The future of Hawleyville Post Office was in question for a
short time in 2006, but recent information from the US Postal
Service and Housatonic Railroad assures residents that the old
structure is in line for some massive renovations to improve
the structure and will remain a viable service in that section
of town.
History is always in the making in Newtown, being discovered and
rediscovered every year. The year 2006 held a few historic
moments and discoveries for the town.
C.H. Booth Library Director Janet Woycik stood by on Monday,
January 9, as Brenda McKinley, systems librarian at Booth,
activated the wireless network at the Main Street building in
what will go down as a historic moment.
"Finally," said Ms McKinley, "we can say 'Yes!' when someone
comes in and asks if we have wireless capacity. It's very
exciting."
As usual, town historian Dan Cruson continued to delve into
Newtown's past. Descendants of Philo Curtis donated a box of
private documents to the town last year and Mr Cruson happily dug
through the contents. Among the reams of papers, mainly land sale
deeds, the words "my certain negro girl named Genny" in faded
script on one of them caught his eye. Emancipation documents, he
said, were sometimes recorded on land records, but a bill of sale
was "extremely rare, even in the South."
The bill of sale for Genny, dated October 30, 1813, was unique in
two respects, said Mr Cruson. "First of all, the age of the girl.
She was only 3, maybe 31/2, years old. Very young. Secondly, she
was sold for 25 cents, an extraordinarily low price." The usual
price at the time for a young slave girl, said Mr Cruson, the
author of Newtown's Slaves: A Case Study In Early Connecticut
Rural Black History, was at minimum $20. Philo Curtis, Jr,
who purchased the toddler slave, owned nearly 100 acres bordering
today's Philo Curtis Road in Sandy Hook. Slaveholders were not
common in Newtown, but many prominent families, as well as more
than one Congregational minister, had a slave or two as part of
the household. As usual, one bit of information leads to many
more questions, such as what became of Genny. They are questions
that will perhaps be answered in the new year.
More history unveiled itself when Mr Cruson accompanied Mike and
Pam Davis and an entourage from High Noon Productions out of
Centennial, Colo., through the Davises' home at 25 Sherman Street
in Sandy Hook for an episode of the popular Home and Garden
Television program, If Walls Could Talk. The house was
built around 1784 by Cato Freedom, also known as Cato Platt and
Cato Freeman, a former slave of the Platt family, who lived on
property nearby. The program features homes across the country on
its weekly half-hour program, focusing last year on homeowners
who made unusual discoveries in their homes.
One of the discoveries that made the Davises' home attractive to
HGTV was found on a beehive oven in their basement. To the
untrained eye, the X scrawled on the front of the fireplace could
have gone unnoticed; but research from experts on black history
in the United States inspired Mr Cruson to note what is known as
a "spirit mark" when he was invited to explore the home two years
ago. The other discovery was a surprisingly intact leather shoe,
also inscribed with the "spirit mark," more than likely one that
was owned by the home's original owner and concealed beneath the
kitchen. A "concealment shoe" was a European custom thought to
protect a home and those who lived in it. The HGTV episode
featuring the Davis home was aired in late October.
Echoes from the past literally marched through Newtown and
announced their arrival 225 years later, almost to the day, that
Compte de Rochambeau, a French general, led his troops through
Newtown as they assisted local Patriots. The restless past tugged
at Newtown's sleeve for attention in early July as the town
remembered some of its own Revolutionary War history at a plaque
dedication to Rochambeau at Hawley School. Historian Dan Cruson
had coordinated a dedication ceremony, inviting the state's March
To Yorktown members - a handful of devoted Revolutionary War
reenactors who marched the length of the trail carved across New
England by Rochambeau - commemorating his contributions to the
Patriot's eventual, hard-won victory. Prior to the unveiling, a
June 29 ceremony reflected on incidents that occurred more than
two centuries ago when French troops were in town on the 28th of
June 1781, and marched out again on July 1 of that year.
Historic Hawleyville Post Office was also in the news this year.
What started out as a gesture of goodwill and a desire to improve
a local landmark by resident Maureen Colbert-Wilhelm turned into
a one-woman crusade to make sure that the post office remained a
viable entity in Hawleyville.
In seeking approval for her modest plans, Ms Colbert-Wilhelm
contacted Housatonic Railroad (HRR) and the US Postal Service
(USPS). She was not granted permission to go forward with her
helping hand and what she discovered disturbed her. What worried
her most was an indication that the little post office could be
eliminated, rather than renovated. According to Carl Walton, a
former spokesperson for the USPS out of the district office in
Hartford, though, the postal service is actively working to
rectify the poor condition of the Hawleyville Post Office. In a
conversation on Friday, March 17, with The Newtown Bee, Mr
Walton emphasized that the postal service had no plans to
eliminate the post office in Hawleyville.
Rob Finley, vice president of Housatonic Railroad, which holds
the lease for the building that houses the post office, disclosed
on July 19 that the company was negotiating with the USPS to
renovate the building owned by HRR at 30 Hawleyville Road in
which the Hawleyville Post Office now leases space. More
recently, Mr Finley said that the Housatonic Railroad decided to
bring in a US Postal developer to work with the USPO. It is hoped
that work to restore the building will begin in 2007.
A Sandy Hook business celebrated a bit of history in 2006.
Located at the corner of Riverside Road and Center Street in
Sandy Hook, Lorenzo's Restaurant has been a community icon for 80
years. Founded by Louis Lorenzo, an Italian immigrant, Lorenzo's
was just a little seasonal storefront selling mostly candy, hot
dogs, and soda when it opened in 1926, according to Paul
McCollum, owner since 1968 and the son-in-law of Louis Lorenzo,
and Mr McCollum's daughter, Laurie McCollum, who is now the
general manager of Lorenzo's. Mr McCollum estimates that nearly
90 percent of Lorenzo's customers are repeat, local customers,
what he said is an amazing percentage in the restaurant business.
They come, he said, for what he believes has been the recipe for
80 years of success in a difficult business: "Good food and good
prices."
In the attics of Newtown, history breathes from long forgotten
tomes and faded photographs. The Matthew Curtiss House, Edmond
Town Hall, and C.H. Booth Library attics contain no ghosts or
magic mirrors, but harbor other treasures. Caretakers of the old
buildings' secrets gave The Bee a peek into the historic
attics. The library always invites visitors to explore the
portion of their attic that houses artifacts from town
benefactress Mary Hawley.
In much more recent history, we saw a landmark literally
bulldozed into nonexistence at Dickinson Park. Cascades of soil
spilled into Dickinson Pond in late March from the backs of town
trucks. The rough fill covered with finality more than 50 years
of town history as heavy equipment flattened the last loads of
soil over the Newtown's longstanding swimming hole. One
alternative swimming source, Eichler's Cove Marina, a small inlet
tucked away in a corner of Lake Zoar, was purchased by the town
but was not yet prepared for swimmers in 2006.
Sometimes, history needs to be added onto. With the addition that
will become their master bedroom attached to their home at 157
Poverty Hollow Road, Rick and Nora Murphy are truly coming home
to roost each night. Realizing that the patina of an old
structure would better match a planned expansion their 1767
saltbox home, featured in 2005 on the Newtown Historic Homes
tour, they had a chicken coop trucked to Newtown from its
Millville, Mass., location.
The coop, its roof, and the cupola that tops it off arrived
during the morning of Friday, September 1. The coop was attached
to the saltbox home and the exterior of the clapboard coop, with
its decorative cornices, will be restored to the original
condition. Work continues to progress nicely as 2006 fades into
2007. And history is in the making once again.