When James and Kelsey Shutts planned their move from Georgia to Connecticut, they had a single goal in mind: to buy a really old house. "Where else are you going to be able to own a home that was built prior to the 1770s?" Kelsey asks, referring to New England's abundance of historic properties.

In 2024, the couple purchased a home in South Windsor for $399,000. According to the National Register of Historic Places, Loyalist William Franklin was once confined at the house, which features sections dating to as early as 1695.

For the Shuttses, taking on an ambitious renovation was part of the charm of Connecticut living -- and it was a good thing they felt that way. Most of the plumbing didn't work, and unstable support beams put a second-floor bathroom at risk of collapsing into the dining room, says Kelsey, 32, who works in marketing.

The couple spent $1 million and two years renovating the house, says James, 41, whose job as chief executive of a granola company brought them to Connecticut.

The history

Carpenter Samuel Grant built a small house on the site in 1695. Around 1757, his son, Ebenezer, built a large Georgian home on the property, incorporating the original structure, according to the National Register.

During the American Revolution, the house served as an alternate prison for William Franklin, the son of Benjamin Franklin and New Jersey's last royal governor. Franklin's health deteriorated inside a Connecticut jail, so Revolutionary leaders eventually relocated him to the Grant house. In October 1778, the Patriots traded him for another prisoner, according to the Journal of the American Revolution.

The Grant family sold the house in 1913 and it traded hands several times over the next few decades, property records show. Owners moved the house 25 feet further from the road, destroyed historic outbuildings and removed part of the original 1695 structure, according to the National Register.

In 1972, psychiatrist and history buff Constantine Zariphes Jr. fell in love with the house's elaborate front door and bought it with his wife, Demetra Zariphes, says their son Alex Zariphes, who grew up there. They paid about $70,000, according to property records, restoring the front door while preserving elements such as wood paneling and fireplace mantels. They moved out of the house around 2020 before both died in 2024, Alex says.

Modern day

The Shuttses shored up the home's structural problems and updated its mechanicals, installing air conditioning and new plumbing, electricity and heating. That meant cutting hundreds of holes in the plaster walls and ceilings, which James says he meticulously repaired by hand.

Historic details

Tourists frequent the house to take pictures of the doorway, Kelsey says. The entrance is an elaborate example of a Connecticut River Valley Doorway, a style created by elite New England homeowners to display their wealth, says Christopher Wigren, deputy director of Preservation Connecticut.

"It's just a wham-bang statement of power and wealth," says Wigren. "They're actually pretty rare."

The best part of owning a historic house

"Being able to live in a home with so much character and improving it and passing it on to the next steward," Kelsey says.

The hardest part of owning a historic home

"Living through the renovation," Kelsey says. The Shuttses lived with their two large dogs in an R.V. in the driveway for much of the first year, showering at the gym and using a portable toilet.

Reason for selling?

The Shuttses finished the renovation in June. Though they planned to stay longer, they are moving to Florida to be closer to James's three children.

Market snapshot

Jacob Wint of William Pitt Sotheby's International Realty is marketing the property not as a historic house, but as a turnkey home with high-end finishes and amenities. Still, he believes its historic designation will motivate buyers to pay more than they would for a new-construction house with equivalent finishes and square footage, he says.

The median sale price in South Windsor was $477,000 in July, up about 16% from last year, according to Realtor.com, which is operated by News Corp, parent of The Wall Street Journal.