Nehemiah Royce House

The Nehemiah Royce House, also known as the Washington Elm House, is a historic home located at 538 North Main Street in Wallingford, Connecticut, United States. The saltbox house was constructed in 1672. George Washington visited the house twice, first in 1775 while on his way to take command of the Continental Army in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and again in 1789 when he gave an address to the townspeople in front of the house near the Elm.

Biography of Nehemiah Royce
Nehemiah Royce was christened on May 30, 1637 (actual birth date unconfirmed), at St. Michael's church in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, the son of Robert Royce and Mary Jugkson/Jackson.

On November 20, 1660, he married Hannah Morgan. They had nine children together.

Royce, a carpenter, joiner and blacksmith by trade, was one of Wallingford's original 38 proprietors authorized by the Connecticut General Assembly in 1667 to purchase land from the Quinnipiac nation. On May 12, 1670, Wallingford was incorporated and about 126 people settled in the town. On May 11, 1693, Royce was elected deputy representing Wallingford to the Court of the Connecticut Colony.

He died on November 1, 1706.



House
The Royce house is an example of American colonial saltbox architectural style. The Royce family occupied the house for over 200 years. The house was moved to its current location in 1924.

The prominent figures associated with the 1930s-1940s rehabilitation of the Royce House is an impressive roster of leaders in the historic preservation movement in New England. The list includes Richard Henry Dana, William Sumner Appleton, Elmer Keith, J. Frederick Kelly, George Dudley Seymour, and Bertram Little. For a time it was a museum and then was used as a residence by Choate Rosemary Hall, until the school donated the house to the Wallingford Historic Preservation Trust in 1999. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.