FEATURED ARTICLES
“In Need of the Assistance of My Country”: A Revolutionary War Story
Elizabeth Normen, Connecticut Explored’s founding publisher, has written a new book about the Hart family of Saybrook and their contributions to religious awakenings and revolutionary ideas. In our summer issue, her article is a study in the life of one of the Hart sons, a soldier whose trauma derailed his life. A promising young man who before the war excelled at Yale College struggled after the war to succeed.
Read the entire story here.
Purchase Awakenings and Revolutions: The Harts, Saybrook, and the New Nation, by Elizabeth J. Normen on Amazon or through the Old Saybrook Historical Society.
Kids’ Page: The Camp That Needed Coats
Enjoy the entire graphic story here as our highlighted quarterly free page!
For more information on the Redding Encampment, visit forgottenvoicesrevwar.org
Does our newsletter inspire you to want to dive deeper into Connecticut’s fascinating history? Connecticut Explored has options for everyone to enjoy.
Subscribe to our quarterly print magazine, delivered straight to your door. You’ll also have access to a digital PDF library of our magazines, right at your fingertips! FINAL DAY! Use promo code JULY26 for $4 off 1 year/ $8 off 2 year subscriptions.
Our biweekly premium e-newsletter subscription ensures you never miss out on the latest stories! A great option for a slice of history: one to two full stories from our current issue, places to visit, plus the latest Grating the Nutmeg episode dropped directly into your email inbox. (If you subscribe to the magazine, you do not need the premium e-newsletter.)
The Latest From Grating the Nutmeg
Saving Connecticut’s Historic Barns
By the 2000s, historic barns across the state were being demolished or allowed to fall down. What could be done to save them? Where were they? How many are there? How can we get people across the state to be interested in barns? All of this was unknown. We chat with Todd Levine, who was hired to help answer those critical questions!
Listen: Saving Connecticut’s Historic Barns
Our thanks to Preservation Connecticut for sponsoring this episode. preservationct.org
Connecticut history matters - be part of it! You can help us celebrate our 10th anniversary and keep the podcast alive by giving a one-time donation or pledging $10 dollars a month. Support GTN today!
Out and About: Standing Up For History!
It was quite an evening on July 8th at the New Haven Lawn Club as passionate history enthusiasts, patrons, and professionals mingled over hors d'oeuvres and past issues of our magazine while musician, Jim O’Sullivan, played his handmade dulcimer.
Thanks to our supporters' presence, enthusiasm, and contributions, Standing Up for History was a tremendous success. We raised over $20,000! Because of this support, Connecticut Explored magazine will keep the stories coming, in the magazine, on the Grating the Nutmeg podcast, in the newsletters, and we'll continue creating the educational resources and digital content that connect people with our state's rich and diverse history. Every gift helps ensure that these stories remain accessible to everyone. Join us to keep our publication alive by donating today.
UPCOMING: Join us on Thursday, August 20th at 7:00 pm for a presentation by our publisher Kathy Hermes. The talk will explore how women contributed to the American Revolutionary effort politically, economically, intellectually, and even militarily. Using original sources like newspapers, court records, letters, and pension records, Dr. Hermes will show how Indigenous, Anglo-European, and African-descended women all helped to further the Patriot cause.
The talk will be held on Thursday, August 20th at the Wilton Historical Society at 7:00 pm. The event is free for Historical Society members. For non-members, there is a $10.00 fee. Find more info here.
Programs and Exhibitions to Enjoy This Season:
250 Years of American Portraits
In celebration of the nation’s semiquincentennial, About Face: 250 Years of American Portraits at the Mattatuck Museum explores questions of identity, citizenship, and belonging. Through painting, photography, decorative arts, and more, the exhibition foregrounds portraiture as an artistic, political, cultural force shaping how Americans see themselves and one another.
Mattatuck Museum, 144 West Main Street, Waterbury. Mattmuseum.org; 203-753-0381
Summer at Connecticut’s Old State House
Celebrate America’s 250th anniversary this summer by stopping by Connecticut’s Old State House. Did you know that General George Washington and Alexander Hamilton stood on the grounds of Connecticut’s Old State House in September of 1780 to meet with French General Jean-Baptiste de Rochambeau and the Marquis de Lafayette? This meeting marked the start of an alliance that led to American independence and ended the Revolutionary War.
Come see Gilbert Stuart’s famous portrait of our nation’s first president. Learn more about the founding of Connecticut Government and key moments in American History, including the trials of Prudence Crandall and the 53 rebellious Mende captives aboard The Amistad. Visit the historic House and Senate chambers and see the office of Connecticut’s current Kid Governor and cabinet. Enjoy live music and a seasonal Farmer’s Market each week during the summer and fall. For information about upcoming events and exhibits, visit our events calendar at www.ctoldstatehouse.org.
Connecticut Democracy Center at Connecticut’s Old State House, 800 Main Street, Hartford. CTOldStateHouse.org; 860-522-6766
Jonathan Trumbull Jr.’s House
On November 20, 1780, the “volontaires etrangers de Lauzun” arrived in Lebanon to spend the winter. David Trumbull had been charged with creating barracks and other facilities for the enlisted men and noncommissioned officers, but higher ranked officers were to be housed in private homes, including the homes of Trumbull family members. Jonathan Trumbull Jr. and his family hosted Rene Marie vicomte d’Arrot, colonel commandant on the Legion. D’Arrot developed a close relationship with Eunice and Faithy Trumbull and sent letters to Trumbull Jr describing progress on renovations then underway on the house. Jonathan Trumbull Jr.’s house is open to the public on Friday and Saturday afternoons mid-June through September.
Lebanon Historical Society, 856 Trumbull Highway, Lebanon. historyoflebanon.org; 860-642-6579
Editor’s Picks:
Listen: When the Continental Army Camped in Connecticut
Robert Selig, “Mapping Rochambeau’s March Across Connecticut,” Connecticut Explored, Spring 2012.