Date: Fri 25-Jun-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: SARAH

Quick Words:

history-trail-Beecher-Colt

Full Text:

The Connecticut Women's Heritage Trail: Women Who Made A Difference

(with cuts)

HARTFORD -- The stories of women's lives, largely ignored during the years

when women lacked political power, are emerging from obscurity. The

Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame, a non-profit agency that annually selects

prominent state women to join its ranks, is now sponsoring the Connectict

Women's Heritage Trail. The trail consists of 12 sites, from Canterbury to Cos

Cob, Lakeville to Old Lyme, which were significant in the lives of women who

helped shape the state's history.

The Heritage Trail was designed by historian Christine Scriabine of Guilford,

who was also the consultant to the Museum of American Political Life at the

University of Hartford during its founding and has also worked at the

Stowe-Day House in Hartford. It is Ms Scriabine's hope that the trail's

exhibits will promote self-esteem and confidence among young women during

their formative years.

History has traditionally emphasized the accomplishments of men, Ms Scriabine

points out, and it is important that girls also learn of women's achievements,

many of which occurred before women had any legal status in the United States.

In addition to maintaining homes and feeding and clothing their families,

women initiated social reforms, provided family income, inspired and

encouraged creativity, achieved artistic brilliance, and sometimes became

heroines.

When visiting the 12 inaugural sites on the Heritage trail, travelers can

expect to encounter such notable figures as Hannah Watson, publisher of The

Connecticut Courant during the Revolution; Sarah Harris, the first

African-American student of the noted teacher Prudence Crandall; Susannah

Hooker, the wife of one of the colony's founders; Hartford philanthropist

Elizabeth Colt; and Isabella Beecher Hooker, a leader of the Suffrage

Movement.

The Old State House in Hartford (860/522-6766) is a good place to start the

journey. The nation's oldest state house, designed by Charles Bullfinch, the

building is also the site of the first written Constitution.

Hartford's other stop is the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center (860/677-4787),

which chronicles the accomplishments of the author ( Uncle Tom's Cabin ) and

reformer, and illuminates Ms Beecher Stowe's 19th Century world.

Ms Stowe's sisters, the suffragist Isabella Beecher Hooker and the educator

Catherine Beecher, also lived at the Nook Farm complex. The gothic-style

cottage is the centerpiece of a parcel of property that also includes the Day

House, the site of special exhibits and a collection of late 19th Century

decorative arts.

The Hill-Stead Museum, a magnificent mansion in Farmington (860/677-4787),

houses an extraordinary collection of Impressionist art. The house overlooks a

restored sunken garden located on the 150-acre site.

Theodate Pope Riddle, one of the first licensed female architects in the

nation, designed the house for her parents, who were noted collectors. Another

of her projects, Avon Old Farms School, can be seen in neighboring Avon.

The Prudence Crandall Museum in Canterbury (860/546-9916), honors a school

teacher who played a leading role in the fight for racial equality. In 1832,

she admitted Sarah Harris, a young woman of color, into her academy. When the

school was boycotted by local residents, she took in African-American girls,

denied private education elsewhere, as boarding students. She was jailed and

eventually, fearing for her students' safety, closed the school.

Women who worked in Willimantic's textile mills would never have imagined that

one day their homes and workplace would be made into a museum. Visitors to the

Windham Textile and History Museum (860/456-2178) experience life in a mill

worker's home and a mill owner's mansion and tour a re-creation of a 19th

Century textile mill.

At the Holly House Museum in Lakeville (860/435-2878), visitors can re-live

the hardships and joys of running a household in 1876. Living history tours

include a hands-on kitchen and a chance to take part in a debate about women's

rights.

Thankful Arnold, whose "ghost" is the guide at Haddam Historical Society's

1794 Arnold House (860/345-2400), relates her life story and those of her

daughter and niece and she guides visitors through the house. A visit to the

quaint Connecticut River town offers a glimpse into an earlier era.

Florence Griswold nourished the artist movement of American Impressionist

painting. Her home in Old Lyme was a haven for such esteemed artists as Childe

Hassam and Willard Metcalf, who found inspiration in the riverside location

and surrounding countryside. The Griswold Museum contains an outstanding

collection of Impressionist works, including some painted on the interior

walls of the house.

The Bush-Holley House in Cos Cob (203/869-6899) was also a center of artistic

innovation. In the 1890s, it was a boarding house run by Josephine Holley and

her daughter Constant for Impressionist artists. Among those attracted to the

picturesque sight were John Twachtmann and Theodore Robinson.

The house was occupied during the Revolutionary War by Sarah Bush, who

defended her home and family against attack while her husband was imprisoned

for suspected British sympathies. The lives of both women are interpreted in

the rambling 1730s saltbox.

Mabel Osgood Wright was a pioneer in another field: environmental education. A

naturalist and photographer, she was the author of 26 books. A founder of the

Connecticut and national Audubon societies, she played a major role in raising

the national consciousness about environmental issues.

Ms Wright also founded the nation's bird sanctuary, in Fairfield, where the

Birdcraft Museum and Sanctuary (259-0416) and her recently restored cottage

continue to pay tribute to the extraordinary woman.

The Lockwood-Mathews Museum in Norwalk (838-9799) re-creates life on a

different scale. Built in 1869, the 52-room palatial residence provides a

glimpse of the wealth, taste, and exuberance of the Victorian era.

Displaying works by prominent cabinet makers, it teaches the visitor about

decorative arts as well as the evolution of domestic technology. The mansion

also depicts the loves of the women below the staircase -- the servants to the

wealthy above.

New Canaan Historical Society's Hanford-Silliman House (966-1776), once a

tavern and boarding house, shows the economic roles played by women over time:

waitress, cook, boarding house keeper and heiress. Its costume collection

further illuminates women's lives over the decades.

The Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame was created to honor the accomplishments

of Connecticut women and promote the study and interpretation of their lives.