Waterford: History and Craftsmanship Around Jordan Green

If you choose Waterford as your destination, its historic buildings and craft traditions offer a common thread for planning your trip. Jordan Green at 65 Rope Ferry Road is an important landmark. It is home to the Jordan District Schoolhouse, Stacy Barn, the Blacksmith Shop, and the Beebe-Phillips House of the Waterford Historical Society. Each place focuses on a different aspect: the history of education and architecture sits alongside agriculture, garden culture, and blacksmithing.

From Residence to Schoolhouse

The Jordan District Schoolhouse was built in 1758 by Jedediah Brown as a residence. In the 19th century, it served for a time as the Jordan District School; in 1857, it was replaced by the town’s first two-story brick schoolhouse. In 1972, the building was moved to its current location. With support from the Connecticut State Historical Commission and the work of numerous Waterford Historical Society members and volunteers, it was restored as a schoolhouse. It is considered the oldest surviving public building in Waterford.

Its architecture can also be read through specific features: the schoolhouse has a gambrel roof, two rooms, an attic, and two chimneys. Along with its history as a residence and later as a school used for a time, these details provide a precise picture of the building.

Domestic Life and Gardens on Jordan Green

The Beebe-Phillips House was built in 1838 for the widowed Lydia Beebe and moved in two sections to its current location on Jordan Green in 1974. It is furnished in the style of the 1840s and has a floor plan typical of the period. The kitchen stove is another distinctive feature: it includes a domed brick beehive oven, usually used for baking bread.

In front of the house is the Terry Wilmot Garden, designed as a typical 1840s cottage garden. Old apple varieties have been planted behind the house. The garden design and the trees add two different aspects of the garden and plant culture of the time to what the house reveals.

Blacksmithing and Collections

Blacksmiths meet regularly at the Ralph Madara Blacksmith Shop and give blacksmithing lessons. The shop has a working forge and numerous blacksmithing tools. The public may watch the blacksmiths at work. However, only Waterford Historical Society members who follow the posted rules may work at the forge. Check the separately announced opening hours before visiting.

Stacy Barn also preserves another part of Waterford’s history: it houses an extensive collection of agricultural implements, equipment, and other historical artifacts. In 2024, members of the Waterford Historical Society and the Living Historians of the Dirty Blue Shirts demonstrated, among other things, rope making, cooking on a stove, blacksmithing, food preservation, and herb gardening during two-day May field trips at Jordan Green. The events were aimed at students, teachers, and chaperones.

Jordan Village and the Historic District

The Jordan Village Historic District is in Waterford and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1990. Jordan Village is considered a well-preserved, architecturally significant example of a core village that has remained almost unchanged since the 1920s. The historic district consists primarily of residential buildings, mostly dating from the 19th century; some of the contributing buildings date from the last quarter of the 18th century. The Jordan Park House on Jordan Green was originally Waterford’s first public library.

Finding Your Way Around Jordan Green

The Walk Bridge is the main connection across Jordan Green from the Park House, Phillips-Beebe House, and Jordan Schoolhouse to the Stacy Barn Museum/Miner Education Center and the Blacksmith Shop. For orientation, this connection identifies the historic buildings and facilities in relation to one another. The houses and schoolhouse on one side of the connection thus face the sites around the barn and blacksmith shop.

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