Welcome to your bi-weekly newsletter from Connecticut Explored with the latest stories, the newest Grating the Nutmeg podcast, programs and exhibitions from our partners to see/watch this month, and more!
We’ve Got BIG News!
Join us in welcoming Dr. Katherine Hermes, the new Executive Director and Publisher of CTExplored as of July 5. Hermes was appointed following a search launched in January after founding publisher of 20 years Elizabeth Normen announced her plans to retire. Hermes, who holds a Ph.D. in history from the Yale University Graduate School and a J.D. from Duke University School of Law, comes to us from Central Connecticut State University. Board President Ken Wiggin notes that Hermes “is widely known as a brilliant, extraordinary, and highly respected scholar of American history and is recognized for both her ability and desire to make history relatable to a broader audience. We look forward to working with her and to exploring what’s next for Connecticut Explored.” Hermes can be reached at publisher@ctexplored.org.
Summer 2022 / Outsider Perspectives
Welcome to the Summer issue. In this issue we’re exploring people from outside of Connecticut, the impact they had, and how they viewed our state and its residents.
George Washington in Connecticut
We’ve all heard the story, “George Washington slept here!” It turns out, he actually did sleep in Connecticut, on multiple trips across the state before, during, and after the Revolutionary War. Because he recorded his travels in diaries and letters, we know where he slept. In my story for the Summer issue, I share Washington’s post-inauguration tour across Connecticut. Six months into his presidency, in October 1789, Washington took less of a victory lap than a listening tour. He was investigating for himself the economy of the nascent United States of America.
Long before the advent of the Secret Service, the president traveled in a horse-drawn carriage open to the fall New England weather. He stopped to chat with farmers about what they were harvesting, and he noted the nature of the towns and any developing manufacturing he learned about.
No advance PR team announced his arrival. Before entering a town, Washington would exit his carriage and ride into town on his white horse Prescott—who had been led behind by one of several enslaved men from Mount Vernon in his retinue. With so little advance notice, townspeople scrambled to organize a welcoming party to meet him.
Washington’s stay in any one town was brief. If he stayed overnight, he was up and on his way the next morning before breakfast—unless it was Sunday, “it being contrary to the law” in Connecticut to travel on the Sabbath. Find out what he learned from Connecticut’s farmers and what he thought about Connecticut’s hospitality by reading the entire story with your print subscription. (Subscribe at CTExplored.org/Shop.)
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John Henry Twachtman Adopts Greenwich
Impressionist painter John Henry Twachtman was from Ohio, but he found a refuge here in Connecticut. Escaping the pressures of city living, Greenwich Historical Society curator Maggie Dimock writes in the Summer issue, Twachtman was first a lodger at Josephine and Edward Holley’s boarding house in Cos Cob (now GHS’s Bush-Holley House). Then, in 1890, he bought a house for himself and his family just three miles away.
“Together with [artist J. Alden] Weir,” Dimock writes, Twachtman “initiated the summer painting course in Cos Cob the following year. Their students flocked to the Holley House, an easy train ride from the city. By day they received instruction from Twachtman, painting among the old weather-beaten warehouses and shipyard buildings that lined Cos Cob harbor. In the evenings, they took part in convivial group dinners and discussions on the Holley porch, gatherings that attained legendary status.”
But that’s not all. “Twachtman’s presence, and the summer painting courses he organized, established Greenwich’s reputation as a destination for artists,” Dimock asserts. “Between 1890 and 1920 the Holley house was a regular stopping point for New York painters seeking, as Twachtman had, a picturesque location and escape from the pressures of modern urban life.”
Twachtman’s influence lives on in present-day Cos Cob, where visitors retrace the painter’s footsteps on guided tours of the boarding house. Watch for GHS’s special exhibition, Life and Art: The Greenwich Paintings of John Henry Twachtman coming this fall.
Read the entire story with your print subscription. (Subscribe at CTExplored.org/Shop.)
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Or try us out with our First One Free Offer.
The Latest from Grating the Nutmeg
144. A Visit to the Katharine Hepburn Museum at "The Kate" in Old Saybrook
Walt Woodward visits the Katharine Hepburn Museum at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center in Old Saybrook. His interview with Executive Director Brett Eliott about this gem of a museum, focused on America’s most Oscar-winning actor and long-time Saybrook resident, should convince you to put both the Katharine Hepburn Museum and “the Kate” on your must-see-this-summer list.
See also “Katharine Hepburn, Local Girl,” Spring 2015
Programs and Exhibitions to Enjoy This Month
Keeler Kids & 4th of July
There’s so much to do at Keeler Tavern Museum & History Center in Ridgefield this summer! Try out the evening hours on Thursdays, when the museum is open until 7 p.m. Public programming highlights include Fourth of July festivities—a community event that attracts hundreds of visitors for games, food, and celebration—and a new exhibition exploring the museum’s historiography: how it has interpreted and told its stories throughout the decades. Week-long sessions of Keeler Kids offer children a unique chance to explore local history through creative, interactive, and hands-on activities. Find out more at keelertavernmuseum.org/events and keelertavernmuseum.org/education/keeler-kids.
Keeler Tavern Museum & History Center, Keelertavernmuseum.org
A Book Review by the Chief Justice
The Litchfield Historical Society recently acquired a previously unpublished early 19th century letter from U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall to Judge James Gould, instructor at the Litchfield Law School. Gould had published A Treatise on the Principles of Pleading in Civil Actions and Chief Justice Marshall praised it, concluding “You have well arranged the matter belonging to the subject.” Learn more about this letter on the Litchfield Historical Society blog at blog.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org.
Litchfield Historical Society; Tapping Reeve House and Litchfield Law School, litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org
ASCH is for You!
Since 1970 the Association for the Study of Connecticut History (ASCH) has been promoting the study of the history of Connecticut via meetings, conferences, and its academic, peer-review journal Connecticut History Review. It serves academic scholars, museum and historical society professionals, history buffs, graduate students, and educators. Visit Asch-cthistory.org for more information.
Olmsted 200
Formative: Frederick Law Olmsted in Connecticut, on view at the Connecticut Historical Society through August 28, celebrates the landscape architect’s birth 200 years ago last April. While his best-known projects are elsewhere, Olmsted was born and raised in Hartford, Connecticut. Formative reflects on Olmsted’s legacy and explores the impact of his early years in Connecticut on his career. Walnut Hill Park in New Britain, Seaside and Beardsley parks in Bridgeport, and the grounds of the Institute of Living in Hartford are a few examples of the nearly 300 Olmsted commissions across the state.
Connecticut Historical Society Museum & Library, chs.org
Nowashe Village Open for the Season
Visit an outdoor museum of indigenous life right behind the Wood Memorial Library in South Windsor. Open Saturday afternoons all summer, admission includes a multimedia self-guided tour on your personal electronic device, a look at a special Native American artifact in the Archaeology Display Case, and stationed docents ready to answer your questions. Each week highlights a different theme, including storytelling, stone tools, domestic arts, and often features special guests.
Nowashe Village, Nowashe.org
Editors’ Picks
Stories we love from back issues to read now.
Washington & Rochambeau: “The Conference State,” Fall 2005
“Boss Tweed Puts Greenwich on the Map,” Winter 2008/2009
“Theodate Pope: Impressions of the Impressionists,” Winter 2006/2007
“Oliver Wolcott: The People’s Governor,” Fall 2018
Explore all of our stories about Connecticut’s art history on our TOPICS page
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