family when Morgan’s parents purchased it in 1971.
“My mother always loved old houses, and she found this one. I drove up with her to see it and said, you can’t buy this one, the walls are sloping in. She said it had stood for hundreds of years, it wouldn’t come down now,” Morgan Wynkoop said.
The house has been expanded over the years, but these additions are by no means modern. A kitchen and additional sleeping wing was added to the house sometime in the 1800s. The house is currently protected by the Westport Historic District Commission, meaning the house cannot be torn down and its exterior cannot be changed.
Determining the exact date of the house proved difficult. Wynkoop said that when the house was purchased the plaque outside said 1775, but he knew it was older. Through examination of the materials used to build the house and comparison to other houses, the Westport Historic District Commission was able to establish the current date range.
One of the most interesting features of the house is a board that folds down across the top of the staircase, allowing access to a loft. Wynkoop said that a possible purpose for this was to hide from Indians if they invaded the house.
“I wasn’t afraid to live in this house because I’d worked on it with my father. I knew all about it, I know which pipes will freeze in the cold,” Wynkoop said. “However, coming to live in this house, knowing nothing about it would be hard.”
Aside from the general maintenance that a house from the 17th century requires, Wynkoop says that unexpected problems can be extremely work intensive.
“You never know what you will encounter when you have a problem, you don’t want to have to get into the walls. Once a squirrel got in the walls, I took part of the wall down and found nothing was holding it together,” he said.
However, Wynkoop also has immense respect for the way that old houses like his are built.
“The foundation is built extremely well, almost no water leaks into the basement through it. Just the fact that the house is still standing after more than 300 years shows that the people who built it knew what they were doing,” he said.
As someone who has put so much effort into maintaining a historic house, Wynkoop has strong feelings about the older houses that are being torn down inWestport.
“These houses give character toWestport. They give a sense of history and we lose something when they are torn down,” he said.
