You Go Girl… To Celebrate Women’s History In Connecticut

HARTFORD (February, 2007) – Connecticut’s history has been shaped by women who refused to see their gender as any kind of barrier to extraordinary achievement. Across the state there are numerous historic homes and museums that have one thing in common: a strong connection to stronger women and many of these places can be visited to celebrate Women’s History Month in March.

One of the strongest Connecticut women was Theodate Pope who was born into a wealthy family and, at a very early age, decided she would be an architect, one of the very few women in the field in the late 1800s. After frequent travels to Europe, she settled in Farmington where she restored an 18th century cottage and later built a retirement home for her parents. That home became the Hill-Stead Museum which encompasses 10 buildings on 152 acres with extensive gardens and numerous works of art including an Impressionist collection from Manet, Monet and Degas. A National Historic Landmark, Hill-Stead offers an ongoing series of arts programs, lectures, a popular summer “Sunken Garden Poetry Festival” and special family events.

Old Lyme was the home of American Impressionism at the turn of the 20th century, largely thanks to Florence Griswold, “keeper of the artist colony.” Florence opened her home to a group of artists in the early 1900s and devoted herself to their work while the grounds and gardens of her home served as a major inspiration. The Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, a National History Landmark, allows guests to tour the home where the artists, including Childe Hassam and Willard Metcalf, created some of the most memorable paintings in American art.

The Widow Thankful Arnold House in Haddam is aptly named. Born in 1776, Thankful was widowed at the age of 47 and left penniless. With much of her small house rented out to other widows, the proprietor survived, raising a family alone until her death at the age of 73. The home was owned by the women of the family until 1920 when it became the legal property of Thankful’s great grandson. The Thankful Arnold House is now operated by the Haddam Historical Society and the gardens and the restored home provide a unique glimpse of the life of independent women in Connecticut in the 1820s.

Prudence Crandall did not set out to become famous when she enrolled an African American girl in her school in Canterbury in 1832. The local outrage was so strong that she was forced to close the school but was not defeated. Crandall began to recruit middle-class African American students for what became the first boarding and teacher training school for black women in New England. The Prudence Crandall Museum in Canterbury is the site of New England’s first academy for African American women and captures the bravery and determination of its remarkable founder.

Born in 1811 in Litchfield, Harriet Beecher became a teacher at the age of 15 and found early success writing stories and essays for magazines. It was from travels with her professor husband, Calvin Stowe, that Harriet discovered the plight of America’s slaves. In 1852 she wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which was translated into 60 languages and sold more than half a million copies in the U.S., more than any book other than the Bible at that time. The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford is far more than a tribute to its famous namesake. In addition to memorabilia and collections of the author, the center offers year-long programs, events and exhibits. This year, the featured attraction is “Uncle Tom’s Cabin: A Moral Battle Cry for Freedom” which illuminates the national and international impact of Stowe’s anti-slavery novel. Included in the exhibition is the petition from the women of Britain presented to the author urging the United States to abolish slavery.

While these famous women are due their fame, the lives of the state’s legions of anonymous female workers are also due respect. The Windham Textile & History Museum in Willimantic housed in two 1877 buildings celebrates the “ordinary women who worked in textile mills” as well as the wives of mill owners. The facility includes a recreated mill worker’s home and owner’s mansion as it looked at the height of the industrial Revolution.

For those interested in further exploration of the contributions of Connecticut women, the Women’s Heritage Trail is a collection of more than a dozen museums and historic sites throughout the state. The Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame in Hartford also celebrates the lives of the state’s most accomplished women past and present.

For complete information about visiting places to celebrate the women of Connecticut, Connecticut’s 52 Getaways, country inns, B&Bs and other places to stay, please call 1-888-CTvisit (1-888-288-4748) or log on at www.CTvisit.com Connecticut offers visitors a multi-faceted wealth of attractions, historical, cultural and recreational activities, diverse and beautiful natural landscapes, parks, beaches and wilderness sure to fulfill any getaway need.

February 22, 2007   Posted in: United States East