The Connecticut Freedom Trail (CFT) has officially designated the Ham Primus House on Durham Road in North Guilford as a recognized stop on their program. The designation, according to town officials and members of local historical organizations, is an important realization of the site’s historical significance, specifically its African American history, but one that may potentially complicate the issue regarding the planned Lake Quonnipaug dam repair and road reconfiguration project set to start next year.

The town purchased the property located at 3431 Durham Road last year to help the town address long-standing safety issues with the dam situated at the south end of Lake Quonnipaug and reconfigure a confusing and unsafe intersection. However, the original plan called for the demolition of the house as part of that project, which could impact several funding avenues and the site's historical significance, chiefly recognition by the National Register of Historic Places.

Thanks to the efforts of local historians and preservationists, notably Town Historian Joel Helander, who performed a last-minute blitz of research and uncovered the house’s history, alerting officials of this one-of-a-kind structure and potentially saving this piece of history.

“If the structure was ever put on the National Register of Historic Places, it would then be eligible for tax credits and grants. But the National Register…does not recognize a building if it is moved because it loses its context,” Helander said. “Also, if you move the house, you invite almost unlimited expense due to the site work needed and all of the unknowns that the process could potentially uncover.”

Town officials have stated that they are currently looking at all available options regarding how best to protect and preserve the site’s history while still completing the proposed project.

Despite documentation of fierce abolitionist sentiment during the late 18th century and early 19th centuries, slavery remained entrenched across the shoreline and the last slave wasn’t freed in Guilford until approximately 1820. Though Helander and others have now determined that Primus (in some records, spelled Primis) was born into slavery, records about enslaved people and their lives are notoriously difficult to weave together, bringing added importance to the site.

Helander said any evidence of Black history is extremely valuable to researchers because so little information exists about those whose lives and deaths went unrecorded.

“The information concerning slaves and others lost to history is scant and scattered, and all of these are threads that have to be woven to form a tapestry of what we know,” Helander added. “It’s very difficult researching their lives.”

What is known definitively is that Primus’ and his wife, Temperance’s, ancestors and several of their descendants had a lasting impact on Connecticut and U.S. history. Temperance’s grandfather, Gad Asher, was an enslaved person stolen from the shores of Guinea as a child, who became a Revolutionary War hero blinded in battle, and subsequently buying his own freedom. Several of Ham and Temperance’s children accomplished important achievements in religion, education, art, and black cultural preservation.

Helander, along with Tracy Tomaselli, chair of the Guilford Preservation Alliance, lobbied the CFT for the recognition and emphasized the critical nature of locating and preserving the African American history of Guilford. According to Helander, who specializes in historical homes of Guilford, this site is the sole structure in town that can be definitively tied to a slave, making it a crucial part of African American history.

“The emphasis of my research over the last fifty years has been the houses of Guilford. I have been able to document 800 houses or more in Guilford that are one hundred years of age or older, and this is the only house that’s ever been discovered to have a solid connection to a freed slave,” Helander said.

According to Helander, the structure and the designation are extremely important to Guilford’s history.

“I think the designation is very significant because freed slaves faced enormous challenges integrating into the free white society. Ham Primus pulled himself up…after his emancipation. He went out into the world prepared to meet those challenges and helped promote black agency,” Helander said. “He broke from his old life for a new and better life, and it was all through powerful self-initiative. On his own agency, he was able to go off to sea, marry, have a wife, find gainful income, and involve himself in his community. So, this not only remembers but honors our African American heritage.”

Tomaselli said her organization is excited by the designation and is looking forward to a ceremony in the coming months.

“The Guilford Preservation Alliance is pleased to be working with town officials to preserve the original portion of the historic Ham Primus house at 3431 Durham Road. The listing of the property on the CT Freedom Trail is another significant step in fully recognizing the importance of the Primus family, a multi-generational story going from slavery to home ownership to the prominence of some of the descendants. We are currently researching further generations of descendants of this family to expand the history and story of this family who has a connection to this property, and we have already connected with some living descendants.”

According to the parties involved, what is now needed is a plan to somehow preserve the historically significant section of the structure while also moving forward with the critical infrastructure project.

First Selectman Matt Hoey said he was excited to hear of the designation despite uncertainties that come along with the recognition. However, Hoey said he and the town’s engineering staff are considering all potential options at this point.

“This is certainly wonderful recognition of that property as it relates to Ham Primus as one of the first freed slaves to own property in Guilford. So, it has historical significance. It is great to see the preservation folks agree,” Hoey said. “No final determination has been made yet on the house, but what this does give us is the opportunity for grant funding to assist in whatever we do with this property. Even if it does wind up remaining where it is, and the State Department of Transportation authorizes a plan other than what we originally suggested, there are going to be costs associated with that property. So, we are absolutely looking into every available option.”