The Original Seely House

The Original Seely House - Lot 15, Gray's Mills

Orignial Grant:

Seth Seely - July 14, 1784

Out Buildings:

Next to the house sits a dilapidated blacksmith shop, two sheds and a well house. The boards on the walls of the shed next to the blacksmith shop are extremely wide, which suggests they were probably cut from old growth forest.

History and Style:

This farmhouse was built circa 1790 by loyalist Seth Seely who arrived from Connecticut on the ship Union in 1783. Previous to this home he lived in a small cottage closer to the river. Before this home, he lived in a small cottage closer to the river. Having a home on the river’s edge would have simplified travel and as he cleared his farmland, he would have been able to move his home further back on his 200-acre lot. It is evident that the present house started as a smaller two-room cottage with a small loft and expanded over the years. A spacious kitchen and pantry were eventually added to the northern end of the house and the loft was enlarged by lowering the ceiling of the floor below. Two dormers were also added, one on the façade and one on the rear. The rear dormer has a gambrel roof. The large front door has two long gothic windows. There are two varieties of trim in the first story. The rooms on either end of the house are trimmed with grooved jamb boards and corner blocks, but the centre room is trimmed with mitered trim, like trim found in other homes of the same period. The hardware on the sheds is clearly hand forged. The hinges are made from a single bar of metal that was bent and formed into the right shape by skilled hands. Jack Seely, the last of his family to own the property, was an accomplished blacksmith.

*Photos by Isaac Jones