Tonight’s episode of Ken Burns’ American Revolution series will cover George Washington’s pivotal first meeting with the Comte de Rochambeau and their eventual victory at the Battle of Yorktown. But first, please check out (and give a like to) my own video about their initial meeting, which took place in Hartford in 1780 at the home of merchant Jeremiah Wadsworth, which stood on the current site of the Wadsworth Atheneum.
There are two opportunities to attend my Hartford at the Holidays presentation! Learn about Thanksgiving inflation in old Hartford, which historic Connecticut buildings were recreated for the G. Fox & Company marquee’s beloved Christmas Village, how Mark Twain’s family celebrated Christmas, and more!
Wednesday, November 12 at 1:00 PM at the Windsor Senior Center and Wednesday, December 3 at 10:00 AM at the South Windsor Senior Center.
Come to my FREE presentation about Lost Mansions of Hartford at the Windsor Senior Center (599 Matianuck Avenue, Windsor, CT) this Wednesday, October 8 at 1:00 PM. Call to register: 860-285-1992.
Come to my FREE presentation about Hartford Department Stores, the first of my series of presentations on Historic Hartford at the Windsor Senior Center (599 Matianuck Avenue, Windsor, CT) this Wednesday, September 10 at 1:00 PM. Call to register: 860-285-1992.
Check out my latest Substack post: The building that is now home to Black-Eyed Sally’s in Hartford was several stories taller when it was built in 1855 and for decades it was occupied by a bookdinding business run by a man who once had a difficult buggy ride with Mark Twain.
Gifford Pinchot, who became the first head of the US Forest Service in Theodore Roosevelt’s administration and later served two separate stints as Governor of Pennsylvania, was born in his maternal grandfather’s home (pictured above) in Simsbury (now called the Simsbury 1820 House) on August 11, 1865. Pinchot’s father, James, erected a chateau-like mansion in Milford, PA in the mid-1880s. It was later the home of Gifford Pinchot and his wife Cornelia Bryce Pinchot. It’s not in Connecticut, but please check out my recent YouTube video about the mansion, which is called Grey Towers!
My new Substack post is about the estate of Hartford insurance executive Carl F. Sturhahn, who had herds of Jersey cattle on his dairy farm over a century ago. His farm and Tudor-style mansion were surrounded by a bend of the North Branch of the Park River (near the University of Hartford campus). The property was later subdivided as the Sunny Reach real estate development in West Hartford. The former Sturhahn barn, erected in 1918, was converted into a residence in 1939 (a contemporary view is shown above).
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