Historical Society Programs and Events

See our Events
Calendar.
The
Historical Society will hold its 7th
annual House & Garden Tag Sale on August
29 through 31 at 138 Main Street in
Farmington.

Table for
sale at 2008 House & Garden Tag Sale.
For the sale,
we will accept donations of antiques,
collectibles, furniture, small appliances,
jewelry, toys and games, and household
Items. Potted perennial plants are welcome
also. We cannot accept clothes, shoes or
books, except gardening books.
Donation days
at society headquarters, 138 Main, are August
26, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8
p.m.; and August 27 and 28, 10 a.m. to 4
p.m. All items must be complete and usable.
For more information please call Peg Yung at
677-2754.
The annual Scarecrow Contest and Fall
Festival will be held October 19 from 2
to 4 p.m. at the
Old Stone Schoolhouse. Admission is
free.

The Old Stone Schoolhouse, Coppermine Road.
Photo by Brooke Martin.
The event will include awards for the
scariest, most stylish, rottenest and
happiest scarecrows; colonial games; bobbing
for doughnut holes; refreshments such as
popcorn, cookies, cupcakes and cider; paper
pumpkin painting; prizes of real pumpkins;
ghost making; face-painting; and a
storytelling Halloween witch.

"Wanda
the Witch." Bobbing for doughnuts, Scarecrow Contest and Fall Festival,
2006
The
Old
Stone Schoolhouse, owned by the Farmington Historical Society, was a
schoolhouse from 1790 to 1872. From 1875 to 1956, it was used as a chapel
and community center.
The
Historical Society's annual meeting was held 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 held its annual New
Year's Gala January 6 at the society's headquarters, 138
Main Street.
 138
Main Street
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
The historical society and the
Farmington Library presented a program on
the Farmington Canal February 15,
2007, at the Farmington Public Library. Dr.
Carl Walter, a canal historian, and Ruth Hummel, of the Plainville
Historic Center, spoke about the engineering
aspects of the canal, the people who
created and ran it, and life along the canal.
 The
Farmington Canal
Construction on the canal, which was
inspired by the Erie Canal, began in 1825, and
by the 1830s it was the state's
"superhighway" for trade between New Haven
and central Connecticut. Within two decades,
however, the canal was put out of business
by the railroads.
Parts of the canal, its towpath and boat
basin, as well
as stone supports for an aqueduct across
the Farmington River, can still be seen in
town.

Farmington Canal towpath
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.
Photos by Brooke E. Martin (except Cinque). Copyright 2006, 2007, 2008
The Farmington Historical Society, P.O. Box 1645, Farmington, CT 06034
Site graphics, Copyright © 2006, 2007, 008
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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