One of several local examples of a picturesque vernacular dwelling with a steep pitched gable roof and deep overhanging eaves, this is the best preserved of the lot. The 1 1/2- story, L-shaped house has a wood shingle roof and two-over-two windows with half windows under the eaves on the side elevations. A pedimented hood accents the window in the gable end. The verandah with turned posts has been cut down and partially enclosed, and it survives in its original state only on the side of the projecting pavilion. It most likely originally wrapped the front of the house. The entrance door with its glazed. circular-headed upper panels is early if not original as is the carriage barn behind the house.

The picturesque vernacular house dates to c. 1890 and was a tenant house located on the Shaw-Perkins-Nevis farm that occupied acreage on both sides of Rope Ferry Road. The main house is located at 50 Rope Ferry Road and is listed in the Connecticut State Register. The property descended through the family of successful New London merchant Nathaniel Shaw II (1735-1782). It passed to Thomas Shaw Perkins, brother of Nathaniel Shaw Perkins, and then to his daughter Cornelia L. Perkins Nevins who married David H. Nevins of Norwich. The title of the farm was settled to a daughter of Nevin, Anna Nevins, who lived until 1958. She began selling off the portions of the farm on the north side of Rope Ferry Road in the early 1950s. It appears that the Tenant House dates to the 1890s and purchased from Anna Nevins' estate by the town in 1961. [2]

[1] Historic Property information retrieved from the town website http://www.waterfordct.org/.
[2] Nevins Tenant House, 57 Rope Ferry Road, Waterford, Historic Resources Inventory, McCahon Mary E., 1989, SHPO Library, Hartford.
Assessors information retrieved from the website http://www.prophecyone.us/index_prophecy.php?town=Waterford.