Delia Church House

211 Salmon Brook Street

This House:

It is not known when this house was built. It is not on the map in 1869 but by the 1880 census, Delia Church was listed as the owner. Miss Delia was born in 1816 and lived to be 100 years old. She grew up in the house next door, #213. She and her sister, Sophia, lived together for a time.

A Bit More:

Delia had her house filled with artistic creations made from Nature; stars glued to the ceiling, raindrops painted on rocks next to the walk, feather bouquets.

Interior Images

Delia Church

Model Of The Bunker Hill Monument Made by Delia Church

When She Was In School.

Even More:

Even as a child, Delia stood up for herself. At one point, the story goes, she had refused to fold her hands in school and was told to stay after school so the teacher could “settle” with her. When the door opened for dismissal, “I never stopped for my bonnet,” Miss Delia said, “but started for the door, Julia [the teacher] after me. I went screaming and dancing down the street. Dogs came out and barked. Women ran out to find what was the matter. I reached home and Julia gave up the chase. I was frightened to a frenzy.”

As a young girl, Delia declared that she intended to live alone and do exactly as she pleased. No one in Granby took her seriously, because she was a “popular belle.”

Before settling down to domestic life, the eccentric young woman went on a world tour via a sailing ship. She visited China, Japan, Europe, and South America. According to a 1902 newspaper clipping, her tour acquired a fairy tale quality when she met a handsome and wealthy young man from New York, who fell in love with her. To the end of her life, she kept his “courtly, old-fashioned love letters addressed to the ‘Fairest of Ladyes’.”

Miss Delia also kept the vow she made as a girl and never married. “Why did you reject such a brilliant offer?” she was asked. “For the same reason I never joined the church,” replied Miss Delia thoughtfully, “somehow I never could endure being bound or tied to anything by any kind of a vow or promise.” Yet, she rarely missed a service in the village church.