Parker–Hutchinson Farm

The Parker–Hutchinson Farm is located in a rural setting of southern Coventry, on the east side of Parker Bridge Road, east of its crossing of Rufus Brook. The farm is now 8 acres (3.2 ha) in size, with a cluster of buildings set near the road. The complex includes a farmhouse, horse barn, sheep barn, and shed, as well as the foundations of former buildings. The house is a 1+1⁄2-story Cape style house, with a gabled roof, central chimney, and clapboarded exterior. Its main facade is five bays wide, with a slightly asymmetrical arrangement around a center entrance. A leanto section extends to the rear of the structure. The three outbuildings are, like the house, probably of 19th-century construction; the house's construction methods are also consistent with late 18th century practices.[2]

The farm property provides evidence of early activity leading to two major cottage industries that flourished in 19th-century Coventry: the production and processing of flax, and the raising of sheep and processing of wool. The processing of flax, probably as early as the late 18th century, was documented by a mid-19th century neighbor. Asa Parker Jr. was by 1820 also raising sheep on the property, a practice continued by his daughter and son-in-law, the Hutchinsons. The Hutchinsons are documented to have engaged in a significant number of other small businesses in the 19th century, operating a cider mill and operating a small cooperage and probably also a small woolen hat-making enterprise, in addition to flax and wool processing.[2]

• Willington Common Historic District
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Tolland County, Connecticut