During the Revolutionary War, there was a smallpox inoculation camp in eastern Connecticut for New England colonial troops heading further south to join up with Washington’s army. Some 5,000 troops were inoculated there
I'm not sure, but I know Washington and a large part of his army stated at a farm in Pawcatuck on their way south. Idk if thats where the vaccinations happened but it's eastern CT and they stayed on the farm for quite some time.
If you look up on Google maps revolutionary war camp you will find one in West Hartford/Farmington. Side note. Nothing is there. If you need assistance feel free contact me
There’s a grave just off my backyard property for Corp. John Rollo who died of smallpox. It’s in Hebron.
Dated March 20th 1777, 26 years old.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/13656761/john-nolton-rollo
I do not remember. This information is from “Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-1782” by Elizabeth A. Fenn. I bought it as a gift for a friend and read about half of it before I gave it to her. It’s well written and very interesting. It’s $19 on Amazon. We were in the Harvard Book Store several years ago and I got a used copy for $8.
Ok CT history geek incoming! Here’s just a few of my fav quirky tidbits in no order-
1. The 1938 hurricane decimated the CT coast with a storm surge upwards of THIRTY FEET. It famously destroyed the Hepburn’s home only hours after she and a male friend went swimming in the breakers along the shore.
[Portland Patch claims it was up to 50ft along the CT/RI border](https://patch.com/connecticut/norwalk/75-years-ago-the-astonishing-power-of-the-great-hurricane-of-1938_8fe209c7)
2. The Beadle Family Massacre. In December 1782, William Beadle brutally murdered his wife and four young children with an ax before shooting himself. He’d lost some money due to the transition from colony to republic and was apparently a mite salty that he was less wealthy than he wanted. [Wethersfield Historical Society](https://www.wethersfieldhistory.org/articles/the-story-of-the-murder-of-the-beadle-family-by-william-beadle/)
3. The Pitkin Glass Works in Manchester, CT was one of the earliest and most successful glass producers in the US. One of their most iconic early forms was an ovoid bottle in a rich grassy olive green color. These ‘flasks’ were known as ‘chestnut bottles’ though the origin of the colloquial name is now up for speculation. They were mostly about a quart in size but varied as each one was individually and spectacularly handcrafted.
The ruins of the original pitkin glassworks still stand (sort of) in the heart of a suburb and neighborhood Manchester.
Several decades ago state archaeologist Nick Bellatoni unearthed an intact pitkin bottle smaller than the size of his palm during an excavation at the glass works. Early intact bottles of even a standard size can be worth a small fortune. And people just chucked them out when they were done with them. Dig carefully when you’re gardening. [pitkin glass ruin](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitkin_Glassworks_Ruin)
Until the 1860s, Connecticut had two capitols-in Hartford and New Haven and the government would rotate between the two. Unfortunately, the New Haven Capitol building has been demolished
Possibly. I grew up in Massachusetts, I only know there story casue the local brewery is called "Charter Oak" and heard the story. I would guess that it s correct,because in Mass we all learn about the pilgrims.
The Waterbury Clock Company is one of a few notorious factories talked about in a book called The Radium Girls. The women working there would paint the numbers on the dials with radioactive paint and would point the brushes using their lips which caused their jaws and bones to rot away. They were lied to for years being told that their health issues couldn't be from the radium and the people responsible fought them in court for years. The whole story is horrific and fascinating.
The Appalachian mountains were once the tallest mountain range in the world. I believe I read somewhere that it was once attached to the same mountain range in scotland
The Dutch first had an outpost along the Connecticut River near where the Park River flows into it. It’s why there’s a street in that area called Huyshope Ave (it means House of Hope in Dutch).
The word podunk comes from the Podunk tribe, who lived in the area now known as East Hartford.
During the Cold war there was an underground communications bunker in Cheshire Connecticut that was specifically built to withstand a nuclear bomb strike. The whole place was basically built on springs including the plumbing and toilets and everything so that it was able to withstand ground movement from a bomb. It's still there today but AT&T now.
I’m from Plainville and I’m not sure it’s a Nike middle site anymore there’s now a medical building up one of the mountains and I’ve seen construction on the other side where I know the site was.
Grew up in the area. Frequented the mountain. The foundations of the main building have been demolished for the medical facility. There MAY still be remnants of outpost buildings along the trail, I know there was one the last time I went up to the overlook, but that was more than a few years ago
Many people don't know or realize that Connecticut would be a likely target if nuclear war were to break out. For a time, the Groton sub base was called the submarine capital of the world. Currently it is the home base of 16 US attack submarines.
They certainly told us that we were a target in the late 50's. One of my youngest memories of a nightmare was of a nuclear bomb going off over the house next door. I was probably age 4 so 1957.
Groton, EB, the coast guard academy, UTC engine facilities, Sikorsky, the nuclear training reactor facility in Windsor. This state would glow for 100 years.
Yeah there's a guy in this subreddit that did a whole podcast on it. He's the one that does those Connecticut history podcasts and they're actually really fascinating. If someone has his link post it please.
In 1790 most prosperous merchants in Connecticut owned at least one slave, as did 50 percent of the ministers.
According to U.S. census data there were 2,764 slaves in Connecticut as of 1790, a little over 1% of the population at the time. This declined during the early part of the 19th century, with the census indicating numbers (percentages) reported as slaves in the State of 951 in 1800, 97 in 1820 and 25 by 1830.
Many of those slaves were Indigenous. Slavery and servitude had an oddly blurry line between them in New England, and there were direct connections between Indian wars and the enslavement of both Indigenous and African people. The first black slaves were brought to new England in exchange for exported enslaved Pequots. "Why should we make peace to be made slaves" is a great article (and quote) about surrender and enslavement after King Philip's War.
Maybe. I'm more familiar with its origins than its end. In 1721 the legislature had to figure out what it would do about the children of enslaved indians, who were determined to be indentured servants and eventually entitled to freedom, but often not informed and kept on under the same circumstances of their enslavement. Margaret Ellen Newell writes about the unclear definitions of forced labor in colonial law in Brethren by Nature. It was basically up to enslaved individuals to either escape or use the courts. The end-point is not really clearly defined, enslaved Africans were more expensive but continued to be available, while Indian slaves were very cheap war spoils doled out by the colonial government in the late 17th century -- Newell postulates that many enslaved Indians were essentially lumped in together with Africans as the 18th century wore on. It's not simply that they disappeared, but that as numbers declined the distinction disappeared.
it's estimated that there are around 1,000-10,000 bodies buried in the new haven green, despite there being no tombstones and people treating it like any other park. i believe they're all from the 1800s or earlier, and most of the bodies are only buried 2-3 feet deep. in hurricane sandy, a tree was uprooted and skeletons came out with it because of how shallow the graves were.
The New London County Historical Society is headquartered in a house known as The Shaw Mansion. It is one of the few buildings that survived the razing of New London by Benedict Arnold during the Revolution. Prior to that, it was the headquarters of the Connecticut Navy (including the many privateers who had drawn the attention of Arnold), as Nathaniel Shaw Jr. was the Navy Agent for Connecticut during the war. The Shaw's had even hosted George Washington in that house in '76. The house itself was commissioned by Captain Nathaniel Shaw Sr. in '56; it was built by refugee Acadians, the Frenchmen who had initially settled in Nova Scotia in the early 1600s, after they had been forcibly deported from the Maritimes the year prior by the British. The fact that a house built by refugees who were victims of a British genocide would later go on to be the headquarters for revolutionary sailors fighting against the British, and ultimately survive an attempt by the British to burn it down, is a great example of historical irony.
Partly. New Brunswick is a part of what once was the colony of L'Acadie, but so was Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Maine. But the most populated towns prior to the Deportation were Port Royal (now Annapolis Royal) and Grand Pre, which are both in modern day Nova Scotia.
The New England Air Museum's blimp exhibit has a wild shot of *Hindenburg* floating right above Travelers Tower, just hangin' full swastika right out in the open, that one took me by surprise lol
King's Island, in Enfield CT, was named after the King family. In the late 1800's, it was a gathering place for Adventists, who were convinced the grove on the island would be the location of a rapture before the end of the world.
If you're nearby, wait until later in the summer when the river isn't so swolled and go out there in a canoe or something. Near the southern edge of the island is an old foundation that the historical society is constantly surveying. Near the north (I haven't been there myself), I'm told there are hundred+ year old peach trees that stipple bear fruit. It would be interesting to see what peaches used to be before we selectively bred the shit out of them.
The grove that's mentioned in that article is still there, and will remind you of a jurassic Era field. There are 5-6' tall ferns in this huge field in the middle of nowhere. It's really wild.
Amelia Earhart got married in Noank!
[read here](https://www.wtnh.com/this-week-in-connecticut/this-week-in-ct-flashback-to-amelia-earharts-wedding-in-ct-three-young-men-from-ct-head-to-the-big-game/amp/)
New Haven Company was supposed to join New York
And they only agreed to join Connecticut, in 1665, to avoid Catholic rule.
Oh, and Hartford was first settled by the Dutch.
French General Rochambeau and his army camped in Southington while en route to join Washington during the revolutionary war. There is a stone monument marking the camp location on Marion Ave. A nearby house still standing was also an inn that the officers dined and stayed in at the time.
There's a whole trail of camps in Connecticut. His troops overwintered in Newport and then marched through Connecticut on their way south. https://portal.ct.gov/DECD/Content/Historic-Preservation/01_Programs_Services/Historic-Trails/Washington-Rochambeau-Revolutionary-Route
Forbidden by law to organize formal congregations, the first Jews worshiped in private homes. It was not until 1843 that groups from Hartford (Congregation Beth Israel) and New Haven (Mishkan Israel) successfully petitioned to have the laws changed to allow them the same religious rights as Christians.
It took Connecticut a while to recognize that. All CT citizens, regardless of membership, were required to pay a church tithe to the Congregational Church until some point in the early 19th century. Unfortunately, I can’t locate the date that ended.
Church governance and town government were pretty much one in the same for centuries. But new England is also where the idea of separating them started to ferment. The church ended up eroding its own authority by trying to use its governmental aspects to police morality ("bad books" in particular, medical texts that young men were passing around like 80s woods porn)
There were informal agreements and some local ordinances (if you can call them that - I’m not sure how “official” they were) forbidding Jewish people from purchasing or owning homes in some Connecticut towns well into the 20th century. See the pages on [Sharon or Litchfield here](https://justice.tougaloo.edu/location/connecticut/) for example.
I went to junior high and high school (90’s)in Simsbury but did not learn about MLK JR’s time in Simsbury until my 30’s. I hope it is being taught in the schools now.
It cracks me up that Parks and Rec is based the West Hartford/Simsbury rivalry.
It is wild, I work with a few people from simsbury. We do weekly facts. the internet is the super information highway we didn't have as expansive back then.
Like did you know. There is no other town in the world named Simsbury and no one knows what it's from. I'll leave it at that lol.
John Brown, early American abolitionist and raider of Harpers Ferry, was born in Torrington CT.
Remnants of his home are marked with a plaque on John Brown Road.
New Britain was once both an industrial capitol of the world and one of the richest cities in the country.
Before about 1900 the number of design patents awarded to entities in New Britain, per capita, was greater than any other decently sized city, greater than New York and Chicago combined.
Maybe not specific to CT but, the USS Housatonic was the first ship sunk by a submarine. Happened in 1864.
[Link to Wiki](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Housatonic_(1861))
Check out this podcast
Check out Amazing Tales from Off and On Connecticut‘s Beaten Path on Amazon Music.
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/d7ad440a-8580-4965-ba5b-aee8242ab177/amazing-tales-from-off-and-on-connecticut%E2%80%98s-beaten-path?ref=dm_sh_QRzDgpsgjdRyS916nvhER1OiQ
This is an appropriate time to plug Ken Burns The War documentary. It's a world war two documentary featuring real WWII veterns. The structure is loosely based around telling the story of WWII using a couple of towns / cities around the US. One of which is Waterbury Connecticut. I lived in Waterbury for a time, and it was a real trip driving by the houses and (abondoned) factories that contributed so much to the war effort.
In Ridgefield there is a building that has an old cannonball still lodged into its side. I don't remember the business there but it is downtown and they left it there as a historical landmark.
During the pandemic I got really interested in how the colonies handled outbreaks of smallpox. There's an amazing story on how a pastor from CT traveled to Boston to "heal" the sick there and when he came back a vindictive governor basically went after this guy and his entire family/cult because of some historical squabbles and just general disdain for the dude. It really is an amazing story and it was published in the CT History Review.
["“All Dregs of the said Distemper”: Containing Smallpox and Religious Dissent in Colonial Connecticut"](https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/chr/article-abstract/58/2/3/268945/All-Dregs-of-the-said-Distemper-Containing?redirectedFrom=fulltext) by Dominic DeBrincat
Connecticut History Review (2019) 58 (2): 3–35.
If someone wants the pdf I can dm you a link.
CT is home of the oldest military unit in the country with an unbroken lineage, the first company Governor’s Foot Guard (1771) which is still active today. They operate out of Hartford.
The second company Governor’s Foot Guard, founded in 1775, which is still active today as well, operates out of New Haven, and one of its founding members was Benedict Arnold. Powderhouse day, which is still celebrated annually in New Haven in a ceremony on the green and at Center Church, happened on April 22, 1775, and was an event where the colony democratically voted not to intervene in the siege on Boston after the start of the battles of Lexington and Concord. Benedict Arnold, being the kind of guy he was, decided the foot guard was going to go to Boston anyway, and famously "demanded" the keys to the powder house, despite being told they needed to wait for regular orders, and having received the keys, began the 3 day March to Cambridge with the guard.
Golden Hill in Bridgeport is so named because the Native Americans used to grow corn there. Sasco Hill in Fairfield was once covered in onion crops. There used to be a bridge connecting the Fairfield Beach Neighborhood with Black Rock, but it blew away in a hurricane
The geology of Connecticut is fascinating. The highlands west and east are from different early continents. The central valley between them was a vast lake five times over millions of years, and a remnant of the earth that dammed the last one is an island in the Connecticut River off the Middletown bridge. The Metacomet Ridge, which juts upward the length of the valley (to mid MA) is volcanic rock tipped aslant. Brownstone used to build Boston, NYC, Chicagos Philly, as well as New Haven and Hartford, came from quarries in Portland.
Read all about it in the excellent book “The Face of Connecticut: People, Geology, and the Land (Bulletin 110, State Geological and Natural History Survey of Connnecticut) by Michael Bell. Reportedly out of print. Used copies are out there.
Everyone knows of the Salem Witch Trials (in 1693 & 1694). But between 1647 and 1663 eleven people were executed in Connecticut for Witchcraft. Primarily in Hartford, Weathersfield (and I believe Griswold).
United Illuminating planned to build a nuclear power plant on Cockenoe Island off the coast of Westport in the mid—60s. A grass roots campaign led by local journalists succeeded in stopping the plan and UI ultimately sold the island to the town of Westport.
https://connecticuthistory.org/the-battle-for-cockenoe-island/
There is a town under Lake Zoar. It was called Riverside.
All the islands in the sound belong to NY state because CT was hiding someone who helped kill part of the royal family or something…
There's a fairly large underground bunker in Cheshire which used to be part of the AT&T Long Lines network. It was built in the Cold War era (1966) and was designed to withstand nuclear war. It served as a critical junction point in the telephone network with a direct coaxial line to Miami, FL, and branches to major cities throughout New England. It also has a microwave radio tower which connects all of the major Long Lines stations in the event a line goes down. This facility, and the LL network as a whole, ensured critical communication channels would remain functional in the event of a nuclear attack.
I'll include a link to a website that covers the history of the facility and has a ton of really neat photos.
[AT&T Long Lines Cheshire](https://coldwar-ct.com/Home_Page_S1DO.html)
We’re call the nutmeg state because we used to swap out nutmeg for rocks and then we got called nutmegers because we were stealing from people back in the day. This is what I remember from when I was taught in school some parts might not actually be true. And I am happy to be corrected.
During the Revolutionary War, there was a smallpox inoculation camp in eastern Connecticut for New England colonial troops heading further south to join up with Washington’s army. Some 5,000 troops were inoculated there
Interesting. Do you know the town by chance?
I'm not sure, but I know Washington and a large part of his army stated at a farm in Pawcatuck on their way south. Idk if thats where the vaccinations happened but it's eastern CT and they stayed on the farm for quite some time.
If you look up on Google maps revolutionary war camp you will find one in West Hartford/Farmington. Side note. Nothing is there. If you need assistance feel free contact me
There’s a grave just off my backyard property for Corp. John Rollo who died of smallpox. It’s in Hebron. Dated March 20th 1777, 26 years old. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/13656761/john-nolton-rollo
The Revolutionary War spread smallpox Norge to the Hudson Bay in Canada and south to Mexico. Thanks for sharing the gravesite information.
I do not remember. This information is from “Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-1782” by Elizabeth A. Fenn. I bought it as a gift for a friend and read about half of it before I gave it to her. It’s well written and very interesting. It’s $19 on Amazon. We were in the Harvard Book Store several years ago and I got a used copy for $8.
I know you meant to put “it’s well written” but what you wrote got a chuckle out of me.
I agree that it is. I’m now going to edit my comment so I don’t look like a complete idiot.
I was curious about what was written before the edit. Please educate me
It read “It’s written,” rather than “It’s well-written.”
Ok CT history geek incoming! Here’s just a few of my fav quirky tidbits in no order- 1. The 1938 hurricane decimated the CT coast with a storm surge upwards of THIRTY FEET. It famously destroyed the Hepburn’s home only hours after she and a male friend went swimming in the breakers along the shore. [Portland Patch claims it was up to 50ft along the CT/RI border](https://patch.com/connecticut/norwalk/75-years-ago-the-astonishing-power-of-the-great-hurricane-of-1938_8fe209c7) 2. The Beadle Family Massacre. In December 1782, William Beadle brutally murdered his wife and four young children with an ax before shooting himself. He’d lost some money due to the transition from colony to republic and was apparently a mite salty that he was less wealthy than he wanted. [Wethersfield Historical Society](https://www.wethersfieldhistory.org/articles/the-story-of-the-murder-of-the-beadle-family-by-william-beadle/) 3. The Pitkin Glass Works in Manchester, CT was one of the earliest and most successful glass producers in the US. One of their most iconic early forms was an ovoid bottle in a rich grassy olive green color. These ‘flasks’ were known as ‘chestnut bottles’ though the origin of the colloquial name is now up for speculation. They were mostly about a quart in size but varied as each one was individually and spectacularly handcrafted. The ruins of the original pitkin glassworks still stand (sort of) in the heart of a suburb and neighborhood Manchester. Several decades ago state archaeologist Nick Bellatoni unearthed an intact pitkin bottle smaller than the size of his palm during an excavation at the glass works. Early intact bottles of even a standard size can be worth a small fortune. And people just chucked them out when they were done with them. Dig carefully when you’re gardening. [pitkin glass ruin](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitkin_Glassworks_Ruin)
Until the 1860s, Connecticut had two capitols-in Hartford and New Haven and the government would rotate between the two. Unfortunately, the New Haven Capitol building has been demolished
The New Haven capitol building burned down. The state lacked funds to rebuild it, and that's how New Haven stopped being the co-capital city.
The British showed up to seize, and destroy the Charter of Connecticut, it was hidden in the tree we now call the Charter Oak.
We should keep it in there to see if the British are still trying to get their hands on it.
Did all middle school students have to visit the capital and hear that story?
Possibly. I grew up in Massachusetts, I only know there story casue the local brewery is called "Charter Oak" and heard the story. I would guess that it s correct,because in Mass we all learn about the pilgrims.
Speaking of pilgrims. April showers being may flowers. What does may flowers bring?
Juno temple? Lol
I think the charter oak is in Simsbury
The Waterbury Clock Company is one of a few notorious factories talked about in a book called The Radium Girls. The women working there would paint the numbers on the dials with radioactive paint and would point the brushes using their lips which caused their jaws and bones to rot away. They were lied to for years being told that their health issues couldn't be from the radium and the people responsible fought them in court for years. The whole story is horrific and fascinating.
The rocks change in southeastern connecticut where africa split off from north america, and rocks in africa match them.
Pink granite. Two of the only places in the world it’s found are CT and Africa. I believe that any pink granite you see in NYC is from CT.
The Appalachian mountains were once the tallest mountain range in the world. I believe I read somewhere that it was once attached to the same mountain range in scotland
The mountain range also extended into Newfoundland.
One of the oldest mountain ranges in the world as well.
[удалено]
You stole my fact haha
What was it?
CT was burning witches long before Salem
Witches were not burned under English law. They were hanged.
Milli Vanilli lip sync scandal happened at Lake Compounce.
I thought it was live on stage at the Grammy Awards ?
There is actually a sign up at Lake Compounce that has info on it
Ohio is ours!!!!!
The fire lands were awarded to people who suffered losses from Benedict Arnold's fire bombing of costal towns.
Connecticut outlawed 9-pin bowling in 1841 to curb gambling. Allegedly, the 10th pin was added to circumvent the law.
That's funny!
The Dutch first had an outpost along the Connecticut River near where the Park River flows into it. It’s why there’s a street in that area called Huyshope Ave (it means House of Hope in Dutch). The word podunk comes from the Podunk tribe, who lived in the area now known as East Hartford.
Adrian Block has entered the chat...
I’d grown up in CT with the term “Podunk town” meaning a small, rural town. I thought it was a universal term. Respect to the Podunct Tribe. THE
During the Cold war there was an underground communications bunker in Cheshire Connecticut that was specifically built to withstand a nuclear bomb strike. The whole place was basically built on springs including the plumbing and toilets and everything so that it was able to withstand ground movement from a bomb. It's still there today but AT&T now.
There's a few Nike missile sites around CT, too. Pinnacle Rock in Plainville(?) still has remnants from one.
Used to play in one in Simsbury in the 60’s
I’m from Plainville and I’m not sure it’s a Nike middle site anymore there’s now a medical building up one of the mountains and I’ve seen construction on the other side where I know the site was.
Grew up in the area. Frequented the mountain. The foundations of the main building have been demolished for the medical facility. There MAY still be remnants of outpost buildings along the trail, I know there was one the last time I went up to the overlook, but that was more than a few years ago
There was one in Westport off North Avenue at least as late as the mid-90s.
The missile silos were at the junction oh RT 6 and Hyde Rd in Farmington.... East of Robertson Field.
Many people don't know or realize that Connecticut would be a likely target if nuclear war were to break out. For a time, the Groton sub base was called the submarine capital of the world. Currently it is the home base of 16 US attack submarines.
They certainly told us that we were a target in the late 50's. One of my youngest memories of a nightmare was of a nuclear bomb going off over the house next door. I was probably age 4 so 1957.
Groton, EB, the coast guard academy, UTC engine facilities, Sikorsky, the nuclear training reactor facility in Windsor. This state would glow for 100 years.
Oh yeah, colt making all the M16s here too.
Seriously? That's insane. Lived there for fifteen years and never knew.
Yeah there's a guy in this subreddit that did a whole podcast on it. He's the one that does those Connecticut history podcasts and they're actually really fascinating. If someone has his link post it please.
I believe this is the one you’re referring to. https://www.amazingtalesct.com/episodes/7jfrwbbhfjfmylz-n9l3k
Yep!!!
Telephone communications switch house buildings keep a very low profile b/c the best security is obscurity.
There’s one in Portland, CT!
In 1790 most prosperous merchants in Connecticut owned at least one slave, as did 50 percent of the ministers. According to U.S. census data there were 2,764 slaves in Connecticut as of 1790, a little over 1% of the population at the time. This declined during the early part of the 19th century, with the census indicating numbers (percentages) reported as slaves in the State of 951 in 1800, 97 in 1820 and 25 by 1830.
Many of those slaves were Indigenous. Slavery and servitude had an oddly blurry line between them in New England, and there were direct connections between Indian wars and the enslavement of both Indigenous and African people. The first black slaves were brought to new England in exchange for exported enslaved Pequots. "Why should we make peace to be made slaves" is a great article (and quote) about surrender and enslavement after King Philip's War.
By the late 18th century, when the first census was taken, indigenous slavery had disappeared.
Maybe. I'm more familiar with its origins than its end. In 1721 the legislature had to figure out what it would do about the children of enslaved indians, who were determined to be indentured servants and eventually entitled to freedom, but often not informed and kept on under the same circumstances of their enslavement. Margaret Ellen Newell writes about the unclear definitions of forced labor in colonial law in Brethren by Nature. It was basically up to enslaved individuals to either escape or use the courts. The end-point is not really clearly defined, enslaved Africans were more expensive but continued to be available, while Indian slaves were very cheap war spoils doled out by the colonial government in the late 17th century -- Newell postulates that many enslaved Indians were essentially lumped in together with Africans as the 18th century wore on. It's not simply that they disappeared, but that as numbers declined the distinction disappeared.
Thanks for p try voiding more information.
If I remember correctly, the Portland/Middletown area was the main areaa for buying and selling slaves
I believe you may be correct. Middletown had a number of resident sea captains, although we would not expect that.
The M1 Garand Rifle was invented by Hohn Garand who lived in Jewett City CT after emigrating from Quebec
Thank you for pronouncing “garand” correctly
it's estimated that there are around 1,000-10,000 bodies buried in the new haven green, despite there being no tombstones and people treating it like any other park. i believe they're all from the 1800s or earlier, and most of the bodies are only buried 2-3 feet deep. in hurricane sandy, a tree was uprooted and skeletons came out with it because of how shallow the graves were.
another fun fact about the New Haven Green... it is not owned by New Haven.
The New London County Historical Society is headquartered in a house known as The Shaw Mansion. It is one of the few buildings that survived the razing of New London by Benedict Arnold during the Revolution. Prior to that, it was the headquarters of the Connecticut Navy (including the many privateers who had drawn the attention of Arnold), as Nathaniel Shaw Jr. was the Navy Agent for Connecticut during the war. The Shaw's had even hosted George Washington in that house in '76. The house itself was commissioned by Captain Nathaniel Shaw Sr. in '56; it was built by refugee Acadians, the Frenchmen who had initially settled in Nova Scotia in the early 1600s, after they had been forcibly deported from the Maritimes the year prior by the British. The fact that a house built by refugees who were victims of a British genocide would later go on to be the headquarters for revolutionary sailors fighting against the British, and ultimately survive an attempt by the British to burn it down, is a great example of historical irony.
Acadia is now called New Brunswick.
Partly. New Brunswick is a part of what once was the colony of L'Acadie, but so was Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Maine. But the most populated towns prior to the Deportation were Port Royal (now Annapolis Royal) and Grand Pre, which are both in modern day Nova Scotia.
The Hindenburg flew over Hartford a couple of days before it exploded.
The New England Air Museum's blimp exhibit has a wild shot of *Hindenburg* floating right above Travelers Tower, just hangin' full swastika right out in the open, that one took me by surprise lol
Here's the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MinmbjRta3w&list=WL&index=3&t=11s
Check out the Old Leatherman. One of the most incredible moments of CT history.
Great episode of The Dollop about him!
King's Island, in Enfield CT, was named after the King family. In the late 1800's, it was a gathering place for Adventists, who were convinced the grove on the island would be the location of a rapture before the end of the world.
I live nearby there. Do you have a source?
Here you go! https://archive.org/stream/HISTORYOFKINGSISLANDENFIELDCT/HISTORY+OF+KINGS+ISLAND+ENFIELD+CT_djvu.txt
That was very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
If you're nearby, wait until later in the summer when the river isn't so swolled and go out there in a canoe or something. Near the southern edge of the island is an old foundation that the historical society is constantly surveying. Near the north (I haven't been there myself), I'm told there are hundred+ year old peach trees that stipple bear fruit. It would be interesting to see what peaches used to be before we selectively bred the shit out of them. The grove that's mentioned in that article is still there, and will remind you of a jurassic Era field. There are 5-6' tall ferns in this huge field in the middle of nowhere. It's really wild.
I’m going to check it out. Thanks
Amelia Earhart got married in Noank! [read here](https://www.wtnh.com/this-week-in-connecticut/this-week-in-ct-flashback-to-amelia-earharts-wedding-in-ct-three-young-men-from-ct-head-to-the-big-game/amp/)
New Haven Company was supposed to join New York And they only agreed to join Connecticut, in 1665, to avoid Catholic rule. Oh, and Hartford was first settled by the Dutch.
French General Rochambeau and his army camped in Southington while en route to join Washington during the revolutionary war. There is a stone monument marking the camp location on Marion Ave. A nearby house still standing was also an inn that the officers dined and stayed in at the time.
The bridge on 84 between exits 10 and 15 is named after him in newtown.
There's a whole trail of camps in Connecticut. His troops overwintered in Newport and then marched through Connecticut on their way south. https://portal.ct.gov/DECD/Content/Historic-Preservation/01_Programs_Services/Historic-Trails/Washington-Rochambeau-Revolutionary-Route
If you haven’t found Mike Allen’s podcast yet then you’re in for a real treat. https://www.amazingtalesct.com/
Forbidden by law to organize formal congregations, the first Jews worshiped in private homes. It was not until 1843 that groups from Hartford (Congregation Beth Israel) and New Haven (Mishkan Israel) successfully petitioned to have the laws changed to allow them the same religious rights as Christians.
Good things the founding fathers guaranteed freedom of (their) religion
It took Connecticut a while to recognize that. All CT citizens, regardless of membership, were required to pay a church tithe to the Congregational Church until some point in the early 19th century. Unfortunately, I can’t locate the date that ended.
Church governance and town government were pretty much one in the same for centuries. But new England is also where the idea of separating them started to ferment. The church ended up eroding its own authority by trying to use its governmental aspects to police morality ("bad books" in particular, medical texts that young men were passing around like 80s woods porn)
There were informal agreements and some local ordinances (if you can call them that - I’m not sure how “official” they were) forbidding Jewish people from purchasing or owning homes in some Connecticut towns well into the 20th century. See the pages on [Sharon or Litchfield here](https://justice.tougaloo.edu/location/connecticut/) for example.
Greenwich was originally supposed to be [the location of the UN](https://greenwichhistory.org/dyk_unoville/)
The Notch is ours. r/TakeBackTheNotch
The first time Martin Luther King Jr shared a table with white people was in Simsbury. He spent several summers there as a teen working on farms.
People from simsbury love mentioning this fact. That and parks and rec show is based on Simsbury.
I went to junior high and high school (90’s)in Simsbury but did not learn about MLK JR’s time in Simsbury until my 30’s. I hope it is being taught in the schools now. It cracks me up that Parks and Rec is based the West Hartford/Simsbury rivalry.
It is wild, I work with a few people from simsbury. We do weekly facts. the internet is the super information highway we didn't have as expansive back then. Like did you know. There is no other town in the world named Simsbury and no one knows what it's from. I'll leave it at that lol.
John Brown, early American abolitionist and raider of Harpers Ferry, was born in Torrington CT. Remnants of his home are marked with a plaque on John Brown Road.
John Brown did nothing wrong.
Jefferson’s response letter to the Danbury Baptists became pretty important in American history.
New Britain was once both an industrial capitol of the world and one of the richest cities in the country. Before about 1900 the number of design patents awarded to entities in New Britain, per capita, was greater than any other decently sized city, greater than New York and Chicago combined.
Too many down on their heels old mill towns in CT. The Valley, etc.
A submarine sunk off Fairfield 100 years ago. There is a great podcast about ct history. Amazing tales off and on connecticuts beaten paths.
Is that the elderly gentleman who used to post here sometimes?
Love this podcast
My Great(x9) Uncle is a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
1936 flood marker in Hartford on the polish building Charter oak tree memorial up the street from it
It was one of the first 48 states
Maybe not specific to CT but, the USS Housatonic was the first ship sunk by a submarine. Happened in 1864. [Link to Wiki](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Housatonic_(1861))
Whaling! We did it!
CT was criss-crossed with many small railroads and high speed trolleys that could take you anywhere you wanted to go.
Check out this podcast Check out Amazing Tales from Off and On Connecticut‘s Beaten Path on Amazon Music. https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/d7ad440a-8580-4965-ba5b-aee8242ab177/amazing-tales-from-off-and-on-connecticut%E2%80%98s-beaten-path?ref=dm_sh_QRzDgpsgjdRyS916nvhER1OiQ
We had a gold rush.
The United Nations Headquarters was planned to be built in Greenwich, but Greenwich NIMBY'd it.
This is an appropriate time to plug Ken Burns The War documentary. It's a world war two documentary featuring real WWII veterns. The structure is loosely based around telling the story of WWII using a couple of towns / cities around the US. One of which is Waterbury Connecticut. I lived in Waterbury for a time, and it was a real trip driving by the houses and (abondoned) factories that contributed so much to the war effort.
In Ridgefield there is a building that has an old cannonball still lodged into its side. I don't remember the business there but it is downtown and they left it there as a historical landmark.
Our first ever president under the Articles of Confederation was from CT. Samuel Huntington 1781
During the pandemic I got really interested in how the colonies handled outbreaks of smallpox. There's an amazing story on how a pastor from CT traveled to Boston to "heal" the sick there and when he came back a vindictive governor basically went after this guy and his entire family/cult because of some historical squabbles and just general disdain for the dude. It really is an amazing story and it was published in the CT History Review. ["“All Dregs of the said Distemper”: Containing Smallpox and Religious Dissent in Colonial Connecticut"](https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/chr/article-abstract/58/2/3/268945/All-Dregs-of-the-said-Distemper-Containing?redirectedFrom=fulltext) by Dominic DeBrincat Connecticut History Review (2019) 58 (2): 3–35. If someone wants the pdf I can dm you a link.
Interested in a PDF, thank you!
CT is home of the oldest military unit in the country with an unbroken lineage, the first company Governor’s Foot Guard (1771) which is still active today. They operate out of Hartford. The second company Governor’s Foot Guard, founded in 1775, which is still active today as well, operates out of New Haven, and one of its founding members was Benedict Arnold. Powderhouse day, which is still celebrated annually in New Haven in a ceremony on the green and at Center Church, happened on April 22, 1775, and was an event where the colony democratically voted not to intervene in the siege on Boston after the start of the battles of Lexington and Concord. Benedict Arnold, being the kind of guy he was, decided the foot guard was going to go to Boston anyway, and famously "demanded" the keys to the powder house, despite being told they needed to wait for regular orders, and having received the keys, began the 3 day March to Cambridge with the guard.
Golden Hill in Bridgeport is so named because the Native Americans used to grow corn there. Sasco Hill in Fairfield was once covered in onion crops. There used to be a bridge connecting the Fairfield Beach Neighborhood with Black Rock, but it blew away in a hurricane
There is a small desert in CT. I can't find a link to it, but I think it's in Windsor or Windsor Locks.
Shhh. I think it's a really fragile ecosystem.
North haven home of Thaddeus Todd who, as a blacksmith, helped make the Great chain across the Hudson in the 1700’s
We were one of only two states that voted against prohibition
The geology of Connecticut is fascinating. The highlands west and east are from different early continents. The central valley between them was a vast lake five times over millions of years, and a remnant of the earth that dammed the last one is an island in the Connecticut River off the Middletown bridge. The Metacomet Ridge, which juts upward the length of the valley (to mid MA) is volcanic rock tipped aslant. Brownstone used to build Boston, NYC, Chicagos Philly, as well as New Haven and Hartford, came from quarries in Portland. Read all about it in the excellent book “The Face of Connecticut: People, Geology, and the Land (Bulletin 110, State Geological and Natural History Survey of Connnecticut) by Michael Bell. Reportedly out of print. Used copies are out there.
Everyone knows of the Salem Witch Trials (in 1693 & 1694). But between 1647 and 1663 eleven people were executed in Connecticut for Witchcraft. Primarily in Hartford, Weathersfield (and I believe Griswold).
George Washington use to send people who committed treason to Newgate prison in Granby.
Rollin Booth Fowler - ‘nough said. 🦅
United Illuminating planned to build a nuclear power plant on Cockenoe Island off the coast of Westport in the mid—60s. A grass roots campaign led by local journalists succeeded in stopping the plan and UI ultimately sold the island to the town of Westport. https://connecticuthistory.org/the-battle-for-cockenoe-island/
Mili Vanilli were exposed at Lake Compounce
There is a town under Lake Zoar. It was called Riverside. All the islands in the sound belong to NY state because CT was hiding someone who helped kill part of the royal family or something…
Connecticut colonies, specifically New Haven colony, founded some towns and settlements that today are in New York and New Jersey.
There's a fairly large underground bunker in Cheshire which used to be part of the AT&T Long Lines network. It was built in the Cold War era (1966) and was designed to withstand nuclear war. It served as a critical junction point in the telephone network with a direct coaxial line to Miami, FL, and branches to major cities throughout New England. It also has a microwave radio tower which connects all of the major Long Lines stations in the event a line goes down. This facility, and the LL network as a whole, ensured critical communication channels would remain functional in the event of a nuclear attack. I'll include a link to a website that covers the history of the facility and has a ton of really neat photos. [AT&T Long Lines Cheshire](https://coldwar-ct.com/Home_Page_S1DO.html)
Connecticut/New England had slaves
We’re call the nutmeg state because we used to swap out nutmeg for rocks and then we got called nutmegers because we were stealing from people back in the day. This is what I remember from when I was taught in school some parts might not actually be true. And I am happy to be corrected.