The Silas Deane House is a historic house museum at 203 Main Street in Wethersfield, Connecticut. Built in 1766, this National Historic Landmark was the home of Silas Deane (1737–1789), the first foreign diplomat for the United States.
SITE FEATURES
Surviving Structures
On this site...
The Deane house is a two-story wood-frame structure, four bays wide, with two asymmetrically placed interior chimneys, and a two-story ell extending to the rear. The main entry, in the second bay from the right, is flanked by pilasters and topped by a crowned and dentillated pediment. The interior features original woodwork, including pilasters and fully paneled fireplaces, and an elaborate stairway balustrade. The house was built in 1766 by Silas Deane.
HOME
EST. 1766
Trained as a lawyer, Deane became involved in resistance to attempts by the British Parliament to levy taxes on its colonies in the late 1760s, served in the First Continental Congress in 1774, and was elected to the Second Continental Congress in 1775. Deane was selected in March 1776 by that Congress to represent it in dealings with the Kingdom of France. Deane successfully negotiated the secret agreement by which France supported the nascent United States prior to its formal entry into the American Revolutionary War in 1778, after signing a formal treaty of alliance negotiated by a commission that included Deane. He later became disenchanted with the rebel cause, and died in exile in Europe.
HISTORIC PEOPLE
Silas Deane
Ambassador