Welcome to your free 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! In this issue, we bring you stories about how a sense of place transforms lives.
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Learn more: Litchfield Historical Society
Topsmead, the Summer Home of Edith Morton Chase
Litchfield is known for being home to many beautiful historic properties, including Topsmead, the English summer home of Edith Morton Chase. Now open to the public as Topsmead State Forest, the estate, which sits at the top of Jefferson Hill, was completed in 1925 and served as a home for a working farm and home for multiple employees and their families.
Edith Chase’s family left an impact on Waterbury through various businesses and construction projects, eventually incorporating assets into the Waterbury Manufacturing Company. Her father, Henry Sabin Chase, built a summer residence in Litchfield in 1901. He expanded the family’s wealth by purchasing Echo Farm in Litchfield and continued its dairy operation in 1910. Seven years later, Chase gifted Edith, who had returned from a tour of Europe, sixteen acres of land in Litchfield. She built a small cabin on the property and inspired by the Tudor style she saw in England, she contacted New York architect Richard Henry Dana Jr. to draw plans for a larger home incorporating the details of English homes. Dana designed a two-story home with an exterior that captured the character of an oversized Cotswold cottage, and Edith furnished it with English country antiques and 17th-century American art pieces.
In 1927, Edith purchased the nearby Buell property, which added 82 acres and a working farm to Topsmead. She expanded the farm by hiring a manager to live on the property and a full-time gardener to care for the fruit and vegetable crops. Draft horses were purchased to pull equipment, while more livestock were added to the farm. By her death in 1972, Edith had expanded Topsmead to more than 500 acres, which included meadows, gardens, farmland, and forests. She left the property to the State, which the 1972 issue of Litchfield Enquierer said helped keep Litchfield “a green and pleasant community.” Topsmead ensured the preservation of an important piece of Litchfield.
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Game Changer: Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, the 2020 Connecticut Book Award winner, is praised for its rich portrayal of Greater Hartford in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Vuong's novel, written based on his experiences, allows readers to understand the Vietnamese-American experience in Connecticut. We learn about life in the immigrant neighborhoods of Harford and East Hartford while portraying historical events, including the Vietnam War and its aftermath. At the book's launch, Vuong explained, "The goal of memoir is to arrive at historical truth, and the novel begins with truth and is realized by the imagination." This work allows readers to better understand the human experience through Vuong's viewpoint.
Our Game Changer stories can be accessed for free! Read the excerpt in full at https://www.ctexplored.org/ocean-vuong-on-earth-were-briefly-gorgeous/
The Latest from Grating the Nutmeg
161. Carbonated Connecticut
In this GTN podcast, Natalie Belanger and Elena Peters of the Connecticut Historical Society discuss the popularity of soft drinks in the past. Learn about the origins of the soda craze and its relation to Prohibition. Listen to stories about Connecticut bottlers like Avery’s, Foxon Park, and Hosmer Mountain. Hear about the weird flavor combinations once available and other interesting facts about historic soda bottlers!
Listen: Carbonated Connecticut
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Programs and Exhibitions to Enjoy This Month
Small Wonders: Insects in Focus
The Lyman Allyn Art Museum invites viewers into a new exhibition that explores the world of insects by showcasing the work of artist Bob Sobers. Sobers uses new technology and innovative photographic methods to render beautiful and colorful images of insects in great detail. Small Wonders aims to inspire our natural curiosity to understand the form, function, and diversity of nature. The exhibition will open on April 6 and run through July 23, 2023. A family-friendly reception will be held on April 11 from 4 PM to 6 PM, featuring insect collector Maishe Dickman and his collection of real insect specimens.
Lyman Allyn Art Museum; lymanallyn.org
“For King. For Country.” Interactive Theater Production
The Wilton Historical Society will partner with Escapism Productions for an upcoming immersive theatre experience. Set in 1777, viewers will be able to witness and assist the local community in uncovering a plot between Loyalists and Patriots based on true historical events. Shows will occur at the Wilton Historical Society on April 14th, 15th, 21st, and 22nd at 6:30 PM and 8:00 PM.
To purchase tickets, visit: https://www.escapismproductions.com/
Wilton Historical Society; https://wiltonhistorical.org/
Alphabets, Bedtime Stories, and Cautionary Tales: Children’s Books and the Shaping of American Identity
This exhibition will be on view in the Pequot Library’s Perkin Gallery until May 6. It draws from the Pequot Library’s Children’s Historical Collection to explore children’s books published in the 18th and 19th centuries, when attitudes toward children and education began changing in England and America. The collection reflects the changing political, economic, and social climate of the young nation after winning independence.
Pequot Library; https://www.pequotlibrary.org/
Editor’s Picks
Want to explore the topics featured in this edition of the e-Newsletter? Check out these stories from back issues.
“Litchfield’s Fortunes Hitched to the Stagecoach,” Connecticut Explored, Spring 2008.
“The Modernism of Hill-Stead’s Theodate Pope,” Connecticut Explored, Winter 2009/2010.
“Visually Breathtaking Hartford Explored,” Connecticut Explored, Summer 2021.
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