By Mrs. Harriet Parks 
The Reverend Robins, minister of the First Church on Main Street, recorded in his diary in 1839 that Col. Samuel Tudor Wolcott was building “an elegant new house.” One hundred thirty years later, this stately mansion can still be rightly called “elegant.” After the death of Wolcott in 1887, the house passed to his children and for many years was occupied by the Powers family. About 1915, a successful tobacco farmer, J.E. Shepard, bought the house and land. During the hurricane of 1938, a fire damaged the house which resulted I extensive renovations. Rooms have been added to the original building, both to the North and to the South. Four generations of the Shepard family have lived in what may truly be described as “one of South Windsor’s most elegant homes.”
Please note that despite possible inaccuracies, we will include the description of each quilt square as published in the 1995 revised and corrected second edition booklet. This second edition was published in celebration of South Windsor’s “sesquicentennial” anniversary, 1845-1995, and was dedicated to the memory of Gail Woodard, who passed away in 1994. The revised edition was compiled by Charles E. Woodward in September, 1995, with the assitance of Doris Burgdorf who provided many historical corrections.