The Silas Deane house, built in 1766, is architecturally unusual for its time and location. Insstead of the typical central hall, four-over-four arrangement, it has an off-center doorway and a very wide entrance hall. The interior gives an impression of great spaciousness. Another unusual feature is the inclusion of four closets.

   Silas Deane of Wethersfield was one of the most diligent members of the First Continental Congress and of the early days of the Second as well. But he was distrusted by important Nutmeg politicians such as dour Roger Sherman of New Haven and fiery William Williams whom Deane once called "that little malevolent prig in buckram." Deane was not returned to Congress after the winter of 1775-76. His colleague, Eliphalet Dyer, suffered the same fate, and only sherman kept his Philadelphia berth.
   Deane was not to be put off by any "rascally junto," however, and managed to get appointments from two secret committees of Congress to go to France in an effort to gain either over- or under-the-counter material assistance for the war bound colonies. Deane's activities abroad are still shrouded in mystery, and his reputation has never recovered from the damage done it by his own odd financial maneuvers and the slanders heaped on him by hostile politicians.

                                                                                                -Christopher Collier