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Site Lines: Connecticut’s Freedom Trail

…us, the tangible record of African American and minority experiences is less obvious. The struggle to maintain human dignity leaves little physical evidence; success, often signaled by gaining freedom or…

Leroy Anderson Composed Iconic Music in Woodbury

…Clock” and “Sleigh Ride.” Leroy Anderson Conducts Leroy Anderson – Decca Records Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the son of newly arrived Swedish immigrants, Anderson learned a love for music…

Mohegan Sacred Sites: Moshup’s Rock

…very rocks and trees of the Mohegan Homeland in Uncasville, Connecticut. That sacred landscape has been crushed and trampled for four centuries by Non-Indian invaders who have denied the inherent…

Site Lines: Monuments to Connecticut’s Lost County Government

…the power of the county government system was at its peak, according to Levenson. By the mid-20th century, however, the state had taken over most official functions, leaving little need…

Site Lines: The Mysterious Blue Lights

…suggestions they were behind the signals. Samuel Green, the editor of the Connecticut Gazette, confronted by angry townspeople who refused to believe in lights or traitors, was sympathetic to Decatur…

Cornfield Point: Old Saybrook’s Forgotten Scenic Alcove

…in English Tudor-Revival Style. The building had a clock tower with German chimes that rang every half hour and played, “Don’t Say Goodbye, Say Au Revoir.” Not long after, George…

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Site Lines: Fortresses of Faith, Agents of Change

…Women of the church, under the leadership of Clarissa Beman, created one of the first women’s abolitionist societies, known as the Colored Female Anti-Slavery Society of Middletown. Its goal was…

Site Lines: Silas Deane

…Franklin, already fast friends, worked closely together, leaving Lee, who already disliked both of his colleagues, bitterly resentful. Lee covertly began undermining their efforts, writing letters to allies in Congress…

Brass City/Grass Roots: What Makes a Farm a Farm? Other Sites of Food Production in Waterbury

…of vegetables, fruits, and sauces, crocks of pickles and sauerkraut, hanging sausages and cheeses, as well as barrels and jugs of homemade wine or beer. Tony Dellorfano stands in his…

Notorious New-Gate Prison

…colony purchased the remaining years of a mining lease from Captain James Holmes of Salisbury and installed an iron gate near the surface of the 25-foot shaft. New-Gate was ready…

Chamberlin Mill: A Woodstock Survivor

…saw, as well as an early Muzzy shingle saw, a bolt saw (for cutting shingle bolts), a planer, and perhaps other related machinery. The circular saw and bolt saw survive,…

The Connecticut Town Green

…grounds, and grazing areas for cattle or sheep. With their stocks and whipping posts, they were also sites of public punishments. Furthermore, townspeople used town greens as dumping grounds for…

Waste Not, Want Not: The Colonial Era Midden

…deposits, archaeologists also search around old houses for a simple fence post hole, a stone-lined well, a privy (outhouse) vault, or even a cellar hole from a house that once…

Metal Homes for the Atomic Age

…recognition. If you’ve ever come across one of these odd little homes, you’ll know that you’ve met up with your first Lustron—a house that once embodied the fairy-tale promise of…

East Haven was Home to Connecticut’s First Iron Works

…high-quality iron. What is usually overlooked in these discussions, however, is that the roots of Connecticut’s iron industry lie far away from Salisbury, in East Haven. Furnace Sited Near Saltonstall…

Connecticut Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home

By Michael Rodriguez In 1866, the Connecticut Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home opened in Mansfield. The state legislature chartered the orphanage in response to an appeal by Theodore Sedgwick Gold, a leading…

Breaking the Myth of the Unmanaged Landscape

…While their moving from site to site was viewed by colonists with apprehension, especially during times of war, the reality was that the scope of colonial settlements—houses, barns, outbuildings, and…

“Outcasts” Build Their Own Village in 18th-Century Barkhamsted

…middle of the 1700s, consisted of people of African, Native, and Anglo-European heritages living harmoniously on the fringes of mainstream society. Once abandoned, the site left behind an archaeological legacy…

Bradley International Airport Transforms Windsor Locks into Regional Gateway

…state purchased 1,700 acres of tobacco farmland in Windsor Locks and leased the site to the federal government. Soon an army air base was constructed on the site, named in…

I-95 Reaches New London

…and World War II. With the postwar development of the Interstate Highway System, the single-span bridge soon proved unable to handle the ever-increasing flow of traffic. In 1963, planning began…

Discovered Dinosaur Tracks Re-Route Highway and Lead to State Park

…walks, lectures, and slide presentations. Life-sized model of Dilophosaurus donated by Friends of Dinosaur State Park and Arboretum The group significantly improved the information available onsite through donated displays of…

Dinosaur Tracks Found – Today in History: August 23

On August 23, 1966, hundreds of dinosaur tracks were uncovered in Rocky Hill. The first few tracks were discovered by a bulldozer operator who was excavating the site for a…

The Hartford Circus Fire

…of the canvas through the application of paraffin wax thinned with gasoline. Circus carts site beside the burned stands, July 1944 Hartford Courant file image One of the performers noticed…

A Public Responsibility: Conservation and Development in the 20th Century

…In some cases, private citizens’ groups worked to achieve state protection for valuable recreational sites. For example, the Sleeping Giant Park Association successfully lobbied to protect the Mount Carmel site…

The Colt Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company

…sold his products through a variety of different outlets. He employed a small force of traveling salesman and also utilized jobbers who acted as wholesa*]}*le agents capable of selling product…

Putting History on the Map

…celebration of Connecticut’s Tercentenary, shows the sites of important events associated with the Battle of Ridgefield during the Revolutionary War, including the sites of the first and second engagements, the…

Saving Sessions Woods

…as much money as the private developer. Just when it looked like the sale was about to go through, local residents—dedicated to saving the site from development—formed the Friends of…

Gallows Lane and the Execution of Barnett Davenport

…from the house, Davenport entered the home on the night of February 3rd and beat Caleb, Jane, and Charlotte to death. Looting the house of its valuables, he set it…

A Hip Road Trip

…commercial and tacky, but I just saw them and swallowed them who*]}*le…” In Main Street to Miracle Mile, Liebs describes the appeal of the commercial strip as a “movie in…

Trumbull’s Parlor Rock Park: A Premier Amusement Center of the Late 19th Century

…hole. When the Housatonic Railroad Company purchased the land in this area of the Pequonnock River Valley to continue its rail line in 1877, it saw that hideaway as a…

A Russian Village Retreat in Southbury

…Nicholas II in Russia. Politicians, lawyers, and military officers who remained loyal to the Tsar found themselves rapidly chased out of the Crimea, across Siberia, and eventually out of the…

Tradition and Transformation Define Hartford’s Jewish Community

…providing a place where Jewish patients would be comfortable and where Jewish doctors—who were often refused positions at the Protestant Hartford Hospital or the Catholic St. Francis Hospital—could practice. Temple…

And They’re Off!: Harness Racing at Charter Oak Park

…move in unison) or trotting (when the front and back legs on opposite sides move together). The horses in the images for this article are all trotters. An Early Example…

The Amos Bull House and Sterling Opera House: The First Connecticut Listings on the National Register of Historic Places – Who Knew?

…National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 established the National Register of Historic Places to recognize significant historical, architectural, and archaeological sites, districts, and buildings. While individuals, organizations, or companies compile…

Peter Prudden: Milford’s First Minister

…to leave with him, as well as leaders and other clergymen such as John Davenport, Theophilus Eaton, and Samuel Eaton. In the spring of 1637, they left London and sailed…

A Good Spot and a Healthy Place: A Short History of Charles Island

…the island became a summer resort hotel. The hotel rested in the middle of the island, about 50 feet above low-tide level, and lay surrounded by cherry trees, a lovely…

The “Welcoming Beacon” of Sheffield Island Lighthouse

…built. This structure—a Victorian-style lighthouse completed in 1868—included a cast-iron lantern tower and a composite compact Fresnel lens. Such improvements allowed for both increased maritime safety as well as stunning…

Mary Townsend Seymour: Hartford’s Organizer, Activist, and Suffragist

By Emma Wiley Described once by the Hartford Courant Magazine as “an active community leader for all people,” Mary Townsend Seymour was a leading organizer, civil rights activist, suffragist, and…

Connecticut Yankee and Millstone: 48 Years of Nuclear Power

…high expectations for the economic potential of peaceful nuclear energy. An enthusiastic 1962 article in the Hartford Courant, titled “Atoms Now Power Homes,” predicted that nuclear power would soon compete…

Benedict Arnold Turns and Burns New London

…before they consumed the structure. “Through the who*]}*le of Bank Street, where were some of the best mercantile stands and the most valuable dwelling houses in the town, the torch…

Land Purchase Becomes Bushnell Park – Today in History: January 5

…built and paid for by the community. In 1853, the Reverend Horace Bushnell presented the idea of establishing a park with public funds to a doubtful public. Leaders opposed it…

Rivers of Outrage

…to let the law of gravity prevail over the laws of health,” quipped the Hartford Courant in 1886. The results were predictable. Mill owners found it difficult to hire workers…

Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Captures the Gilded Age in Norwalk

…1872. Lockwood’s widow Ana Louisa was unable to make payments on the mortgage, leading to foreclosure proceedings and the home’s eventual sale. New York entrepreneur Charles Mathews purchased the Lockwood…

New England Society for Psychic Research: Connecticut Paranormal Investigators Leave Legacy of the Occult

…legs crossed. A medium said that the spirit of a girl named Annabelle, who died tragically near the nurse’s apartment, resided inside the doll. After several paranormal experiences involving the…

L.D. Brown and Son Silk Mill: A Staple in Middletown’s South Farms District

…Lewis Brown also purchased a large Greek Revival dwelling in Mansfield Center, constructed in 1836. Now known as the Edwin Fitch House (after the original architect/owner), the house was formerly…

Anson Dickinson: Milton’s Painter of Portrait Miniatures

…and returned to Connecticut in the early 1830s. Marker for the site of the Dickinson home, along Sawmill Road in Milton, Litchfield – Peter Vermilyea Dickinson died in Milton on…

Map – Connecticut Landmarks of the Constitution

…in the face of local hostility. However, Prudence Crandall, a white abolitionist, had acted on an irrepressible idea when she opened New England’s first black female academy. 50. Glastonbury: Smith…

The Industrial Might of Connecticut Pegmatite

…group, contains the element lithium, which beyond lending a nice lavender or purple color makes lepidolite a worthwhile mineral to mine. Lithium is the main ingredient in a medication used…

Thomas Hooker: Connecticut’s Founding Father

…other, more radical sects, however, they sought to remain within the Anglican Church and to reform it from within. Emmanuel College at Cambridge, which Hooker attended, was a hotbed of…

The Old Leatherman Alive in Our Memories

…the Old Leatherman’s identity. Alas, nothing remained save for a few coffin nails. These, along with soil from the original site, were reinterred and a simple stone marker erected. In…

Hartford’s Nook Farm

…Nook Farm estate, have since become national landmarks. Katharine Seymour Day, Stowe’s grandniece, Isabella Hooker’s granddaughter, and a dedicated preservationist, played a role in saving both homes and founded the…

Bridgeport’s Catastrophic 1911 Train Wreck

…least one lawsuit over who bore responsibility followed in the weeks after the wreck. Criticism of engineer Arthur Curtis came from multiple sources, including from New Haven Railroad officials, when…

Turnpikes and Transportation in Sharon

…1807, Kellogg Berry built a home on the corner of Main Street and Route 4 (Goshen-Cornwall Turnpike). In 1817, he sold the house and property to Major David Gould who…

Connecticut’s Black Governors

…blacks even donned white wigs—then popular among colonial magistrates and legislators. Gravesite of Boston Trowtrow, Old Burying Ground, Norwich, a site on the Freedom Trail. The inscription reads: “In Memory…

The Prospect Green as a Historical Narrative

…a home dating back to 1841 and built in the Greek Revival style. This house is complemented by numerous structures built from the time of World War II in the…

Instruction by Mail: The Famous Artists School

…letter response according to their skill level. By lesson eight, the instructors sent personal critique letters, with marked-up art, back to the student. Reid recalls recording his letters by Dictaphone,…

Bird’s-eye Views of Rockville Chart Textile Industry’s Growth

…Also visible are utilities, such as the Rockville and Ellington Railroad Company and the gas and electric light works (1877: Union Street, left; 1895: #25, left and vignette). These conveniences…

The Collapse of the L’Ambiance Plaza

…to issues of public safety and led to a moratorium on “lift-slab” construction until 1994, when the government unveiled new federal safety regulations surrounding the process. Patrick J. Mahoney is…

When Old Saybrook Was a College Town

…to its first official site in Saybrook. Nathaniel Lynde deeded a building and 10 acres of land in Saybrook to the Collegiate School in 1707. Although the deed to the…

Ridgefield

…A battle site during the Revolutionary War, a British cannonball can still be seen in a corner post of Keeler’s Tavern. Today, Ridgefield is home to Weir Farm National Historic…

Farmington’s Hospital Rock Dates Back to 18th-Century Smallpox Inoculation

…stagecoach, to leave food and clothing for their loved ones staying in the hospital. This ledge eventually became known as Hospital Rock. The hospital ceased operations in 1794 when Dr….

The Steady Evolution of a Connecticut Family Business

…Befall the Safety Fuse Company The production of the safety fuse was fraught with accidents, as the black powder and varnishes used were volatile. The Simsbury “factory” was located near…

Airborne Pioneers: Connecticut Takes Flight

…heavier-than-air flight became a possibility. By 1908, successful test flights by bicycle mechanics Orville and Wilbur Wright had turned controlled heavier-than-air flight from a dream into a reality, and the…

Weir Farm the Result of a Trade – Who Knew?

…Carlsen, Childe Hassam, Theodore Robinson, Albert Pinkham Ryder, John Singer Sargent, and John Henry Twachtman. Designated a National Historic Site in 1990, the 60-acre Weir Farm National Historic Site includes…

The Sand Hogs Set the Foundation for the Bulkeley Bridge

…around the clock in 8-hour shifts but even the strongest sand hog could only work a few hours at a time under the river. Considering the difficulty of the work,…

Hiram Bingham III: Machu Picchu Explorer and Politician

…the ancient Inca village of Machu Picchu, which was unknown beyond a small number of indigenous people and, possibly, missionaries who had earlier traveled through the area. Often referred to…

Dedication

ConnecticutHistory.org, a program of Connecticut Humanities, is dedicated to Dr. Bruce Fraser, who saw the Internet as a powerful means to connect the story of Connecticut to its residents, especially…

Danbury Hangings: The Executions of Anthony and Amos

…Christ, and die “in a Christian temper.” After church, civil authorities took Anthony to the gallows erected on the Elm Street property of Samuel Dibble. A crowd of people gathered,…

Salisbury Iron Forged Early Industry

…iron was tapped and the white-hot liquid flowed from the crucible tap hole into a trough in the sand bed called a sow and then into a series of perpendicular…

Nathan Hale Hanged in New York – Today in History: September 22

On September 22, 1776, the British hanged Revolutionary War soldier Nathan Hale for spying. Born in Coventry in 1755, Hale attended Yale College and later became a schoolteacher. After hostilities…

A Valley Flooded to Slake the Capital Region’s Thirst

…River, built the Saville Dam, and then flooded the valley to create the nine-mile-long Barkhamsted Reservoir. The project, though worthy, displaced more than a thousand people who lived in the…

Understanding the Environmental Effects of Industry by Examining the Starr Mill

By Chien Ho By examining the impact that the Starr Mill had on the Coginchaug River from the early 19th century to the middle of the 20th century, historians obtain…

Remembering Civil War Prisoners of War

…as the northern states were horrified by the condition of the survivors and the number who died at Andersonville. The people wanted someone to hold accountable and they found that…

Designed to Heal: The Connecticut General Hospital for the Insane

…plan. Patients able to comply with hospital regimens occupied the wards closest to the central building, while the hospital reserved the rooms at the ends of the wings—farthest from the…

The Art of Burying the Dead: Exploring Connecticut’s Historic Cemeteries

…in the site, yet only 415 people are represented with gravestones. Hiring stone-cutters to inscribe gravestones was expensive and the majority of people could not afford it. Death’s Head Adorns…

Improving Sea Transportation: Guilford Goes About it the Light Way

…later for $325.00. Faulkner’s Island Lighthouse – National Register of Historic Places Faulkner’s Island Lighthouse Faulkner’s island played a significant role in the federal government’s plan to improve transportation safety…

Connecticut Yankee Brings Power to the People

…decades of reliable service to Connecticut—pumping out over 100 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity over its lifetime—until both economic and safety concerns eventually brought about the plant’s decommissioning. The Connecticut Yankee…

The Great Danbury State Fair & Early 20th-Century Outdoor Advertising

…secret was out. Across his back on a sheet of oil cloth, was painted a legend that told all who read that the Danbury Fair would open next week. The…

Hidden Nearby: John Brown’s Torrington Birthplace

…site became a part of the Connecticut African American Freedom Trail, and in 2000 the site was acquired by the Torrington Historical Society. Peter Vermilyea, who teaches history at Housatonic…

Southbury Takes On the Nazis

…to the Hartford Courant, plans called for construction of a youth hostel, “five or six acre swimming pool,” and facilities capable of supporting 1,100 people. Designers also planned to alter…

The Free Consent of the People: Thomas Hooker and the Fundamental Orders

…conquest. Ordinary people had little, and usually no, voice in selecting their leaders or making their laws. The Puritans whom Thomas Hooker had led to settle in Hartford just a…

Video: The Story of the Salisbury Iron District

YouTube – The story of the Salisbury Iron District. Sharon Historical Society https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgPocrRQAak Traces of Connecticut’s iron age can still be found in the state’s northwest corner where its production…

The Incident of the Stonington Schooner ‘Breakwater’: A View from Indian Country

…the captain, had left the schooner to visit Port Louis when Vernet seized the Breakwater. Though a remarkable turn of events, the first mate, Oliver York, and others were able…

Charles Goodyear

…In 1844, after establishing the Naugatuck India-Rubber Company, Goodyear patented his vulcanization process—a discovery that has made possible a range of indispensible commercial products, from car tires to sneaker treads….

A Separate Place: The New Haven Colony, 1638-1665

…Puritan minister who fled to Holland to escape persecution by the established Church of England. Like Hooker, Davenport decided to immigrate to America in search of religious freedom, and like…

“Something to Show for Our Work”: Building Brainard Airport

…to fame are visits by some of the early 20th century’s greatest aviators—including Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh—who landed there to great acclaim. For its first decade, officials limited the…

The “Red Scare” in Connecticut

…garage where Russian immigrants met on a regular basis, and authorities figured they must be up to no good, learning how to construct “infernal machines,” as homemade bombs became known….

Ernest Borgnine: Breaking the Hollywood Mold

…Station Zebra, The Dirty Dozen, The Wild Bunch, and The Poseidon Adventure, while also playing the lead character in the television comedy McHale’s Navy for four years beginning in 1962….

Ellis Ruley: Art that Celebrated Life

…to paint their window screens. One often saw paintings of animals, birds, and tropical plants on black masonry paper hung around the Ruley home. Still, the neighborhood proved less than…

Boot Blacks and the Struggle to Survive in Hartford

…shoe leather,” Dominic told the council. The bootblacks’ younger brothers and sisters ran barefoot on the hot summer streets, he said. The remains of an official “BB” mark painted on…

Thomas Hooker

…his Puritan beliefs, however, encouraged Hooker to immigrate to America. In 1636, three years after his arrival in Boston, Hooker and one hundred members of his congregation headed south and…

The Importance of Being Puritan: Church and State in Colonial Connecticut

…Saybrook in 1635. Hooker and his party arrived in Hartford in 1636. A Puritan congregation led by John Davenport established New Haven as a separate colony in 1638. Settlers of…

Florence Griswold’s Home: A Story of Perseverance and Community

By Rena Tobey Houses can have a life cycle, just like the people who occupy them. In Connecticut, one of the most interesting and important house stories belongs to the…

Hope for the West: The Life and Mission of Lyman Beecher

…While Beecher was a leading religious revivalist, social reformer, and shaper of American religious identity in the 19th century, his legacy exceeds that of his ministry. Of the 13 children…

“The Basque Game in Town”: The Heyday of Jai Alai in Connecticut

…flowing into the sport helped create a market for it in Connecticut, it led to a certain level of disdain between the players and spectators, who did not always appreciate…

Speaking under the Open Sky: Frederick Douglass in Connecticut

…had Douglass begun than a hostile “Connecticut Yankee,” who bragged he owned many slaves, began heckling him. Southern passengers then chimed in and a fight broke out with Douglass supporters….

One of the Honored Dead: General J. K. F. Mansfield

…charge of the defenses of Washington. Mortally Wounded at the Battle of Antietam In September 1862, as Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia into Union territory hoping to strike…

Hartford and New Haven: A Tale of Two Capitals

…a new capitol building on the site. In the fall of 1873, Hartford emerged victorious, becoming Connecticut’s sole capital city, effective in 1875. Edward Williams Clay, State House, Hartford, Connecticut….

Vietnam Protests in Connecticut

…Haven, for example, organized events at the Ingall’s Skating Rink protesting the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) program on the Yale campus. New Haven was also the site of events…

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire: Connecticut Lessons from a Tragedy

…laws that existed, he reported, lacked enforcement. A spokesman for the Manufacturers’ Association, however, thought the present laws sufficient. A legislative move to reduce children’s work hours to 58 hours…

A Life Lived in a Rapidly Changing World: Samuel L. Clemens

…time period and the people who lived in it. As Sam once wrote‚ “Supposing is good‚ but finding out is better.” This article is courtesy of The Mark Twain House…

When Bozrah Provided Comfort to the Nation

…Spells End to Historic Mills in Fitchville In 1950 the Berman Brothers Realty Company bought the Bozrah mill site in hopes of leasing out its electric turbines and boilers to…

Olin Library and The Debate About Open Space at Wesleyan University

…earlier designed the house of the Eclectic Society, a co-ed fraternity founded at Wesleyan. Bacon’s expansion plan for Wesleyan extended beyond designing the buildings; it considered how the land around…

Killingworth’s Automated Attraction – Who Knew?

…the figures moved at all hours of the day and night—creating quite the spectacle and drawing visitors from across the country. A 1906 article in the Los Angeles Herald describes…

Alse Young Executed for Witchcraft – Today in History: May 26

…Square in Hartford, now the site of the Old State House. Alse Young was not the only person in Connecticut executed for the crime of witchcraft. Mary Johnson of Wethersfield…

Sarah Pierce’s Litchfield Female Academy

…several academies existed for girls, few proved more influential than Sarah Pierce’s Litchfield Female Academy. George Catlin, Sarah Pierce, portrait miniature, watercolor, ca. 1825 – Litchfield Historical Society Pierce was…

The Forlorn Soldier

…environmental degradation, causing it to lose its hands, rifle, bayonet, and part of its face. Although there were many people who admired this Civil War relic, there were many times…

The Old Brownstone Soldier

…brownstone soldier claimed that people rejected the statue because the wrong foot, the right foot, was forward. It is nearly impossible, however, to imagine that Charles Conrads, an experienced soldier…

Civil War Monuments and Memorials in and Around the State Capitol

…all to learn from and enjoy. If you would like to learn more about Connecticut in the Civil War, please visit our Civil War topics page, pick up Dr. Warshauer’s…

The Long, Ambiguous History of Connecticut’s Blue Laws

…laws, were intended to be read satirically or as a legitimate historical profile. Historians note that as a loyalist Anglican who had been intimidated and forced to leave his wealthy…

A 1947 Movie Details the Unsolved Murder of a Bridgeport Priest

…no one called for medical attention for nearly 10 minutes. The priest died two hours later at St. Vincent’s Hospital. Twelve thousand people attended Dahme’s funeral several days later. Then…

Orville Platt Helps Define International Relations after the Spanish-American War

…the Senate Four Moulthrop & Williams, Orville H. Platt, 1862, cartes-de-visite – Connecticut State Library, Connecticut General Assembly Portraits, PG 540 In 1879, the legislature elected Platt to serve in…

The Language of the Unheard: Racial Unrest in 20th-Century Hartford

…at the civil rights table. At the March 11th meeting, both the public and private sectors received harsh criticism. “Negroes are being deprived of basic rights,” said one leader, while…

Pope Park – Yesterday and Today

…in trust and established along the city’s periphery. Frog Hollow Before 1850 the area in which Pope Park resides (now known as “Frog Hollow”) was mainly farmland. It sat on…

Carl Sandburg, Poet from the Grassroots, Reaches Connecticut Audiences

…in Washington, Connecticut, bought some of Sandburg’s herd. The goats—Babette, Coty, and Tenu—eventually returned to North Carolina when Sandburg’s home became a national historic site. Today, however, if the general…

Breaking the Mold: Tradition and Innovation in the Work of Elbert Weinberg

…of arms holding aloft a shofar (a ceremonial ram’s horn) assumes the shape of the Hebrew letter “chai,” symbolizing “life.” Metal Bride, metal statue by Elbert Weinberg on view in…

Nathan Hale: The Man and the Legend

…Hall at Yale, where Hale lived as a student. Nathan Hale Homestead, Coventry – Hartford Daily Photo Hale’s parents built what is now the Hale Homestead in Coventry in 1776,…

Intertwining Family Businesses

…on the site. He opened it to the public but Schmitt’s vision only met with modest success. Three years after his death in 1998, developers purchased Johnsonville and tried turning…

Wesleyan Hills Helps Redefine Suburbia

…like Levittown, were tracts of uniform homes on rectangular lots with minimal landscaping. These affordable homes gave the middle class access to the American Dream, though they left some dissatisfied….

The Ku Klux Klan in Connecticut

…however, crowds 10 to 20 times larger gathered to protest their presence. The Invisible Empire also set up the Klan Youth Corps, a group for young supporters, and leaflets published…

Mariann Wolcott and Ralph Earl – Opposites Come Together and Make History

By Rena Tobey Imagine a Loyalist to the British king sitting for hours opposite a rebel who fought to overturn British rule. The ratification of the United States Constitution in…

Newtown

…buttons, combs, folding boxes, and fire hoses. The town was also the site of mica and feldspar mines. Industry declined during the 20th century, and Newtown became a residential community…

The Deplorable History of Hartford’s Seyms Street Jail

…jail had a reputation for operating under miserable conditions, offering numerous sanitary and human rights violations, and it eventually became the subject of legislative scrutiny, lawsuits, and regular protests. In…

Julian Alden Weir: The “Heart” of American Impressionism

…art, he moved to France to continue his education at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, learning from artists Jean-Leon Gerome and Jules Bastien-Lepage. Originally conservative in his art, Weir soon began…

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Rosamond Danielson: Windham County Suffragist and Community Leader

…home front mobilization to fundraising in support of female education. Her dedicated spirit, strong commitment to improving the lives of Connecticut’s citizens and institutions, and effective leadership skills allowed her…

The Minute Man, Westport CT

…farmer-turned-soldier—with his powder horn and musket at the ready—kneeling atop a grassy pedestal that rose some six feet above the roadway. The monument was erected to honor the heroism of…

The Wallingford Oneida Community

…was sold to the Freemasons in 1894 as a home for its elderly members. Between 1912 and 1914, the profitable cutlery business shifted to Sherrill, New York. Meanwhile, the firm…

Marian Anderson

…American Revolution refusing to let her sing in Constitution Hall in 1939 that added her name to the national debate on race. Shortly after, she sang to an estimated 75,000…

The 1961 Hartford Hospital Fire

…Connecticut Safety Code by limiting smoking and banning flammable building materials in hospitals. The Hartford Hospital underwent a $600,000 fire safety renovation that became a model for other hospitals in…

The Rise and Fall of Manufacturing in Bridgeport: The Case of Bryant Electric

…demanded an eight-hour workday and overtime pay after forty hours. After two weeks, the workers won their demands. Bryant’s workers elected the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America…

The Seth Wetmore House: A Storied Structure of 18th Century Middletown

…to the people who traveled through it. A Home For a “River God” Called a “national treasure” by some local historians, the house was built by Seth Wetmore, a merchant,…

LGBTQ+ Mental Health Treatment in the 20th Century

…the study of how to control and arrange reproduction to “breed” or “breed out” heritable characteristics of human genes that are deemed desirable or undesirable. Racist, classist, ableist, and homophobic…

Maritime History: The Founding of the United States Coast Guard Academy

…undeniable historic significance, and grants Bachelor of Science degrees. Additionally, it is the only branch of the United States armed services that operates under the Department of Homeland Security (rather…

Civic Center Roof Collapses – Today in History: January 18

…time of the incident the arena was home to Connecticut hockey team the Hartford Whalers and hosted large events, including UConn men’s basketball games. Known today as the XL center,…

The Connecticut Houses that Ended Up in Massachusetts

…advent of motorized vehicles, house moving has been a relatively common practice. People moved houses or other buildings for numerous reasons, including historic preservation. To protect the structure and historical…

The Merger That Was Not Meant To Be: Yale University and Vassar College

…Yale Daily News, November 21, 1967 – Yale Daily News Yale and Vassar both started as single-sex colleges. During the mid-20th century, however, single-sex education there became less popular for…

Banner Lodge: A Vacation Playground for an Excluded Population

…when middle-class families began taking summer vacations, often staying for weeks at cottage communities or resorts at the shore or in the mountains. There was, however, a dark side to…

James Merrill: Connecticut’s First Poet Laureate

By Emily Clark As one of the leading American poets of the 20th century and Connecticut’s first poet laureate, James Merrill won multiple national awards and penned poetry and prose…

Derby Day on the Housatonic

…facilities for both female and male athletes. While Derby Day no longer exists to the extravagant levels of the mid-20th century, Yale Rowing continues to call Lake Housatonic home. Joseph…

Connecticut History Day 2024: Turning Points in History

…in New Haven became the site of the world’s first commercial telephone exchange, forever changing how communication and long-distance commercial operations worked. While Hartford’s Samuel Colt is known best for…

Connecticut College for Women: The State’s First All-Female Institution of Higher Learning

…social roles gradually shifted—women increasingly desired and pursued the opportunity for a college education. Though some elite all-male colleges began creating affiliated female colleges, one Connecticut school made a startling…

Charlton Publications: Song Lyric Printing Business to Major Player in the Comic Book Industry

…Buffalo.” The 35-cent price seemed unreasonable to Santangelo, however, so he decided to purchase 50 songs and have their lyrics printed on inexpensive sheet paper. He sold the lyric sheets…

Middletown’s Beman Triangle: A Testament to Black Freedom and Resilience

…Beman Triangle in recent decades because it was Leverett Beman who surveyed and divided it into eleven small house lots. Beman and two other families of color—the Jeffrey and Brooks…

A Connecticut Slave in George Washington’s Army

…successful businessman who diligently worked to emancipate his four children. His story is one that provides valuable insight into the legacy of slavery in Connecticut. As an enslaved person, Nero…

First New-Gate Prisoner – Today in History: December 22

A view of the guard house and mines, East Granby, 1781 – Connecticut Historical Society On December 22, 1773, John Hinson the state’s first inmate arrived at New-Gate Prison. Ironically…

The Battle for Cockenoe Island

…they intended to leave a portion of the island available to the public for recreational use. Grassroots Activism Returns Cockenoe Island to the Town of Westport Local legislators and journalists…

Branford Gets On the Trolley

…of San Francisco developed a system of cable cars to replace the horse and mule power that proved ineffective and dangerous on the city’s hilly streets. By the turn of…

Muzzy Field: A Historic Ball Park Survives in a Post-Industrial City

…name just a few of its assets. Bristol is also home to Muzzy Field, a hundred-plus-year-old ballpark with a remarkable past. Muzzy Field in the 20th Century In 1912, local…

The White Plague: Progressive-Era Tuberculosis Treatments in Connecticut

…Florida, the American Southwest, or Switzerland, while the poorer victims relied on a statewide system of sanatoriums. Hartford County Sanatorium in Newington, the New Haven County Sanatorium in Meriden, and…

A Baltic Mill Helps Found a New Town

…1960s. While its cotton-producing days were over, the mill facility did go on to serve as a mail-order house in the 1970s, and then briefly as a home to a…

Farmington

…can see several sites associated with the abolitionist movement and Amistad trial of 1841. Hill-Stead Museum, Miss Porter’s School and other early buildings preserve the town’s historic character while corporate…

Groton

…1964. Throughout Groton’s history, maritime industry has fueled the community’s growth—from whale and seal hunting in the 1800s to the 1954 launch of the USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear-powered…

Killingly

…town began as several mill villages sited on its abundant waterways, including the Five-Mile and Quinebaug Rivers. In the early half of the 19th century, Killingly was the largest producer…

The Legend of the Charter Oak

…on Halloween in a Hartford meetinghouse that stood on the site that the Old State House occupies today. According to legend, the candles were blown out in the midst of…

Prudence Crandall

…left the state but remained committed to social reform. Today, the Prudence Crandall Museum is a site on the Connecticut Women’s Heritage Trail as well as the Connecticut Freedom Trail….

Death and Mourning in the Civil War Era

…Atwater, taking his cue from then Civil War nurse Clara Barton, succeeded in obtaining copies of Union soldier interments while employed as a hospital worker. He was able to identify…

Dynamic Tensions: Conservation and Development up to the 1920s

…Famous alumni of Yale’s School of Forestry include Aldo Leopold, who pioneered studies in the field of ecology, and Dean Henry Graves, who succeeded Pinchot as US Forest Service Chief….

The Danbury Fair, 1869-1981

…the fair. In 1946, a banked speedway replaced the horse track and held midget automobile races. That same year, administrators added a marine speedway for boats. The speedway eventually accommodated…

Medicine Woman Gladys Tantaquidgeon and Mohegan Cultural Renewal

…also championed the protection of indigenous knowledge across the United States. Tantaquidgeon’s lineage is traceable to Uncas, the famous 17th-century Mohegan Sachem who became a controversial figure in Native American…

Oystering in Connecticut, from Colonial Times to the 21st Century

…of early European settlers, who quickly learned how to cultivate and harvest oysters from the Long Island Sound. Going for the best: H.C. Rowe & Co. have over 600 acres…

The Successes and Struggles of New Haven Entrepreneur William Lanson

…the people of color” in a then-isolated corner of northeastern New Township. He called the facility the Liberian Hotel, re-located his hostelry there and planned to have sailboats for oystering…

Andover to Woodstock: How Connecticut Ended Up with 169 Towns

…resident Native tribes. The history of such sales is, however, fraught with questions. Transactions, even voluntary ones, typically took place within a legal system defined and controlled by the English…

The Path to Ashford’s Progress

…hub but is instead known as a residential community and the home of the June Norcross Webster Scout Reservation and the late-Paul Newman’s The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp….

Branford’s History Is Set in Stone

Benjamin Green opened Branford’s first quarry in 1858. The unusual pink granite found at the Stony Creek site in Branford brought in numerous competitors, and in less than 50 years…

The Rogerenes Leave Their Mark on Connecticut Society

…Ledyard was the home during the mid-18th century of John Waterhouse, a leader within the Rogerenes. A 1904 account of the Rogerene’s history notes that Quakertown believers in the early…

Waterbury Burns – Today in History: February 2

…store was a tall structure to the rear and westward, occupied by the Salvation Army Barracks and a Turkish bath. A moment or two later the flames leaped back to…

Wethersfield Prison Blues

…offered religious services and Sunday school classes. Cell block for women prisoners, Connecticut State Prison, ca. 1910-1920 – Connecticut Historical Society Both male and female prisoners were housed in separate…

The Day Four Trains Collided in East Thompson

Thompson, Connecticut, was the site of one of the most horrific railway accidents in American history. The catastrophe claimed the lives of two railway workers, injured hundreds of passengers, and…

Hidden Nearby: The Bantam Lake Ice House

…crop. Harvesters used specialty tools, including gang saws, chisels, and saw plows to cut the ice into blocks and then transport the blocks to ice houses for keeping. Ice houses…

Hidden Nearby: Goshen’s Liberty Pole

…of Liberty holds a liberty pole topped with a liberty (or Phyrgian) cap in her left hand. 1857 Liberty half dime One wonders about Goshen’s liberty pole; it seems unlikely…

The Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch, Hartford

…Keller (George Keller’s grandson) who spoke at the ceremony, and Civil War re-enactors who fired a 21-gun salute. Amanda P. Roy holds a master of arts in History from Central…

1938 Hurricane Fuels Charcoal Business – Who Knew?

…left after the slow burning of long wooden slabs. The slabs are fed into the top of a kiln by a conveyor and arranged pyramid-style inside, by hand. The production…

The Tariffville Disaster – Today in History: January 15

…Protestant evangelist Dwight Moody and singer and organist David Sankey. The accident happened ½ mile west of the Tariffville station as the first locomotive, having passed over the first half…

West Cornwall Covered Bridge: An Icon of New England Craftsmanship

…carries vehicle traffic over the Housatonic River on Connecticut Route 128) is listed on the National Register of Historic places and has been a symbol of the area’s rural heritage…

“U.S. Troops in Viet Nam, but none in Selma” – Today in History: March 9

On March 9, 1965, protesters held an all-night vigil in front of Connecticut Governor John Dempsey’s residence. Representatives of Hartford’s civil rights movement, led by members of the North End…

Science

…USS Nautilus submarine, in 1954. Today, research teams at Yale University, the University of Connecticut, other educational centers, and corporate sites are working on advances in genetics, aerospace technology, sustainable…

Osborn Correctional Institution

When the Connecticut Correctional Institution opened in Somers in 1963, it represented yet another chapter in the state’s history of housing those convicted of crimes. This new facility, now known…

Levi Pease, Stage Route and Transportation Innovator

Somers, Connecticut, a small town near the state’s border with Massachusetts, was the site of a revolution in 18th-century transportation. At the close of the Revolutionary War, Levi Pease, a…

James Mars’ Words Illuminate the Cruelty of Slavery in New England

…Sale of the thin pamphlet aided him financially in his later years, and local residents later recalled how Mars, hobbled with leg problems, would travel slowly from door to door,…

Hilda Crosby Standish, Early Proponent of Women’s Reproductive Health

…Missouri. Next, she accepted a five-year appointment in the Margaret Williamson Hospital & Women’s Christian Medical College of Shanghai. While in Shanghai, she taught obstetrics and worked in the hospital…

General Joseph R. Hawley Helps Commemorate Connecticut’s Civil War Soldiers

…devotion.” Hawley also made sure that people remembered the war in a manner that honored the men who fought. In Manchester in 1880, he declared, “None of you who see…

Charles Goodyear and the Vulcanization of Rubber

…rubber factories that had sprung up in the city. According to biographers, while working at the Eagle India Rubber Company, Goodyear accidentally combined rubber and sulfur upon a hot stove….

Historic Preservation

…in the state’s historic places. Early preservation focused on houses, often restored by women’s organizations and made into museums. The Works Progress Administration drove preservation efforts in the early 20th…

Barn Design in Connecticut

By Holly V. Izard Farms of the past were agricultural complexes: a house, a barn or two, perhaps an outbuilding such as a corn crib or detached woodshed, and maybe…

Ferry Boats a Way of Life in Early Connecticut

…11 well-used ferry crossings. These were located on the Connecticut River at Windsor, Hartford, Wethersfield, Haddam, and Old Saybrook; the Saugatuck in Fairfield; the Housatonic in Stratford; the Quinnipiac in…

John Ledyard, Connecticut’s Most Famous Traveler

…end, he died in an Egyptian hovel in January 1789 while preparing to explore the African continent. Ledyard’s passing saddened his many friends and admirers who included such luminaries as…

Connecticut Origins Shape New Light Luminary Jonathan Edwards

…sisters were known for their intelligence, learning, and wit. In their home, where Timothy ran a preparatory school for local boys, Jonathan and his sisters were trained in classical learning….

Painter, Muralist, Sculptor Sol LeWitt born – Today in History: September 9

On September 9, 1928, the American artist Sol LeWitt was born in Hartford. A long-time Chester resident, LeWitt, whose work includes drawings and sculptures, is identified with the late 20th…

The Stonington Battle Flag

…shoulders of Jeremiah Holmes and nailed a large American flag to a pole above the battery. It was a banner of defiance that waved until the British sailed away on…

The Derby Silver Company

…in Silver 1847-1947, Connecticut Yankees and a Noble Metal (1947) by Earl Chapin May. Courtesy of the Derby Historical Society. This article originally appeared on the Derby Historical Society’s website.…

The Complicated Realities of Connecticut and the Civil War

…that battle, “Oh! My heart is sick and sad. Blood and wounds and death are before my eyes; of those who are my friends, comrades, brothers…. Another tremendous, terrible, murderous…

First New-Gate Prisoner – Today in History: December 22

A view of the guard house and mines, East Granby, 1781 – Connecticut Historical Society On December 22, 1773, John Hinson, the state’s first inmate, arrived at New-Gate Prison. Ironically…

A Godmother to Ravensbrück Survivors

…do to earn three medals of honor from the French government, including the Legion of Honor, the highest French distinction, awarded to those who have distinguished themselves through civilian or…

Cornwall

Cornwall, in Litchfield County, is located on the Housatonic River in northwestern Connecticut and contains a portion of Mohawk State Forest. Formerly a part of Lebanon, the town was incorporated…

First Commercial Telephone Exchange – Today in History: January 28

…or businesses who leased telephones in pairs to connect, for example, one’s home with a business. They also needed to arrange for telegraph contractors to string the wires between the…

Marian Anderson’s Role in the Civil Rights Movement

…Spirituals. “There seemed to be people as far as the eye could see,” Anderson recalled. At Home in Connecticut Looking for peace and privacy, Anderson and her eventual husband (they…

The Beadle Family Murders – Today in History: December 11

…the muzzle of a pistol into each ear and fired both pistols at the same time. The balls passed through his head in opposite directions, ending the life of William…

William Redfield Born – Today in History: March 26

…northeast, but trees to the west had fallen in the opposite direction. From these observations, he was able to demonstrate that tropical storms move in a cyclonic path and his…

Freighter Worcester Launched – Today in History: April 5

Fred. J. Hoertz, Your work means victory: Build another one, 1917, United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation On April 5, 1919, the steel-hulled freighter Worcester was launched in Groton….

Buffalo Bill Cody Visits the Monument of Uncas – Today in History: July 2

…shows in the 1880s, was touring the Northeast when he came to lay a wreath on the site of the Uncas monument, a memorial to the Mohegan sachem. Cody was…

Creating Candlewood Lake – Today in History: July 15

…the 1,400 laborers on the project were housed in four temporary work camps built at the site. In all, there were 35 families who owned property in the area to…

Danbury Prison Protest – Today in History: August 11

…house conscientious objectors, men who, because of religious or ethical beliefs, refused to participate in the war. At the time one out of six inmates held in United States’ federal…

Ashford

…Ashford from Boston to Connecticut. Notable sites in this largely residential community include the June Norcross Webster Scout Reservation and the late-Paul Newman’s The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp….

Old Saybrook

…Saybrook in 1636. Named for Lord Saye and Sele and Lord Brooke, Saybrook was its own colony until 1644 (when it joined the Connecticut Colony). It then incorporated as a…

Salem

…sites in the country. Today, Salem is a small bedroom community and is known as the home of adventurer Hiram Bingham III, who discovered Machu Picchu, and his son Hiram…

World-renowned Maker of Axes: The Collins Company of Canton

…In his diaries, Samuel Collins credits much of the company’s success to Elisha K. Root, a “mechanical genius” from Chicopee, Massachusetts, who in 1832 started at the company as a…

The Early Years of the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company

…few years earlier had been home to the Pope-Hartford Electric Automobile Company and began to work on the Navy’s engine. Wasp and Hornet Feature Innovative Air-cooled Radial Design Rentschler’s vision…

Steam Railroads Transform Connecticut Travel and Commerce

…had become generally safe, convenient, and reliable. Because railroad construction required numerous water crossings, bridge building transformed during the railroad decades from a trial-and-error craft into an engineering profession. Many…

East Granby

…part of Simsbury, the town still boasts a storied site from that era: an 18th-century copper mine that became America’s first prison. During the Revolutionary War, its inmates included British…

East Hartford

…products vital to the effort. Today, the site of the company’s former airfield is home to the popular sports and entertainment stadium, Rentschler Field, one of East Hartford’s chief attractions….

Griswold

…Griswold, incorporated in 1815. In 1895, Jewett City incorporated as a borough of the town. Today, Griswold is home to Hopeville Pond State Park, former site of a woolen mill….

Montville

…century many manufacturing firms ran along the banks of the Oxoboxo River. Today, the town is made up of the villages of Chesterfield, Mohegan, Oakdale, and Uncasville. The Mohegan people,…

Plymouth

…to national recognition. Later, the Eagle Lock Company added to the industrial base. Today, the town retains much of its rural character and colonial charm. The diversified buildings, sites, and…

Putnam

…the area along with a railway line. Today, Putnam’s historic attractions include its River Mills Heritage Trail, which includes six factory sites and the mansion of textile executive George Morse….

The Industrial Revolution Comes to Jewett City

…grist, and saw mills, so the spot seemed well-suited to the Tibbets’ textile enterprise: the Jewett City Cotton Manufacturing Company. However, the firm struggled for years before it was sold…

Pequot War

…Connecticut is proof of a people’s endurance and a collaborative project funded by the National Park Service is under way to identify and preserve sites associated with the Pequot War….

Hidden Nearby: Jedediah Strong’s Milestone

…the bank’s lawn. However, when it was erected 225 years ago, travelers, moving only as fast as their horse or feet could take them, almost certainly saw the engraved stone:…

“An Admirable Portrait” of Frederick Douglass

…for sale, Douglass delivered a speech on “The National Crisis” at Hartford’s Allyn Hall in which he discussed the rights of African Americans, especially African American soldiers, who were being…

The Frost House Once Offered Travelers a Warm Welcome

On Marion Avenue in the southwest corner of Southington sits a white clapboard, two-story house decorated in the Greek Revival style. Known as the Levi B. Frost House (or the…

W. J. Squire’s Gill Net Manufactory in East Haddam

…known as Goodspeed’s Landing and was a few hundred yards east of the present site of the Goodspeed Opera House. Mesh gill nets had openings of various sizes, depending upon…

A World in Motion: Artist and Sculptor Alexander Calder

…the 1930s. Alexander Calder, Gallows and Lollipops, painted steel, 1960 – Yale University Art Gallery In 1937, Calder completed Devil Fish, the first large-scale stabile enlarged from a small model,…

A Woman Who Developed Tolerance: Leila T. Alexander

…July. Among other recipients was Leila T. Alexander, the only African American receiving a medal. She was from Waterbury and was a member of the Connecticut War Council. Alexander Honored…

Fighting Sons of Erin: Connecticut’s Irish Regiment in the Civil War

…the most visible testimony to the patriotism of the Irish-born, who were willing to fight and if necessary die for their new homeland. Diana Ross McCain formerly Head of the…

A Unique Island Attraction in Bridgeport

…amusement house. Firefighters, unable to get a hook and ladder truck across the narrow bridge, climbed to the top of the roller coaster to put out the fire. This time…

Harkness Memorial Park Offers a Glimpse into Early 20th Century Wealth

…City. The grounds included a 9-hole golf course and a garage that housed 5 cars, 3 limousines, and a truck used to cart 1,500 pounds of ice to the home…

North Branford Vied for the Title of “Shredded Coconut Capital of the World” – Who Knew?

…that patents granted to North Branford residents included one for a device used for paring coconut meats in 1875. An industrial invention rather than a tool for the home kitchen,…

Greenwich Emergency Responders: On the Move Overtime

…riding a motorcycle west on Putnam Avenue, collides with an eastbound automobile. Hereafter motorcycle use at night is deemed too hazardous. 1929 Connecticut state legislature imposes upon local police departments…

Hidden Nearby: Henry Obookiah’s Cornwall Grave

…Hopu, a Hawaiian cabin boy who taught his fellow islander English. Henry Obookiah’s grave in the Cornwall Cemetery along Route 4 – Peter Vermilyea While in New Haven, Opukaha’ia studied…

Connecticut’s Christmas Town

…envelope and the words, “Merry Christmas from the little Town of Bethlehem.” Hearing about this innocuous gesture of holiday spirit, Johnson’s uncle wrote a story about it that ended up…

Ending the Danbury Shakes: A Story of Workers’ Rights and Corporate Responsibility

…from the article “Danbury Leads the World in Hatting” by J. Moss Ives Felt is a textile made by compressing, rather than weaving, fibers together. At the time Danbury’s hat-making…

The Many Layers to Onion Farming in Westport

…New York City. Many attributes that make Westport a desirable residential community, however, once made it home to a thriving onion farming industry. Boats and railroad cars full of onions…

Preserving Connecticut’s Natural Beauty: Connecticut’s First State Parks

…years of the state park system. While the little map would hardly have served as a useful guide for actually finding the parks, it shows a multitude of sites, scattered…

Reckoning with the Dutch: the Treaty of Hartford, 1650

…Hope—the House of Hope—located on the Connecticut River at the mouth of the Little River had been established in 1633; Thomas Hooker and his party had arrived three years later,…

Setting the Table in Historic Style: Connecticut Views on Staffordshire China

…Cole’s earliest patrons. Views of the Samuel Russell House in Middletown and the New Haven Green are by Alexander Jackson Davis (1803-1892), then a young architect at the beginning of…

The Who, What, Where, When and Why of Archives: How to Use Them

…information that they get from the National Archives and Records Administration. People who do research on Ancestry.com use archives every time they log into the site! An example of a…

Transit of Venus: German Scientists Visit Hartford

…Society Trinity College Serves as Observation Site Hartford played host to four scientists from the 1882 German Imperial Commission. The Germans arrived in Hartford on November 2 in anticipation of…

Connecticut and American Impressionism

…because of Elmer MacRae, who had arrived as an art student and stayed on at the Holley House after his marriage to the Holleys’ daughter Constant. Theodore Robinson, Autumn Sunlight…

Peter’s Rock: North Haven History with a View

Peter’s Rock, reaching a height of 373 feet above sea level, is the highest point in North Haven. It is part of a 20-mile chain of trap rock upheavals, stretching…

Philip Johnson in His Own Words

…was the only part I flunked. I had no trouble with structures. Oh, I did have a little trouble at first with [site] planning. …Yes, with arranging: “Arrange these houses…

Benjamin Dutton Beecher had a Penchant for Invention

…sought to replace the steamship’s cumbersome paddlewheel with a less bulky form of propulsion better suited to the constraints of canals and less vulnerable to attack in military engagements. A…

Connecticut Arms the Union

…Sharps rifle, .52 caliber, percussion, single-shot; Model 1860 Spencer rifle, 7-shot, .56-.56-caliber rim-fire cartridge; Model 1860 Henry rifle, 15-shot, .44-caliber rim-fire cartridge; (right) Model 1862 Joslyn carbine, single-shot, .56-caliber rim-fire…

The Rise of the “Second Home” Community in Sharon – Who Knew?

…on their properties so that they could rent their homes in the summer to wealthy visitors. A version of this article first appeared on the Sharon Historical Society Web site….

The Ebenezer Avery House – Who Knew?

…Battle of Groton Heights on September 6, 1781. Because of its historic significance, the house was dismantled board by board and moved from its original site on Thames and Latham…

From the State Historian: Discovering the Explorer Hiram Bingham III

By Walter W. Woodward for Connecticut Explored Of all the Connecticans who have left their mark in distant places, perhaps none made a more lasting—or more controversial—impression than Hiram Bingham…

Murder on the Map: The Mysterious Death of Captain George M. Colvocoresses

By Tasha Caswell for Your Public Media The “murder map” is, at first glance, unremarkable—hand-drawn, it depicts a section of an unnamed town, one that contained various houses and businesses,…

Remembering Fredi Washington: Actress, Activist, and Journalist

…of the People’s Voice, established in 1942 by Adam Clayton Powell Jr., who married Fredi’s sister. Fredi was also active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People…

Today in History – Fales & Gray Explosion Underscores Need for a Hartford Hospital

…walls of the building for a hundred feet in length.” Workmen were buried in the rubble when the roof and walls caved in. Sixteen workers were killed, and “a great…

Road Signs of the Air

…of people. … The town may appear as a good place for a vacation, a home or a business. The air marker puts the town on the map.” The American…

Connecticut’s Naval Contributions to the Civil War

…later, wry report, “we proved she was not shot proof.” The poorly positioned Galena survived a withering 52 hits and could go no further in battle; she was, however, able…

Stepping Back in Time: North Stonington Village Historic District

…William Sisson House, Main Street, North Stonington Village Historic District – National Register of Historic Places What the mills left behind was a village full of residential and commercial structures…

Semi-Pro Baseball in Sharon – Who Knew?

…Sharon Baseball Team (known occasionally as the Cardinals) played against teams from Amenia, Millerton, Millbrook, Pine Plains, Lakeville, Salisbury, Canaan, and Winsted. After World War II, the team’s home base…

Norwich in Perspective

…New York City. Travelers found it accessible by ship and steamer, visible in both views at the wharf, and connected by two railroads, the Norwich and Worcester and the New…

Picture This: Seeing Connecticut in 3-D

…when travel was more difficult and expensive than it is today, these views provided a way for people to experience far-off locales in the comfort of their own homes. While…

Nancy Toney’s Lifetime in Slavery

…and Records Service Death and Legacy Seven years later, on December 19, 1857, Nancy died. Windsor’s death record lists her as an 82-year-old, single, colored female who was born at…

Diamonds of the Past: Hartford’s Lost Ball Parks

…Hendricxsen Avenue. This once-state-of-the-art park could hold 2,000 attendees in bleachers and grandstands around the foul lines. Horse-drawn carriages could park at the edge of the 600-by-400-foot field. The sale…

A Sign of the Times Blends Masonic and Patriotic Imagery

…luxury of their own building, and local taverns often assumed the role of hosting meetings. Luther Holcomb, a Granby mason, operated such a tavern in the Turkey Hills section of…

Julian Alden Weir

…his friends Childe Hassam and John Henry Twachtman, Weir abandoned the academic style in favor of impressionism. In 1883, he acquired a Connecticut farm, which served as his primary home…

A Patriotic Legacy in Print

By Michelle Shukis for Your Public Media Two hundred years ago, the United States was at war with Great Britain. On September 10, 1813, an American naval force led by…

Waterbury’s Holy Land

…USA Closes but Nostalgia for the Park Remained Strong During the height of its popularity, Holy Land USA attracted over 40,000 visitors per year. Greco, who lived on the property,…

Gifford Pinchot: Bridging Two Eras of National Conservation

…for those who would preserve vast stands of wilderness, said it would be unconscionable to dam the spectacularly beautiful Hetch Hetchy valley. A Practical Environmentalist View of Hetch Hetchy Dam,…

Hervey Brooks’s 19th-Century Pottery Barn

Hervey Brooks was an American potter and farmer who made red earthenware domestic products in Goshen for more than half a century. Brooks’s goods, now valuable antiques, served an important…

The Great Remedy: Picturing the Emancipation Proclamation

…big print undoubtedly took some time to produce. The Courant recommended the engraving as a “handsome addition to a home [picture] gallery.” The print was photographed and small carte-de-visite versions…

Connecticut’s Valley Forge: The Redding Encampment and Putnam Memorial State Park

…preserve the encampment site. Other tracts of land were either donated or purchased to complete the state park and its 42-foot granite obelisk was built in 1888. This article was…