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Gridley-Case cottages, 138-140 Main Street.
Photo by Brooke Martin.
Welcome to the Web site of the Farmington Historical Society.
Farmington, Connecticut, established in
1645, has a long, proud history -- one
that's interwoven with the history of the
nation. The town's heritage has been shaped
by the Tunxis Indians who first farmed the
land by the bend in the Farmington River;
by English settlers who traded with the
Indians; by the Amistad Africans who sought freedom
from slavery in Farmington; and by
abolitionists
who provided havens along the
"Underground
Railroad."
The town is what it is today
because of educators like Sarah Porter, who
started Miss Porter's School for girls in
1843; architects such as Theodate Pope, a
student of Porter's who built the home
that's now the Hill-Stead Museum; and
collectors like Alfred Pope -- one of the
first Americans to collect the Impressionist
paintings of Monet, Manet, Degas, and
Whistler -- and Wilmarth Sheldon Lewis, who
founded the Lewis Walpole Library.
Farmington has flourished through the
generations because of the work of
entrepreneurs and businesspeople, who built
the Farmington Canal in the early 1800s, promoted commerce and
brought industries to town; doctors, who led the fight against
smallpox and worked as pioneers in the field
of psychiatry; immigrants, who labored
in the mills in Unionville; farmers, whose
homesteads have been passed down through as
many as nine generations; town leaders; ministers; artists; and many others.
The town has also played an important part
in the nation's history in times of war.
From King Philip's Indian War in 1675 to the
present-day war in Iraq, Farmington has
provided soldiers and support. In the town's
"Memento Mori" cemetery,
there are
gravestones inscribed with the names of
twelve men who fought in the French and
Indian War, thirty-four
Revolutionary War
patriots, one
veteran of both the French and Indian
War and the American Revolution, and one Civil War soldier. A monument in
Riverside Cemetery includes the names of
twenty-one Civil War soldiers who fought at
Gettysburg, Antietam, Fort Wagner and
Winchester.
Like the river flowing through the town,
Farmington's history
is always near at hand,
seldom far from view, linking past and present. The Historical Society,
located at 138 Main Street, is committed to
studying, celebrating and preserving that
history. We invite all who are
interested in the town's heritage to
join the society.
View our 2008
calendar of events and programs. For
more information about the society, please
contact us.
Farmington Bicentennial
Quilt at Main Library.
Photo by Nicholas Schaus.
What's New
The Historical Society has reprinted
Farmington in Connecticut, by
Christopher P. Bickford, this year.
Farmington in Connecticut,
by Christopher Bickford.
The
comprehensive history of the town, first
published in 1982, can be ordered by e-mailing
Ann
Arcari, the president of the society, or
by writing to the Farmington Historical
Society, P.O. Box 1645, Farmington, CT
06034. The cost is $25, plus $5 for
shipping. Please include your name and
address and a check payable to the
Farmington Historical Society.
The
Historical Society held its 7th
annual House & Garden Tag Sale on August
29 through 31 at 138 Main Street in
Farmington.
House &
Garden Tag sale, August 2008.
For the sale,
the society received donations of antiques,
collectibles, furniture, small appliances,
jewelry, toys and games, and household
Items. Potted perennial plants and gardening
books were also donated.
The
Historical Society met for its annual
meeting June 8 at the Barney
Library. Jay Johnston,
executive director of the Farmington
Libraries, discussed the Barney Library
renovation project during the meeting.
Barney Library, 71 Main Street.
Photo by Brooke Martin.
The Barney
Library, a neoclassical building with four
columns supporting a grand pediment, cornice
and frieze, was built in 1918. The planned
renovations include adding an elevator and
new interior stairway and removing the
antiquated exterior fire escape. The project
is designed to improve access for wheelchair
users, elderly people, mothers with
strollers, and those who are physically
challenged.
An exhibit of
nineteenth-century clothing and linens
was held in June. The Gridley-Case cottage
came alive with items from the 1800s. A
table was set in the dining room
overlooking the restored garden; several
pieces of period furniture filled the parlor;
the small bedroom held a youngster’s bed
and children’s items; and the kitchen
contained a variety of household goods, from
laundry products and tools to a display of
hats and capes. Mannequins dressed in period
clothing were arranged throughout the
cottage.
Nineteenth-century dress, 138 Main Street.
Photo by Brooke Martin.
The exhibit committee
included: Wendy Burki, Jean Pickens, Lois
Wadsworth and Peg Yung.
The Historical Society’s Gridley-Case
cottage and
garden at 138 Main Street was one of the six homes and two museums
featured in the Friends
of the Farmington Library Kitchens & Gardens
Tour on June 14.
Garden at Gridley-Case cottage,
138 Main
Street.
Photo by Brooke Martin.
The eighteenth-century formal garden was
designed by Sarah C. la Cour, a landscape
designer from Amherst, Mass. The garden
reflects the style and plantings typical of
New England. The design incorporates
boxwood-edged brick and bluestone walks and
quadrant beds.
This spring, as part of a volunteer UConn
master gardener project, annuals, herbs and
perennials were added. The Treadwell
list of 18th-century plantings was used
as a guide. John Treadwell documented
commonly found vegetables, herbs and flowers
planted in Farmington gardens. Plantings in
1999 included: geranium striatum, blue
Campanula and autumn joy in the center
circle; white phlox, Stella d'Oro lilies,
red bee balm, blue columbine and Russian
sage in the quadrants; and lilacs, red bud,
coreopsis and hostas above the stone wall.
Side garden, 138 Main Street.
Photo by Brooke Martin.
From the Treadwell list, the society added pinks, daffodils, tulips, violas, blackberry
lily, poppies, hollyhocks, sweet william,
sweet pea, morning glories and marigolds.
Herbs to be added to the garden include:
parsley, coriander, pepper, savory, sweet
marjoram, thyme, rue, hyssop, lemon balm,
chive, tansy and wormwood. These and lamb's
ear, iris, oregano, yellow yarrow, germander
and lavender were generously donated by
the Connecticut Unit of the Herb Society of
America. We welcome volunteers who would
like to work in the garden, as well as
donations of perennials. The goal is to have
the garden in bloom from April to October.
The Library Gardens Tour also included
the garden and
orchid room of advanced master gardener
Sandy Myhalik. The orchid room contains more
than 100 varieties of tropical orchids.
The
society's membership committee is
compiling a list of members' e-mail
addresses. If you would like to be
informed via e-mail about the society's
upcoming programs and events (including this
year's annual meeting and party), please
send your name, street address and e-mail
address to
membership@farmingtonhistoricalsociety-ct.org.
Nonmembers interested in Farmington's
history are encouraged to write to the same
e-mail address for
more information about the society.
A talk on the life and personality of Theodore Roosevelt
was presented by
Gordon Williams on March 30, 2008, at Miss Porter's School.
Williams is a lecturer and retired history teacher from Trumbull, CT.
Gordon Williams
Williams began his talk by discussing Teddy
Roosevelt's connection to Farmington. Roosevelt's sister, Anna
Roosevelt Cowles, lived on Main Street in
Farmington, in the house called "Oldgate."
She was the wife of Admiral William
Sheffield Cowles, a naval officer and
diplomat. Roosevelt visited the
town and his sister's home several times,
including when he was president, on October 22,
1901. That visit included a carriage ride,
lunch with U.S. senators, inspection of an
oak tree planted on the town green in memory
of President William McKinley, and a hike up
Rattlesnake Mountain.
Theodore Roosevelt visits "Oldgate" in
Farmington;
Farmington in Connecticut, by Christopher P. Bickford.
After visiting the
Hill-Stead in 1911, the former president
wrote: "I spent a thoroughly happy
thirty-six hours at Farmington, and the
visit was satisfactory in every way.... The
Popes house seemed to me almost the ideal of
what an American country house should be."
From left: Ann Arcari, president, FHS;
Gordon Williams;
Evan Cowles, great-grandson of Anna
Roosevelt Cowles;
Jean Pickens, vice president, FHS.
Charles Leach, M.D., former
president of the Historical Society, has
published
Part II of "Farmington Artists and Their
Times" in the March 2008 issue of the
society's newsletter. The article includes
many images of paintings and photographs by
Farmington artists.
The Stanley Whitman House, by Charles
Foster. Courtesy of
the Farmington Village Green and Library
Association (FVGLA).
The
society's annual New
Year's Gala was held January 6, 2008, at 138
Main Street.
138
Main Street. Photo by Brooke Martin.
The
gathering featured a discussion of three books
on the history of the
town. Betty Coykendall, a former president
of the Historical Society, spoke about the
publication in 1982 of Farmington In Connecticut, by
Christopher P. Bickford. Ann Arcari, current
president of the society, discussed the
"Green
Book," Farmington In Connecticut, The
Village of Beautiful Homes, published in
1906; and Speaking for Ourselves --
African American Life in Farmington, CT,
by Barbara Donohue and the Farmington
Historical Society Research Team.
Ann
Arcari, president of the Historical Society.
Photo by Brooke Martin.
Peg Yung,
a longtime member of the
Farmington Historical Society, has been
awarded the 2007 Book of Golden Deeds Award
by the Exchange Club of Farmington. At a
dinner May 10 at the Silo Restaurant in
Farmington, Peg was honored for her
outstanding service to the society and the
community and her "selfless
dedication to preserving and promoting the
town's history."
Peg
Yung
Peg has been
a leader in projects including the
restoration of the Gridley-Case Cottages and
Old Stone Schoolhouse; her development of
tours of local Amistad and
Underground Railroad sites; her work with
the Freedom Trail Foundation; and her
development of programs related to the
restoration of the Amistad and its
history. As part of her work with the
Amistad Committee, Peg has traveled to
Sierra Leone, birthplace of the Amistad
Africans, and met with that nation's
president. Peg, a retired teacher, was named
Educator of the Year by the Connecticut
Department of Education in 1985. She is also
active in volunteer projects sponsored by
the First Church of Christ Congregational in
Farmington.
Historical Society board member Peg
Yung traveled to Sierra Leone in
December 2007 with a delegation from the
Amistad Committee to greet the Freedom
Schooner Amistad on its arrival in
Freetown. The voyage of the replica of the
Amistad to Sierra Leone, as part of its
transatlantic Freedom Tour, commemorated the
200th anniversary of the abolition of the
slave trade in the former British Empire.
Peg, who had traveled twice before to
Freetown, returned once again to strengthen
the ties between the West African nation and
the town of Farmington, where the Amistad
Africans stayed after winning their freedom
in 1841. Peg writes about her trip
here.
The Amistad, Mystic, CT, 2007. Photo by
Brooke Martin.
Historical letters concerning the
Amistad Africans, written in 1841, can
now be viewed at the
Farmington Library's
Web site. Ann Arcari, president of the
Historical Society, and other members of the
society transcribed the letters, which
include one written by
Cinque, the leader of the Mendians.
Cinque,
by Nathaniel Jocelyn, 1839
The letters shed light on the
lives of the Africans when they lived in
Farmington from March to November of 1841 and on the thoughts of
the
abolitionists who helped them win their
freedom.
The Farmington Historical Society, P.O. Box 1645, Farmington, CT 06034
Photos by Brooke E. Martin. Copyright ©
2006,2007, 2008.
Site graphics, Copyright © 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
Copying any portion of this site without
permission is expressly forbidden.
Please
send inquiries about permission to the
Web site manager.
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