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Early Church Bell Founders

Church bells served many important functions in early New England. Consequently, skilled bellfounders in Connecticut found themselves in high demand.

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Alain and May White Memorial Boulder

Alain and May White Memorial Boulder

August 5, 2022 • Environment, Litchfield

Words of thanks on a stone marker in Litchfield highlight contributions of a brother and sister to land preservation.

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Dr. Daniel Sheldon of Litchfield, painted by Dickinson in 1831

Anson Dickinson: Milton’s Painter of Portrait Miniatures

July 31, 2022 • Featured Town/Topic, Arts, Litchfield

In the 1800s, watercolor portraits painted on small pieces of ivory were in vogue and miniaturists like Dickinson found a ready market for their craft.

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Connecticut State Park Picture Plan

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

Sherwood Island, Mount Tom, Macedonia Brook, and Kent Falls are among the earliest lands set aside as the parks movement took hold in the state.

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Soldier, Patriot, and Politician: The Life of Oliver Wolcott

Oliver Wolcott served in military in the Seven Years’ War and the American Revolution, but was also a popular member of the Continental Congress and governor of Connecticut.

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Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys

Ethan Allen Born – Today in History: January 10

On January 10, 1738, future hero of the Revolutionary War Ethan Allen was believed to have been born in the frontier village of Litchfield, Connecticut.

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Pulling Down the Statue of King George II, New York City

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

The story of Mariann Wolcott and Ralph Earl captures much of the complexity the Revolutionary War brought to the lives and interactions of ordinary citizens.

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Catharine Beecher, Champion of Women’s Education

Sister to two of the most famous figures of the 19th century–Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher–Catharine Esther Beecher achieved fame in her own right as an educator, reformer, and writer.

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Hidden Nearby: The Bantam Lake Ice House

Bantam Lake served a vital function as a supplier of ice that local residents used to preserve food when temperatures began to rise.

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Street sign for Gallows Lane

Gallows Lane and the Execution of Barnett Davenport

Tragic murders in 1780 that shocked the town of Washington and revealed humanity’s dark side.

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Sarah Pierce’s Litchfield Female Academy

June 26, 2021 • Education, Litchfield, Women

While several educational academies existed for girls in the years following the American Revolution, few proved more influential than Sarah Pierce’s Litchfield Female Academy.

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Harriet Beecher Stowe

Harriet Beecher Stowe Born – Today in History: June 14

On June 14, 1811, author Harriet Beecher Stowe was born in Litchfield.

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Oliver Wolcott Library

Modernism in Connecticut through Photographs

A creed as much as a style, Modernism rejected the forms of the past in favor of an architecture that reflected a new spirit of living.

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Litchfield’s Revolutionary War Soldiers’ Tree

In 1902, the Daughters of the American Revolution celebrated Arbor Day by planting a tree on the Litchfield Green to commemorate the town’s Revolutionary War soldiers.

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Litchfield Law School

The Litchfield Law School: Connecticut’s First Law School

The Litchfield Law School, founded in 1784 by Tapping Reeve, became the first professional law school in Connecticut.

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Looking Back: Tempest Tossed, the Story of Isabella Beecher Hooker

Isabella Beecher was a suffragist and spiritualist who shunned traditional female roles while alienating large parts of her family during her brother’s adultery scandal.

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Ralph Earl, Oliver Wolcott

Oliver Wolcott Dies – Today in History: December 1

On December 1, 1797, signer of the Declaration of Independence Oliver Wolcott died while serving his term as Connecticut’s governor.

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Combate de Cavite, 10 de Mayo 1898

The Colvocoresses Oak

September 11, 2020 • Environment, Litchfield, War and Defense

Litchfield remembers the Spanish-American War’s Battle of Manila Bay.

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The southeast block of West Street, Litchfield as it looked in the Civil War era, 1867

The Peace Movement in Litchfield

While the peace movement in Litchfield was short-lived, it provides a reminder of the disparity in public opinion during the first few turbulent months of the Civil War.

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Sign for the Temperance Hotel, ca. 1826-1842

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

Lyman Beecher was one of the most influential Protestant preachers of the 19th century, as well as father to some of the nation’s greatest preachers, writers, and social activists.

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The Cottage Girl by Nancy Hale a pupil of Sarah Pierce's school

Educator Sarah Pierce Born – Today in History: June 26

June 26, 2020 • Education, Litchfield, Women

On June 26, 1767, pioneering educator Sarah Pierce was born in Litchfield; during her long life, Pierce opened one of the nation’s first schools for women.

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Henry Ward Beecher, ca. 1866

Henry Ward Beecher Born – Today in History: June 24

June 24, 2020 • Belief, Litchfield

On June 24, 1813, Henry Ward Beecher was born in Litchfield to the well-known Beecher family.

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Horace Bushnell

Horace Bushnell Born – Today in History: April 14

April 14, 2020 • Horace Bushnell, Belief, Litchfield

On April 14, 1802, Horace Bushnell was born in Bantam and is often called the “father of American religious liberalism.”

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The Jedediah Strong Milestone

Hidden Nearby: Jedediah Strong’s Milestone

The Litchfield man behind this colonial-era mile marker led an accomplished but, ultimately, tragic life.

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Over Time: Litchfield’s Historical Population

December 30, 2013 • Hide Featured Image, Litchfield

Census data, from colonial times on up to the present, is a key resource for those who study the ways in which communities change with the passage of time.

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Litchfield's Constitution Oak

The Constitution Oak

Connecticut, the “Constitution State,” has a unique history of state constitutions. The “constitution” celebrated on our license plates is the Fundamental Orders of 1638.

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Video – Connecticut’s Cultural Treasures: Litchfield Historical Society

Connecticut’s Cultural Treasures is a series of 50 five-minute film vignettes that profiles a variety of the state’s most notable cultural resources.

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