The Stevens House was built by leatherworker Isaac Stevens in 1789.  He had purchased half an acre of land on High (now Main) Street next to the Joseph Webb House three years earlier and began construction of his new home in 1788, completing it prior to his marriage to Sarah Wright in 1789. Although smaller than its neighbors, the Stevens House is a Center Hall Georgian, similar in plan to the Webb House, with handsome woodwork and paneling. On the first floor, the shutters slide closed (as compared to the folding shutters on the Webb House) – a common feature in commercial, not residential, structures. 

The Stevens Family suffered unfortunate losses due to illness. Following Isaac’s death in 1819, his son Henry inherited the house. He succumbed to illness about 1825; and both of his sons, Elisha and Henry Jr., died by 1835. In 1828, Henry’s widow, Elizabeth, married Captain Stephen Francis – a Connecticut River and coast trader. The couple had five children, four of whom survived to inherit the Stevens House jointly. The Stevens children and their descendants occupied the house for 170 years, until it was acquired by the NSCDA-CT, who restored the house from 1959 to 1963 and opened it to the public. 

The period interiors on the first floor provide visitors with an intimate look at the people who lived and worked here. The rooms reflect the taste of a middle-class family in the 1820s and 30s, with many original family possessions on display. The kitchen, for example, was not designed to be staffed by slaves or servants but by the women of the household. It also doubled as an office, with a desk to keep the accounts of the household and family leather business. The rooms are comfortable, but not overly large; and the furnishings reflect the growing availability of consumer goods as well as changing tastes and technologies following the Industrial Revolution. The interiors of the Stevens House were redecorated with period wallpapers and borders of the mid-1800s to reflect a trend toward bright colors and patterns after years of plain, drab interiors. The Isaac Stevens House is listed on the Wethersfield Historic Registry.