Reconnecting With Newtown’s Past—

Historical Society Opens Door To 1750

By Kendra Bobowick

Fieldstone slabs form a stoop where Carly Cohane and Julia Preszler pull hand-knit shawls around their shoulders. The early spring air carries a chill and the two girls reach for the iron latch and open the front door to the Matthew Curtiss House. Once inside, Julia and Carly, both 10, relax a bit and Julia shuffles her feet hidden beneath a long skirt.

“It’s hard to do the stairs in these shoes and a skirt,” she admits. Behind her, running up the hallway from the narrow front parlor is a wooden staircase with a brief landing before ascending several more steps to the upstairs hall. Of the two rooms above, one contains a spinning wheel and other tools used to craft everyday needs, including clothing, and making minor repairs — possibly sewing back into place the button that was tugging loose from Julia’s bonnet. On the hall’s opposite end from the work room is a bedroom where, since the house was built in approximately 1750, likely whole families slept by the small fire for warmth during snowy winter nights.

Two hundred fifty-eight years later, Julia and Carly — dressed in their junior docent’s clothes — greeted guests to the Newtown Historical Society’s open house Sunday, April 6, at the Matthew Curtiss house where residents could cross the threshold and step into a way of living as it was less than 50 years after Newton was incorporated.

Considering the work required for simple needs like food and keeping warm, Carly said, “It was hard to live in 1750, the work everyday.” She did not mean work at an office from 9 am through 5 pm; she was thinking about firewood and washing clothes by hand, tilling fields, or spending the day cooking by an open fire. Both she and Julia are captivated by the history visible in the plaster walls, stones piled together for the chimney, and cubby-holes for fireplaces in every room except the kitchen, where the hearth and mantel outline a nearly walk-in fireplace used for cooking, baking, and warmth.

“I like learning about the house and how old it is,” Carly said. Julia, who had attended a history camp said, “I liked it so much I became a docent.” During the open house, docent Shari Rowe stood in the upstairs room with the looms and spinning wheel with resident Barbara Wilson, who is  interested in being a docent. “Today we’re open for people to come through and talk, and learn a little about history in Newtown,” Ms Rowe explained.

Ms Wilson was the perfect guest. “I really enjoy history,” she said. Her interest has prompted her to tour houses and join the town’s historical society.

Learn more about the historical society and Matthew Curtiss House at Newtownhistory.org. The website’s introduction states: “The society is dedicated to the discovery and preservation of documents, artifacts and historical images that inform of Newtown’’s evolution to the distinct community it has become today. It is also dedicated to education.” The society collects and archives information for residents and others who share an interest in the town. The society offers frequent programs, publishes a periodic newsletter, and publishes occasional pamphlets and books on Newtown subjects.