Saving the Historic Homes of Killingworth

By Clark Judge

(July 15, 2025) — Maybe you’ve never seen the Rutty House — or “Tuckaway House,” as it’s sometimes called — that sat alongside Parker Hill Road Extension. And maybe you’ve never seen it. But Annie Souza has. She resided in Killingworth for fifty-seven years, lived within walking distance of the historic center-chimney Cape (photo below) and was five years old when the home’s two residents — both well-known actors — and their two daughters baby-sat her.

“Just lovely people,” Souza said. “It was a sweet little house, with a center fireplace and a small kitchen. I just remember that when you walked in, it was cozy.”

When Souza, who now lives in Portland, returned to Killingworth last month, she and husband John decided to swing by their former neighborhood to see what, if anything, had changed. What they found … or didn’t … was something they didn’t expect.

The house was gone.

It was razed in early June, with nothing left in its place but bare ground covered by straw (photo above).

“It broke my heart,” Souza said. “That house was adorable.”

It was the second time in the past year that a historic home in Killingworth was demolished and the second time the town’s Historic Review Committee stepped in to try to save it. In both instances, owners cooperated with a town ordinance designed to protect historic properties (defined as those 75 years or older) from demolition. But in neither case were they successful.

“Disappointed?” asked board chairwoman Elizabeth Disbrow. “Yes. But the process works. It really does.”

That will take some explaining.

MORE HISTORIC HOMES THAN WILLIAMSBURG?

As I was passing through Town Hall one morning, Disbrow asked if I had a minute to talk. I told her I did.

“Did you know,” she asked, “that Killingworth has more historic homes than Colonial Williamsburg?”

Wait. What?

According to the town website, Killingworth has more than 140 of its original houses (defined as pre-1900) where the former Virginia Commonwealth capital has 89. The Rutty House was one of them, traced to Edward Rutty, one of present-day Killingworth’s original settlers in 1716. So was another house on Green Hill Road that was leveled within the past year. It was one of the first in town to have electricity, and both were considered among Killingworth’s oldest residences.

Because Killingworth’s “character and history of our venerable structures are a defining element of our town and our state,” as the town website states, the Historic Review Committee is charged to encourage the preservation of historic buildings — which happened with the Rutty House. It also happened with the two-story Green Hill Road home owned by David and Suzanne Sack.

In both cases, the owners were subject to a Delay of Demolition Ordinance conceived in 2009 after rumors circulated that the Killingworth Café, a building that dates to 1880, would be sold and razed to make way for a Walgreen’s drug store. But that never happened.

Instead, town historian Tom Lentz — then head of the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission — intervened with the delay ordinance, which can be served on historic buildings or structures that, according to its language, “are presumed to be 75 years old (and) determined by the Historic Review Committee or other designated authority to be significant to the community.” The ordinance is triggered when the town issues a demolition permit, authorizing a full or partial destruction of an existing building or structure. If the Historic Review Committee deems the building “significant,” it can initiate a series of steps to delay its demolition.

Confused? Don’t be.

“The idea,” said Disbrow, whose own home dates to 1815, “is to convince the homeowner to try to do something other than tear the buildings down.”

Following an extensive review and public hearing, a historic structure can be subjected to a demolition postponement of up to 180 days (or, twice the length of the Madison and Clinton ordinances) — which, in fact, happened with the Rutty House. It happened with the Sacks’ house, too. Correction: It happened twice. After building a new home on their property, the couple permitted a family to live in the abandoned house for almost a year after it was first designated for demolition. Then, when the family moved, the house was designated for demolition again … and the Sacks were back on the clock.

“From day one,” said David Sack, “we wanted to do the right thing, and that’s what we did. We tried to give it away, among all sorts of things. It was a hassle, but we got through it. At the end of the day, they let us take it down.”

Nevertheless, Disbrow was right. The process worked, with former Deer Lake Ranger Mark Clifton so intrigued that he considered moving the building to the camp property. It worked with the Rutty House, too, with a Legal Notice attracting interest from several potential buyers — including Lentz, as well as descendants from the Rutty family — after the Historic Review Committee stepped in. In the end, however, the idea of relocating it was either too expensive or unfeasible, and it was torn down.

“The ordinance doesn’t stop people from doing what they want to with their property,” said former First Selectwoman Cathy Iino, in office when it was implemented, “but it can put a hold on it for 180 days while the committee helps owners seek other options.”

That occurred years ago when David Swensen, Yale University’s former chief investment officer, expressed interested in tearing down a building on his Route 148 estate. Notified that it was a historic structure, Swensen reconsidered and renovated it, preserving it to serve as what Iino termed “an educational tool” for Killingworth.

“He bought Saw Mill Hollow about fifteen years ago,” said Lentz, “and there was a modern house on a bluff overlooking the mill pond — which was the reason he bought the property. Below was an assortment of buildings mostly in poor shape, including an old house, a mill house and a hotel-like structure built by J. Harold Murray in the 1920s.

“He applied for a demolition permit and came to a preliminary meeting of the Historic Review Committee. He was completely unaware that some of the buildings were historic and agreed to save them. The hotel buildings were demolished, but I worked with him over the next years when he restored the mill, sluiceways and the old house. I did a title search on the house, and dated it to 1730. It’s the oldest dated house in Killingworth.”

Bottom line: The process worked

AN UNEXPECTED SAVE

Across the parking lot from Town Hall and adjacent to the EOC building sits the Town Barn, which actually is two barns attached to each other– with the larger structure dating to the 1830’s. For years, they were considered so unsightly that town residents complained, with some asking to have them torn down. But town officials resisted. Determined to preserve the buildings, they went so far as to once consider having them removed to Parmelee Farm.

All that changed this spring.

Thanks to bonding through the Urban Act grant program and funding via American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the barn didn’t budge. Spending an estimated $311,000, the town was able to re-shingle the roof, paint the building, re-connect the original post-and-beam configuration and re-brace one section (photo above). In essence, it completed such a massive structural reinforcement that it brought the building into the 21st century.

The overhaul was such a success that there’s now talk of turning the barn into a meeting space for town functions … and if that sounds familiar, it should. It’s not dissimilar to a story Iino told about one of Killingworth’s original one-room schoolhouses, which was donated to the town and moved from its site on Route 148 to Parmelee.

“We went through all sorts of contortions as to how to get it there,” said Iino. “But moving it from 148 was going to be so difficult with all its curves and phone lines that we actually looked into having it picked up by military helicopter. In the end, it was finally taken apart, with each wall moved separately.”

Once again, the process worked.

‘A TOWN THAT’S UNIQUE’

Now the question: Why does the preservation of history matter, especially when a newer, sounder building might make sense to replace its predecessor? For an answer, I was asked to consult “A Seven Mile Tour of Killingworth History.” It was written more than twenty years ago by Sandy Smith and compiled in conjunction with Lentz’s “Photographic History of Killingworth.”

Essentially, it’s a historic tour of the town that identifies numerous historic sites within Killingworth, including the Congregational Church, built in 1817 … Town Hall, a former residence built around 1830 … Fire Tower Road where, yes, there actually was a fire tower … Josiah and Jerusha Parmelee’s 1752 home … the former site of a winter village of the Hammonasset Indians … the oldest cemetery in town, established in 1738 … the Ely House, where Longfellow may have written “The Bird of Killingworth”… numerous homes that date to the 1700’s … and an area where bog iron was produced during the Revolutionary War.

In short, it’s more than a seven-mile drive. It’s Killingworth’s life story.

“The tangible legacy of Killingworth’s past,” Lentz wrote, “is the approximately 150 houses that survive from before 1870, two early nineteenth century churches, seven graveyards, eight one-room schoolhouses and the remains of the sites of early development and industry. All of these cultural assets add considerably to the charm and variety of Killingworth’s countryside.

“Killingworth still retains the flavor of a rural colonial town. It is important that every historical structure and site in Killingworth be preserved, with the loss of one diminishing the town a little. If losses continue, the adverse effect on the town’s character is greater and becomes significant. (Fortunately), the town has several mechanisms for protecting its historical and natural features.”

One is a 2021 ordinance that allows a historic building to remain on a property with a primary residence. Another is a 2024 decision that permits a tax abatement for a historic home that otherwise would be demolished.

Only one problem: Most people know nothing about them.

David Swenson did, and he acted to preserve his buildings. Others, however, weren’t as successful. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t try. They did, acting in compliance with the Historic Review Committee. The point is: There’s a vehicle on the books to preserve a history that goes back to 1667.

“Killingworth doesn’t have a lot of unique characteristics,” said Disbrow. “But if you drive through town, what’s the one thing we have? Open spaces and old houses. Colonial structures don’t exist at all in most American towns. So we absolutely do live in a town that’s unique. Almost every corner of it has a historic home. I just don’t think people understand that there are reasons to care more about them. If they did, they might not be so quick to tear some of them down.”

And if they don’t? The town is there to remind them.

“As I said, there’s a process in place that works,” said Disbrow, “in that you’re getting buy-ins from the town. You have public hearings, and people are showing interest, concern and support. Often, it comes down to money, and we just can’t save them. But at least we’re making every effort. I just don’t know that people are aware.”

They should be now.

Photos by Clark Judge