Connecticut resident Silas Deane, not Benjamin Franklin, was responsible for winning French backing for the American Revolution, maintains law professor Joel Richard Paul in his new book, “Unlikely Allies, How a Merchant, a Playwright and a Spy Saved the American Revolution.” Read More
A skull that may have belonged to a Revolutionary War soldier was reburied at Milford Cemetery with full military honors Saturday. A crowd of over 100, many dressed in period garb, attended a funeral at the First United Church of Christ Congregational before proceeding to the cemetery. The skull was found near a site where 46 American soldiers, who were captured in the Battle of New York, died from smallpox. Read More
Two local history buffs have tracked down the skull of a Revolutionary War solder, reports the Connecticut Post.
Reenactors of the 2nd Connecticut Volunteer Heavily Artillery Regiment and 100 other Civil War reenactors gathered at Fort Nathan Hale to reenact the Battle of Port Royal in South Carolina, reports the New Haven Independent.
Preservationists and Milford city officials are trying to to save a deteriorating historic home from “demolition by neglect,” according to the Connecticut Post.
A new book by Carol Ann Brown, president of the Bethlehem Historical Society, featues photographs of Bethlehem. The book is available from Arcadia Publishing.
Settled in 1734, Bethlehem is a typical Litchfield hill town and retains much of its rural charm. Around its green are an old post tavern at the Woodward House, two historic churches, and the Bellamy-Ferriday House and Garden. Rev. Joseph Bellamy came to Bethlehem in 1738 and stayed to establish the first theological school in the country, educating Aaron Burr, James Morris, and later John C. Calhoun. In 1938, postmaster Earl Johnson designed a rubber stamp to adorn cards sent from the post office attached to his family’s general store.
This first cachet became an annual project and established Bethlehem as “the Christmas town.” In 1946, two Benedictine nuns came to stay with artist Lauren Ford while establishing the Abbey of Regina Laudis in a factory donated by local businessman Robert Leather. Every September for the last 85 years, the Bethlehem Fair
A generation before Salem, Connecticut suffered witch hunt hysteria.
State Historian Walter Woodward will give a muli-media presentation on Hartford witch hunts at the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum in Norwalk Sept. 27 at 2 p.m.
Why did people believe in witches? Why were most witches women? How could people be so afraid of witches’ powers that they were willing to kill their neighbors? How did the Hartford witch hunt change witchcraft prosecution in Connecticut and New England? You’ve always known about Salem; now learn about the rest of the story.
The University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington will unveil its new Hartford Medical Society Historical Library on Thursday, Sept. 10. The library has medical journals from their first volumes, manuscripts going back to the 17th century, and artifacts such as old vial cases and medicine chests, instruments and surgical tools, and a physician’s saddlebag.
The collection includes writings by Horace Wells, credited with being the first to use nitrous oxided as an anesthetic.
The open house starts at 3 p.m. in front of the Stowe Library. It will inclde tours and a scavenger hunt. Lynn Laskowski and Francis Coan from Tunxis Community College will present “Mark Twain and the “Majestic Literary Fossil,” at 4 p.m. in the Low Learning Center.
From the Hartford Courant http://www.courant.com/community/hc-community-articleresults,0,5942637,results.formprofile?Query=17348HC
This blog will cover history news and events in Connecticut and surrounding states – a clearing house of information for local history buffs and others looking for interesting things to do or learn about. Visit this blog find what historical societies, museums, and other organizations are planning. You’ll be able to learn about historical activities you can participate in, what historical events you can watch, and what historical articles are appearing in in newspapers and magazines.
