photo Ellen Ebert
Dr. John Redfield (1735-1813) practiced medicine in Guilford from 1758 until his death and served the town in several official capacities. He and David Naughty and Naughty’s wife, Ruth, were good neighbors; in her will Madam Naughty referred to Redfield as her “trusty friend…and executor of my last will and testament.” However, after his aunt’s death, Naughty’s nephew and heir David II, who had waited thirty years to live in the house his uncle left him, immediately became involved in a lawsuit with his new neighbor. Redfield won the case and, acquiring possession of the whole property, promptly tore the Naughty house down and built this “mansion house” as it was called. Legend has it that nephew David was so incensed that he requested at his death to be buried across the street on the Green with his head sticking out of the ground so that he could glare forever at his enemy. Owned since 1945 by The Guilford Savings Bank, the house has been converted to commercial use with rare sensitivity.
From Guilford: A Walking Guide, the Green & Neighboring Streets [by] Sarah Brown McCulloch. Text from 2006 printing, revised, with editorial notes in brackets from 2012.
