Porter-Holcomb House

In 1841, Simeon C. Porter, eldest son of master-builder Colonel Lemuel Porter, built this house in the southwest corner of his fourteen acre homestead lot and sold it to the Reverend George Sheldon. Porter’s own house lay to the northeast; when it burned down in 1860, his brother, Orin Porter, built his house on that lot.

Although Simeon Porter built high-style residences for the college professors in the 1840s, this simple farmhouse shows little in the way of elaborate detailing. It is a New England one-and-a-half, with the original front entry changed to a window and its clapboard covered with wood shingles. There are wide poplar floorboards in the interior, corner posts and the remains of an unusual paneled staircase. There is a large addition at the rear.

The Reverend Sheldon and his wife, Harmony Ann, lived in the house briefly, selling it in 1842 to Walter Holcomb, a member of one of Hudson’s pioneer families, who lived here for 13 years. The north boundary on the property was at Holcomb Street, which no longer exists but is shown on old village maps as running from North Main Street to College Street.