The John Randall House is set on a rural parcel of land down a long lane on the west side of Route 2, about 2,000 feet (610m) north of its junction with Interstate 95. It is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, five asymmetrical bays wide, with a massive central stone chimney and clapboarded exterior. Its main entrance is framed by pilasters and a corniced entablature. The house is framed with inch-thick planking, a common technique of the period, although the planking was usually thinner, and is suggestive of two distinct periods of construction. The eastern parlor has a large fireplace wall finished in wooden paneling, the fireplace flanked by pilasters. The western parlor has a period built-in cabinet, wainscoting, and original plasterwork. The house was part of a farm named Anguilla Farm by the son of the original proprietor John Randall, a husbandman and Sabbatarian from England.
A descendant named Darius Randall lived in the John Randall House. He was an abolitionist and the home was a stop on the Underground Railroad with a trap door in the hearth room that leads to a secret room where slaves were hidden.
Two emancipation releases have been found in the Stonington Town Records signed by William Randall: On March 24, 1808, William Randall “emancipated and made free a Negro man named Jabe Slave being 29 years of age well and healthy.” On March 11, 1807, he freed “Rose, a 26-year-old Negro slave, who was well and healthy.” [4]
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